What happens when a single act of courage alters the trajectory of a life—not just for one person, but for an entire community? What if the stories we tell about ourselves—about our struggles, triumphs, and histories—aren’t just personal narratives but blueprints for something greater?

In this, our premiere episode of season 10 of Mission Forward, Carrie sits down with Dianne Myles, a documentarian, storyteller, and the newly appointed Social Entrepreneur in Residence at Mission Partners. But Dianne’s journey is not the one you expect. It’s one of movement—between communities, between identities, between imposed limitations and self-defined futures.

Born and raised in Colorado Springs, Colorado, Dianne learned early the subtle, unspoken art of code-switching—navigating between affluent white spaces and vibrant Black and Latino communities. But it wasn’t just about survival. It was about adaptation, about connection, about the power of story to bridge divides. At 26, a moment of reckoning: the sudden loss of her mother. A life recalibrated. A decision to abandon a stifling corporate path. A leap into the unknown, driven by an insistence on joy, on purpose, on owning the narrative.

Carrie and Dianne are in a conversation that is as much about storytelling as it is about agency. It’s about why AI will never replace the human voice. It’s about the questions we ask—and the ones we don’t. And, ultimately, it’s about what happens when we decide—fully, unapologetically—to take hold of the pen.

Links & Notes