Interviewee:
Stephanie Clements
In your own words, tell us about your business, organization, or initiative.
I am the owner of Teller of Tales Tours. I give historically based tours in a costumed character. I specialize in Salem’s maritime history. My tours are original as they are written by me. I have a tour about Pirates & Privateers as told by the Wicked Wench of the East as well as the Age of Great Sail & Hawthorne’s Tales as told by Susannah Ingersoll, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s cousin and heiress to a maritime fortune. The Mooncusser’s Tales is my maritime themed ghost tour. A mooncusser is a land pirate for those of you who don’t know. I do have a witch trials tour, but it is told by-what else-a sea witch! I am trained as an end of life doula so part of my business includes working with dying or infirmed clients creating what is called Legacy Projects. A way to tell your life story and leave something behind for your loved ones. Let the Teller of Tales tell your tale!
Tell us a bit about you and why you do what you do. Share your passions for your business, organization, or initiative.
I do what I do because it is the combination of my two passions: Maritime history and costumes. Salem has this wonderful maritime history that is oftentimes obscured by the Witch Trials of 1692. my motto has always been “Gimme the pirates!” There is research showing that pirate trials in 1690 involving the same magistrates involved in the Witch Trials may have actually helped to ignite the hysteria. I also feel a strong calling to work with the dying. My favorite aspect of death doula training was helping clients create Legacy Projects. I thought of starting my own death doula business at one point. There is such a stigma surrounding death in our country while other cultures embrace it. It is actually easier than being born. I want to help people on the last leg of their earthly journey, help them cross over. I am meant to do this.
What is the last thing you read, watched, or listened to that had an impact on you?
The last movie I watched that had an impact on me was “In The Name of The Father” about people wrongly accused of the Guilford Pub Bombings during the height of the Troubles in Northern Ireland. It tells the story of Gerry Conlon who spent fifteen years in prison for something he didn’t do. In the words of Gareth Pierce, his attorney ” His only crime is that he was bloody well Irish and he was in the wrong place at the wrong time” It brings tears to my eyes even writing that. What a miscarriage of justice. There was generations of sectarian violence there. I spent time in Belfast during graduate school working in a school infusing a program used in post conflict areas.
What’s the one thing people would be surprised to learn about you or your business?
I can sense when people are sick and dying. The soul starts to leave the body well before the physical death ever takes place.
What is Creative Collective?
Creative Collective is a group of economic development strategists, small business supporters, activation specialists, and believers in the importance of the creative workforce. We foster growth, sustainability, and scalability for small businesses, creative thinkers, organizations, entrepreneurs, and innovators. Learn more and join Creative Collective at www.creativecollectivema.com/join
