Raised in a Ghanian-American family, Katherine Ntihmoah's parents instilled within her the idea that her only limits would be self-imposed. She took that to heart and has been expanding her limits throughout her life--with Americorps, the U.S. State Department as a diplomat, and now at Indiana University's prestigious Hamilton-Lugar School of Global and International Studies, where she seeks to break down the limitations of the next generation of global leaders.

"Powerful Stories" is the Minnesota offshoot of SoftPower/FulStories, which uses first-person stories to explore why U.S. engagement in the world matters. Through conversations with diplomats, aid workers, Peace Corps volunteers, authors and artists, influencers, businesspeople, and more, SP/FS highlights how soft power and foreign aid and assistance strengthen America's security, prosperity, and global standing.

"No human is more human than another human" -General Romeo Dallaire.

John Berry's long overseas career, spanning the Peace Corps, USAID, and the United Nations, took him to nearly 100 countries, with positive benefits for countless people. But there's one country that looms over all the others. The one with the people he couldn't save. And the real ghosts of Rwanda follow him to this day.

SoftPower/FulStories uses first-person stories to explore why U.S. engagement in the world matters. Through conversations with diplomats, aid workers, Peace Corps volunteers, authors and artists, influencers, businesspeople, and more, SP/FS highlights how soft power and foreign aid and assistance strengthen America's security, prosperity, and global standing.

"Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced." - James Baldwin

Ka Vang was born in Laos and raised in Minnesota, in a world shaped by memory, migration, and the quiet weight of what is carried across generations. As a Hmong-American storyteller and journalist, she exposes her culture and her experiences so they may be seen. It is telling, then, that the current situation in Minnesota finds her hoping to become invisible, at least to those sowing hatred and chaos in the streets.

"Powerful Stories" is the Minnesota offshoot of SoftPower/FulStories, which uses first-person stories to explore why U.S. engagement in the world matters. Through conversations with diplomats, aid workers, Peace Corps volunteers, authors and artists, influencers, businesspeople, and more, SP/FS highlights how soft power and foreign aid and assistance strengthen America's security, prosperity, and global standing.