BetterStory Studio

Raleigh, Say It Better.

 

A live story, visibility, and authority lab

September 23 | Raleigh, NC | Terrace Raleigh

Dinner.
The skyline.
A microphone.
Real-time refinement.
Professional photography.
A room built to move people and opportunities forward.

Featuring guest expert

Crissy Fishbane

Speaker, writer, co-founder of HER+ Health Collective, and Top 3 finalist selected from more than 4,000 Next Top Speaker applicants

Her message:

Fear gets a voice.

It does not get the microphone.

General Admission: $80
VIP Visibility: $175 - SOLD OUT!!

Only 5 VIP Visibility spots are available.  SOLD OUT!!

Charlotte Proved the Concept.

Raleigh Proved the Room Could Travel.

Our first BetterStory Studio™ Raleigh brought nearly 30 people into the room.

 

Approximately 83% of them were completely new to Kristi and the Lighthouse ecosystem.

 

Before the evening ended:

  • People were hired.
  • Paid work began moving.
  • Collaborations formed.
  • Introductions were made.
  • Big-Ass Asks™ were spoken out loud and answered.
  • Every attendee received access to nearly 400 professionally edited event photographs, delivered within 3 days.

 

That's what happens when talented people enter a room designed to help their expertise become easier to see, understand, remember, and act on!

 

Now we are coming back.

  • Bigger room.
  • Stronger production.
  • Another exceptional guest expert.
  • 5 new voices on the microphone.
  • And 40 people learning how to say what they know, what they want, and why it matters.

Everybody Leaves Sharper.

BetterStory Studio™ is a live working room for founders, executives, speakers, creatives, operators, and ambitious professionals who want stronger language, clearer positioning, and more authority in the rooms that matter.

Inside the Studio, you will watch real people bring real messages to the microphone.

  • A founder story.
  • A keynote idea.
  • A pitch.
  • An interview answer.
  • A launch message.
  • A leadership lesson.
  • A Big-Ass Ask™.

Kristi will coach each VIP speaker in real time to tighten the language, clarify the value, remove the filler, and help the message land at the level of the work behind it.

The five people holding the microphone receive direct coaching.

Everyone in the room gets better by watching it happen.

You begin to hear where language loses power.

You recognize where a story needs context.

You see how one sentence can change the way expertise is perceived.

You leave with sharper instincts for your own message, your own asks, and your own next move.

Everybody leaves sharper.

Everybody learns to say it better.

Meet Our September Guest Expert

Crissy Fishbane

The Courage to Move Before You’re Ready

Crissy Fishbane is a speaker, writer, and community builder who helps people create more meaningful lives through self-worth, courage, curiosity, and connection.

A former educator and the co-founder of HER+ Health Collective, Crissy has spent years creating spaces where people feel seen, supported, and equipped to move forward.

Her keynote, The Courage to Move Before You’re Ready, earned her a Top 3 finish in the Next Top Speaker competition among more than 4,000 applicants.

Crissy brings emotional honesty, thoughtful storytelling, and the kind of stage presence that makes five minutes feel like five seconds.

Inside BetterStory Studio™ Raleigh, Crissy will share how self-worth, courage, curiosity, and connection change the way we speak, lead, and enter the next room.

Her central message:

Fear gets a voice.

It does not get the microphone.

What Happens Inside the Studio

Guest Expert Teaching

Crissy opens the working portion of the evening with a focused teaching segment built around courage, self-worth, curiosity, connection, and the decision to move before certainty arrives.

Five Live Lab Moments

Five VIP speakers bring a real message to the microphone.

Each person receives dedicated speaking time, live coaching from Kristi, expert perspective, audience insight, and professional photography.

Braggy Boardwalk™

The room reflects back what landed.

Attendees capture the lines, expertise, qualities, possibilities, and points of authority they recognized in each speaker.

This is usable language.

Language for bios.

Language for content.

Language for pitches.

Language for introductions.

Language for the next room.

Big-Ass Ask™

You will be invited to say what you need.

An introduction.

A client.

A collaborator.

A speaker opportunity.

A strategic relationship.

A new role.

A room you want to enter.

The first Raleigh Studio proved that asking clearly changes what becomes possible.

Professional Photography by Tatiana!

The entire evening is professionally documented.

Our first Raleigh gallery included nearly 400 edited photographs delivered within three days.

Attendees left with high-quality images they could use across:

  1. LinkedIn.
  2. Websites.
  3. Speaker pages.
  4. Media kits.
  5. Professional bios.
  6. Launch announcements.
  7. Thought leadership.
  8. Personal and company brands.

Where else do you attend one three-hour event and leave with this level of professional visual proof?

Meaningful Connection

The room is filled with thoughtful, ambitious people who care about growth, credibility, relationships, and movement.

The connection is facilitated.

The asks are explicit.

The follow-through matters.

september 23 | raleigh, nc

Choose Your Studio Experience

VIP Visibility Pass

$175 -  SOLD OUT!!

 

VIP Visibility is for the person ready to bring something real to the microphone.

Only 5 VIP Visibility spots are available because each speaker receives focused time, coaching, audience attention, and professional documentation.

Your VIP experience includes:

  • A guaranteed Live Lab Moment
  • Five minutes to deliver your message
  • Live coaching and refinement with Kristi
  • Guest-expert perspective
  • Personalized audience feedback
  • Braggy Boardwalk™ insights
  • A designated VIP table or reserved VIP place
  • Premium event positioning
  • Professionally edited photographs of your on-mic moment
  • The full BetterStory Studio™ experience
  • Food and access to the complete evening

Bring:

  • A pitch
  • A keynote or talk idea
  • A founder story
  • A leadership lesson
  • An interview answer
  • A launch message
  • A Big-Ass Ask™
  • The idea you understand deeply but have not fully articulated

Kristi will help you:

  • Tighten your language
  • Clarify your positioning
  • Strengthen your authority
  • Remove unnecessary explanation
  • Connect the story to the value
  • Help the room understand what to do with your message

You will leave with stronger language, specific feedback, professional visual assets, and a clearer way to speak about what comes next.

When your words affect revenue, promotion, platform, credibility, or perception, VIP is the move.

general

admission - $80

General Admission is for the person who wants to experience the room, learn from every coaching moment, participate in the connection, and leave sharper.

Your ticket includes:

  • The full BetterStory Studio™ experience
  • Crissy Fishbane’s guest-expert teaching
  • Five live VIP coaching moments
  • Braggy Boardwalk™ participation
  • The Big-Ass Ask™ experience
  • Elevated heavy appetizers
  • Meaningful facilitated connection
  • Professionally edited event photographs
  • Practical language and positioning insights you can use immediately

You don't need to hold the microphone to have a breakthrough.

Watching a message change in real time changes the way you hear your own.

Event Details

Date: Wednesday, September 23
Time: 6:00 to 9:00 p.m.
Location: Terrace Raleigh
Address: 225 S. Wilmington Street, Raleigh, NC 27601
Parking: Nearby parking is available
Food: Elevated heavy appetizers are included
Drinks: Premium cash and card bar
Dress: Come as you are, or as your next chapter
Photography: Professional event photography is included

Bring a colleague, client, collaborator, or friend.

This is a very fun room to experience with someone else!

we create rare rooms

rare rooms™

Why BetterStory Studio™ Exists

  1. Because most people are underprepared for the moments that matter most.
  2. Because opportunities often hinge on how clearly you can speak about what you do, what you know, and where you are going.
  3. Because visibility is so much more than confidence. It is language, reps, feedback, and the right room.

BetterStory Studio™ exists to give people a place to practice that work - live.

This is rehearsal for the rooms that count.

a creative collision

Where Raleigh’s most ambitious thinkers meet over good food, bold storytelling, and unexpected visibility breakthroughs.

The Studio Effect:

A guided experience designed to sharpen your story, strengthen your presence, and give you language you can use in your career, your pitch, or your next big move tomorrow morning.

Reserve your seat now.

Because most people stay quiet in the moments that matter most.
Because your next opportunity depends on how well you tell your story.
Because no one teaches us how to do this - at work, in business, or in life.

Because visibility is capital.
And language is the vehicle.

Better Story Studio™ fills that gap with a creative, strategic, experimental experience designed to make your voice grounded & powerful.

meet your raleigh expansion partner!

Molly Lukes is helping lead our Raleigh expansion of BetterStory Studio™ as Charter Expansion Partner for Raleigh-Durham.

She brings strength in people strategy, culture, organizational alignment, and local relationship capital across the Triangle. Her role is helping shape this room so it fits the market, the people, and the energy of Raleigh in a way that feels intentional, relevant, and strong from day one!

Expansion only works when the room is rooted in more than a zip code.

Molly helps ensure this Studio is locally informed, thoughtfully connected, and built to resonate with the founders, professionals, and leaders who call this market home.

BetterStory Studio™ is expanding with the right local partner, in the right city, at the right time.

HEY,
I’m
kristi!

Founder and CEO of Lighthouse Leadership Consultants™
Creator of BetterStory Studio™ and The Pinnacle Dinner™

I create the conditions for people to hear themselves more clearly.

My work sits at the intersection of positioning, strategic authority, visibility, trust, and ecosystem design.

I help founders, executives, leaders, and high-capacity professionals find the language that fits where they are going.

Then we build the relationships, rooms, visibility, and strategic momentum around that message so it can move.

Inside my rooms, people leave with:

  • Sharper positioning
  • Stronger language for what they do
  • Clearer ways to talk about their value
  • Better instincts for where their story belongs
  • Useful ideas for visibility and commercial movement
  • Stronger relationships
  • More direct asks
  • A clearer next move

BetterStory Studio™ is one of the most immediate ways to experience this work.

Your message gets refined.

Your authority gets reflected back to you.

Your next chapter starts sounding real.

When you know what you do but struggle to say it in a way that lands, this room was built for you.

Your story is already inside you.
You don’t need to be louder, or braver, or more polished.
You just need the right room — the kind that reflects you back to yourself, clearly and confidently.

Better Story Studio was built for that moment.

Bring the message.

Make the ask.

Leave sharper.

BetterStory Studio™ Raleigh
September 23 | Terrace Raleigh

General Admission: $80
VIP Visibility: $175