For Angela Orlando, storytelling has never been simply performance—it is a way of understanding people, building empathy and creating connection across cultures.
A cultural anthropologist by training, Orlando holds a doctorate in anthropology and has taught at the University of Arizona, UCLA, Pima Community College and other institutions before pivoting into work that blends education, writing and live storytelling. Along the way, she also worked as a subcontractor for Google, applying anthropology in the tech world, but says her true passion ultimately emerged elsewhere: helping people tell their own stories.
That passion now drives two distinct but deeply connected ventures—her leadership of Odyssey Storytelling in Tucson and her international Wandering Writers Workshops.
As executive producer of Odyssey Storytelling for the past two years, Orlando oversees the long-running monthly live storytelling series, now celebrating 22 years in Tucson. Held on the first Thursday of each month at the University of Arizona’s Student Union Kiva Room, the program invites community members to share true, personal stories built around a central theme.
“We believe that getting to know one another through story helps strengthen Tucson,” Orlando says.
Under her leadership, Odyssey has experienced significant growth. The organization now has a permanent, ADA-accessible venue and has intentionally expanded both its stage and audience to better reflect Tucson’s diversity.
“Having more diverse storytellers creates a more diverse audience,” she says. “People bring their friends, and that expands the circle.”
Each event features carefully coached storytellers rather than open-mic spontaneity. Participants pitch stories, rehearse with support and ultimately deliver polished narratives before what Orlando describes as an especially generous audience—one eager to listen rather than judge.
For Orlando, that listening is what gives live storytelling its power.
“To be heard and to be witnessed bolsters community,” she says. “And to hold space for someone else’s truth is equally important.”
That same philosophy extends into her second venture, Wandering Writers Workshops, which she founded in 2017. The small-group travel workshops combine writing instruction with immersive cultural experiences in destinations chosen to match each workshop’s theme.
Past programs have included food writing in Oaxaca, songwriting in Nashville, memoir writing in Sedona and campfire storytelling in northern Arizona. This September, Orlando will lead a travel-writing workshop in Granada, Spain.
The Granada workshop will host just eight participants, allowing for close instruction and personal attention. Mornings are devoted to craft sessions and writing lectures; afternoons feature excursions to sites such as the Alhambra; evenings are reserved for drafting stories inspired by the day’s experiences.
Participants leave not only with memories, Orlando says, but with a finished story.
“It’s traveling with a purpose,” she says. “You come home with a story, a new skill and new friends.”
Each workshop also begins with one of Orlando’s anthropological lectures, offering participants historical and cultural context before they begin writing.
“I don’t just drop people into a place,” she says. “I want them to understand where they are.”
Looking ahead, Orlando hopes to expand the workshops seasonally—one remarkable destination each quarter—while continuing to grow Odyssey through collaboration, accessibility and new voices.
At the center of both efforts is one belief: stories help people recognize one another’s humanity.