Stories

My earliest, best memories of my father are of his stories. Every night before I went to sleep, he would read to me from old, hardcover books that featured classic, detailed illustrations. No watered down, picture book stories, he chose original Grimm’s and Hans...

It was almost inevitable that I would one day join StoryMasters—an extraordinary club of advanced Toastmasters committed to developing their skills in the ancient art of storytelling. I started down the road to StoryMasters when I was a child growing up during the...

It took me few seconds to answer Tina Tomiyama’s e-mail. “What a great idea, Tina!” I said. “Let me know how I can help.”Now, when my dear friend and mentor Tina says “Jump,” I’d say “How high?” Tina always makes you jump to your success. That time, in 2011, I jumped...

Tina TomiyamaStoryMasters started out in a Chinese restaurant in Culver City with a rarely-used banquet room. But the restaurant gained popularity and sometimes we got there only to find out that the banquet room was in use. We tried other restaurants and community...