Growing up in a struggling, single-parent family in Maryborough, central Victoria, Fireside founder Ben Hart found refuge in stories. In primary school he wrote epic tales of adventure in the classroom, featuring knights and dragons. At home, a deep interest in politics and current affairs - stories about the world - was seeded early by a mother who always had ABC news playing in the background and copies of The Age spread across the kitchen table.

After studying journalism at university in Melbourne, Ben landed a job at tabloid Herald Sun, much to his mother’s disdain. Working as a cadet in the Murdoch empire was politically uncomfortable, but it was an excellent place to learn the art of boiling down a story to its essential elements. Three years in, Ben was named the Young Journalist of the Year by the Melbourne Press Club before taking up a position with the Victorian Premier’s Media Unit as a press secretary.

He eventually rose to the position of Chief of Staff to the Minister for Environment, helping to implement major sustainability and climate change reforms for Victoria, before returning to communications roles at organisations with a strong foundation in social and economic justice: the AFL player’s union, national youth mental health foundation Headspace and the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA).

It was at ARENA that Ben realised that organisational storytelling was changing - the era of press releases and stodgy brochures was fading, replaced by new digital tools that were accessible to anyone. Increasingly, any organisation could be their own news channel, as long as they were willing to tell interesting stories, like the ones he used to write as a kid and as a journalist.

He created ARENA WIRE, a news site for renewable energy technology articles and video, and launched ReWired, a podcast series telling the human stories of how Australia’s utilty-scale solar power boom was revitalising rural and remote towns across the country.

After building the agency’s storytelling engine, it seemed clear that while the big players - banks, health insurers, major sporting codes - had the resources and market power to make a successful transition to this new era of communications, smaller organisations who were doing good things in the world were struggling to get their stories out.

That’s when the idea to create Fireside was born: an agency that helps people and organisations creating change, amplify their positive impact through powerful storytelling.

Today, Ben may be driving the bus, but the person keeping it on the road is Business Support and Administration Lead, Brigitt Nagle. With a background in customer service and experiences, sociology, and art, Brigit not only makes things work better behind the scenes at Fireside, but also brings a unique and highly valuable perspective to the idea of story. ⠀⠀

Since opening our doors in October 2018, Fireside has worked with community groups, arts bodies, renewable energy companies, changemaking individuals, civic and cultural institutions, sustainable housing developers, government departments and a host of other purpose-led organisations.

What unites Fireside with these people, businesses and bodies is a deep commitment to making a difference, and a belief that telling powerful stories of impact is one of the best ways to expand the opportunities to keep doing that important work.

People invariably come to us because they know that they possess powerful stories of hope, courage and purpose. They just need a little help telling them in a way that honours those narratives, and the people involved, and allows them to stand out in an ever-growing ocean of organisational content.

To do this we usually start with the essential story. We sit down with leaders and other key staff and ask fundamental questions like “How did you begin?”, “How do you fit into the world?” and “Right now, how do you want people to feel about you”. The answers are used to construct a Master Narrative.

Then we help our clients tell that story, with an emotionally-connecting narrative that elicits action and desired shifts in behaviour, via channels that are the most effective in reaching the right audiences. Whether that’s social media content, news and feature articles, case studies, videos, podcasts, speeches or earned media outcomes.

The democratisation of content over the past decade has led to reduced barriers to entry for everyone wanting to tell their story - from large companies to individuals who are now competing directly with traditional news organisations for attention.

But this also means the competition for attention is getting greater all the time, as people are hit with hundreds of pieces of content every day. And this daily wall of information is growing exponentially.

The truth is most of it is mediocre and stodgy. But the good news is that now, more than ever, the stories that stand out are those that are well-told and emotionally-connecting.

Fireside is here to help level this increasingly-crowded storytelling playing field by supporting individuals and organisations who are creating positive change. We believe wholeheartedly that they have a natural advantage because their narratives are the most compelling, and provide the most hope in a world that is crying out for stories that speak to our higher selves.

Our job is to help our clients unearth their essential story, shape it into a form that can be told simply and powerfully in any situation, and then build the platforms to ensure the right people are hearing it.