THE STORY BEHIND TALKING STORIES
by SAM REGI, Founder
Sam, somewhere on the road between Brisbane and Darwin.
Talking Stories® was created for ordinary people whose lives rarely get asked after. Parents who kept the house standing, founders who built something from nothing, migrants who carried worlds in a single suitcase, farmers who survived a bush fire and many droughts. It gives them room to be heard, fully, patiently, and without hurry.
At its heart, Talking Stories is a conversation. A recorder sits on the table, questions that open many doors, and the life story arrives in its own time. No scripts. No speeches. Just the voice as it falls, with all its pauses, humour, and weight. It’s your story, told your way.
Though based in Brisbane, Talking Stories follows where the stories lead - into family homes, board rooms, ballrooms. We have even captured a story on a yacht. Retirement villages, community halls, and workplaces.
That same approach carries into our corporate work. Talking Stories helps organisations uncover the stories that sit behind the numbers. We have recorded founder legacies, employee journeys, customer experiences.
Through carefully guided conversations and insight interviews, we capture what often gets lost in organisational reports: the human voice, speaking plainly about value, culture, and change. These recordings become a resource for reflection, strategy, and future planning, just as they do for families.
Talking Stories stands on a simple belief: most lives go un-asked. We make sure yours doesn’t.
Navin Sam Regi (Sam).
We understand that our clients, individuals like you, are worldly and accomplished - entrepreneurs, intellectuals, and connoisseurs of life.
Contact Sheet of Bill and his Bonsai
Our Story
Growing up, I longed to hear stories about my parents and grandparents. Tales from their days when they were of my age, before I even came into the world. The glimpses I've had into their pasts, through small, fleeting snippets, only left me wanting more. I realise now that I never truly asked often enough, especially since becoming an adult; it felt like something out of my reach, a vast reservoir of untapped family history.
As a journalist and academic, I've had the privilege of conducting numerous in-depth interviews. The majority of these interview recordings typically find their way into archives once the relevant soundbites are extracted for whatever purpose. However, I've often felt that these encounters contain narratives that extend far beyond their immediate journalistic utility.
It was this persistent "not knowing" of untold family stories, and the realisation that the professional interviews I conducted were more than mere soundbites - that ignited the vision for Talking Stories.
Our Mission
Talking Stories exists to make space for voices that too often go unheard. We believe every life carries its own weight of memory, humour, and hard-won wisdom. We believe in the way stories are told around kitchen tables, workbenches, or quiet rooms. Our mission is to catch those stories as they are, so families and communities can carry them forward in sound and image.
The same listening shapes our work with organisations. We draw out the legacies of founders, the journeys of employees, the experiences of customers. By holding the human voice at the centre, Talking Stories helps people and businesses alike to see themselves more clearly, to understand what they stand on, and to decide what they pass on.
I like to hear people's stories and not enough people get asked their stories,
which is why Sam's work is so important. - Caiseal Mor
Impact We Want to Have
We are starting small. To help 100 Australians and Australian communities to share their stories and professional legacies, providing the next generation with an opportunity to easily access and listen to more stories of those important to them.
Talking Stories is currently based in Brisbane, Australia, serving individuals and the organisations of Brisbane and South East Queensland.
Our Team
Talking Stories is created by me - Sam Regi, and the few people who have helped me put this outfit together. I'm a freelance journalist and an academic at the University of Queensland, with a history of looking for and capturing unique stories in unique ways. We intend to grow with the ultimate goal to help preserve legacies for all time.
Start Now
Don't wait for the perfect moment, the right time, or the ideal circumstances to begin preserving your stories. Too often, we delay, thinking we'll have more time in retirement or when life becomes less hectic. But time has a way of slipping through our fingers. Those conversations you've meant to have with the important people in your life, the stories you've been eager to capture from your community, they deserve to be documented now.
We sometimes find ourselves on the brink of asking those important questions but are held back by a sense of awkwardness or not knowing how to or the belief that there will always be another day.
So, whether you're just starting out in life or have a wealth of experiences to share, begin your journey now, and let us help you preserve the essence of your story.
Join Us in Sharing Your Story
We want to hear about your triumphs, milestones, cherished memories and the heart breaks that have shaped your life. Together, we will create a recording of moments that capture your legacy.
Coral Sea in a storm
