Long before Eve Kucharski came to Change Matrix (CM), she was a little girl with a pencil and big dreams. All throughout her childhood, Eve knew that she loved writing and being able to tell people’s stories. As an adult, she was able to turn that passion into a career. Today she is a Change Consultant with CM, utilizing her storytelling skills to promote equity and support the voices that may otherwise not be heard.
Empathy Through Identity
As an immigrant, Eve is no stranger to entering spaces where she did not quite fit in or understand the mainstream culture. Her family emigrated from Poland to the U.S. when she was about 6 months old, giving her a foot in two different worlds. Growing up, Eve sometimes felt out of place, especially during events or school activities that her family was unfamiliar with.
“I think [that experience] has given me more empathy. As odd as it felt not fitting in in those circumstances, I can only imagine how it felt for other people in other marginalized communities,” she said.
Her LGBTQ+ identity also contributed to her understanding of what it means to be othered as well as developing empathy. Raised in a conservative community, Eve recalled not being aware of people that identify as LGBTQ+ until her late teens, save for a few famous names.
“I didn’t even have an understanding of what it meant to be a lesbian or be gay or any other identity until probably high school,” said Eve. “And I didn’t even come out until my senior year, privately to myself, because truly I didn’t even realize that was an option.”
Her own experiences allowed her to have an understanding of marginalization, but she still recognizes her privilege as a white woman. Unlike many others, Eve knows that if she dresses a certain way, no one would guess she is part of the LGBTQ+ community. With no accent, no one could point out her Polish background. Throughout the years, Eve has learned about this concept of “passing,” as people feel comfortable disparaging certain minority communities in her presence.
“My LGBTQ+ identity, in combination with my immigrant identity, has helped me — probably never having a full understanding — have full support for other people who have had to live in this country without being able to pass.”
Applying Her Passion
Throughout her experience balancing shifting identities, there was one constant — her passion for writing. From a very young age, Eve knew she really enjoyed writing but didn’t know how to translate this into a career. Because of this, she spent her first two years at Michigan State University pursuing a hospitality business degree. These studies helped shape her people-focused mindset that translated to her writing. Realizing that this career route did not resonate with her, Eve switched to a journalism major that combined her storytelling skills with the genuine concern and interest in people that led her to hospitality in the first place.
During her undergrad experience, Eve also worked at the student radio station, giving her proximity to people contributing audio stories for the radio and news. This led to her internship right out of college with Morning Edition, a National Public Radio affiliate in Michigan. She was also interning for City Pulse, a local newspaper that soon hired her to work as the arts and entertainment editor. There she learned what it meant to be not only a journalist but also an editor, and how to tell community stories.
Uplifting Marginalized Voices
Prior to joining CM, Eve worked as a news and feature editor with Pride Source, an LGBTQ+ media company in Michigan. While there, she learned the importance of telling the stories of marginalized people and elevating their voices in the community.
“In many ways, mainstream media was getting it wrong,” said Eve.
When reporting on communities, larger media platforms were not getting the facts correct due to a lack of research and inability to ask the right questions. Eve recalled seeing stories about individuals who identify as transgender where the reporters used dead names (deadnaming is the use of the birth or other former name of a transgender or non-binary person without the person’s consent) or the wrong pronouns. Eve wanted to rectify this in her work, telling people’s stories with as much accuracy and true voice as possible.
“I consider it a privilege to be given the opportunity to share people’s stories that are not my own, and I try to be really mindful of that fact,” Eve said. “It’s rare that people give somebody enough trust to share their personal experience and then allow that person to disseminate that information.”
Eve learned how to tell community stories in a way that was culturally responsive, accurate, and representative of the people who share them.
Equitable Storytelling with Change Matrix
Eve was searching for a position that blends marketing and editorial work while still making an impact when she found CM. Her new role has allowed her to blend storytelling while building these skills and advancing equity and social justice. Eve primarily works in a communications role on Expanding the Bench® (ETB), Colorado Equity Compass (CEC), and the National Training and Technical Assitance Center (NTTAC), and supports numerous other projects such as the Mental Health Technology Transfer Center (MHTTC) and the Center for Applied Resource Solutions (CARS).
“What I try to do in the name of equity is to stay true to what the core of a story is,” Eve said. “I think a lot of people unintentionally put their own implicit bias on things or try to frame things in a way that appeals to them when they hear somebody else’s words. I try to use our platform at CM to showcase their voice because I know people’s narratives have been rewritten in the past, and that is something I don’t want to do. I feel like equity and communication is how I frame everything I do.”
