Michael mcray

Founder

(he/him/his)

Michael is Nashville-based facilitator, experiential life coach, and story-practitioner. He’s the author of multiple books, including I Am Not Your Enemy, which won the 2020 Best Book Award in Social Change from the American Book Fest. His writing has received praise from internationally acclaimed authors, like Ishmael Beah, Pádraig Ó Tuama, Raja Shehadeh, and National Book Award winner Colum McCann.

Michael’s work in storytelling has focused on everything from organizational storytelling, to storytelling for advocacy and social change, to narrative-driven strategy, to storytelling for empathy and connection, to storytelling for entertainment and community cohesion. Michael’s story experience and expertise are sought after by all types of organizations—from VMware and Cigna to Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library and even NASA.

During his graduate studies in Conflict Resolution and Reconciliation, he lived in Belfast, Northern Ireland and fell in love with the transformative power of telling our personal stories. Since 2013, he has produced and hosted Tenx9 Nashville, a monthly community storytelling event that has elevated nearly 1,000 local stories on stage.

His list of credentials is long—with certifications and training in experiential coaching, mediation, public narrative, integrated somatic trauma healing, conflict coaching, and more. And yet, beyond all these lines on a resumé, Michael’s greatest credential is his own human experience of turning his pain into purpose. Out of a story of self-loathing, self-harm, and attempted suicide, Michael has spent a decade healing, digging deeply into what’s buried in his own past so that he can live with radiant contentment.

Michael speaks across the United States on the themes of story, curiosity, and conflict, and was a featured speaker at TEDx Nashville in 2022.

Michael lives in Nashville, TN, pursuing his purpose: to use the power of story to make meaning, heal harm, and repair relationships.

Relevant certifications and training:

  • Masters, Conflict Resolution and Reconciliation, Trinity College Dublin at Belfast

  • Certified Experiential Coach (Level 2 of 3), International Society of Experiential Professionals

  • Certificate of Completion, Integrated Somatic Trauma Therapy, The Embody Lab, online, 60-hours

  • Executive Certification, Public Narrative, Harvard Kennedy School, USA, Online

  • Certification, Conflict Coaching, Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, Eastern Mennonite University, USA, Online

  • Certified Mediator, Dialogue for Peaceful Change, Northern Ireland

  • Training, Psychodrama, International Society of Experiential Professionals, 68 hours

  • Tent of Seven Doors Summer School with Dr. Martin Shaw, School of Myth, Devon, England

  • Storywork: A Summer School in Narrative Practice with Pádraig Ó Tuama, Corrymeela Community, Northern Ireland

Michael's skills as a Storytelling Coach have earned him a spot on the Coach Foundation, one of the biggest names in the coaching industry.

  • About ten years ago, I sat in a room with tall windows overlooking the Irish Sea at a place called Corrymeela in Northern Ireland. I felt about as alive as I’d ever felt. Something had clicked for me.

    I was there doing a five-day residential retreat, as part of a graduate course in conflict transformation. The retreat was designed to get former combatants into open, vulnerable, and honest conversation through the sharing of their life stories. I circled up with classmates from across the globe and followed a beautifully curated process to share and hear the stories of our lives.

    When we finished, I went back to my room, opened my journal, and wrote, “This is it. This is what I want to do with my life—facilitate the opportunity for people to encounter themselves and others through true, authentic storytelling.”

    Over the last decade, I’ve been fortunate to do that in lots of ways—through in-person programs, online workshops, public storytelling events, corporate trainings, and more. I didn’t know it at the time, but it’s all been leading to Becoming Restoried.

    And, perhaps most importantly, I have spent years and years and years digging deeply into what’s buried in my own past. Retreats, therapy, intensives, workbooks…I’ve done them all. And they have all helped in different ways. Which is why I want to incorporate them all into this process. Becoming Restoried is taking the best of what I’ve experienced and learned over this last decade and offering back to you.

    I am so glad you are here.

tedx nashville 2022

Here is Michael’s TEDX NASHVILLE talk at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center in Nashville, TN. It was the first time Becoming Restoried was ever announced publicly. In these 15 minutes, he:

  • explores the three pillars of self-curiosity

  • narrates the trauma of his own story that led to self-hatred and attempted suicide

  • and casts a vision for how our lives can transform through the power of relentless curiosity

STORY 2022

Here is Michael’s talk at the 2022 STORY conference at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center in Nashville, TN. In these 15 minutes, he:

  • retells an old German folktale called “The Handless Maiden”

  • shares how such a story can hold the fullness of who we are and cast a vision for who we can be with one another

  • and offers a glimpse into some of the pain of his own story

Want to talk one-on-one with Michael?