Stories Heal Insecurities, Forging Trust.
Celebrating the Life and Legacy of
Dolly Rebecca Parton
"Queen of Appalachia"
Join with others, gathering from across the world, simply to share stories, insights, and meaningful experiences about how
kindness and giving to others makes a real difference.
This will be a live event, with minimal recording for a compilation of
showcasing storytelling as a strategy for making real and meaningful change.
A bridge across a question, a journey begins. One step at a time to a place within.
A bridge across a border, a hand reaching out. One heart at a time, to erase the doubt.
A bridge across a difference can close a divide, one song to be sung on the other side.
[Dolly Parton & Mark O'Conner, "A Bridge Across" (2008), included on the album, "This Is My America."]
Free, Live Webinar.
Click On Your Preferred Date/Time to Register:
Friday, Sept. 4, 6pm (EST)
Wednesday, Sept. 16, 3pm (EST)
Wednesday, Sept. 16, 7pm (EST)
Thursday, Sept. 24, 10am (EST)
Thursday, Sept. 24, 1pm (EST)
What You’ll Gain
In this FREE, live gathering, you’ll have an opportunity to:
1) Reflect on stories from Dolly’s life, from a curated collection of her stories of love, work, and play.
2) Consider the stories that have shaped your life and the values you connect with from Dolly Parton's songs.
3) Hear stories from people with very different backgrounds, while sharing what connects us all.
4) Find a way to make a difference in your family, workplace, community, or the wider world.
5) Discover ways to continue Dolly’s legacy of giving, including opportunities through her own philanthropic work.
Find Out Who You Are and Do It On Purpose!
-Dolly Parton
For More Resources and Free Downloads...
Melissa D. Sexton, PhD, MDiv, LMFT
I am an eighth-generation East Tennessean, but I don't think I fully understood how profoundly Dolly Parton had shaped so many of us until, before COVID, I was driving back and forth to Morehouse School of Medicine as a Satcher Health Policy Leadership Fellow. I listened to the podcast Dolly Parton's America and began to recognize how the stories and songs I had grown up with had traveled around the world—bringing tremendous joy, meaning, and human connection.
Human connection is strongest when dignity and humility are part of the encounter—when we don't assume we understand or overshadow someone else's lived experience. Dolly demonstrated something important: storytelling and music can create bridges across enormous differences without asking people to abandon who they are.
So, this month, I am offering several FREE, live educational and conversational experiences centered around stories from Dolly's life, songs, work, and extraordinary legacy of giving. What better way to demonstrate how stories build bridges than by gathering people to celebrate someone who did that so remarkably well?
I hope you will also visit DollyParton.com to learn about her philanthropic work and ways to contribute. I will direct participants there during the webinars as well.
But I also want to show you what can happen when real people gather and share stories.
I created StoriesBuildBridges™ to bring people together across divisions, cultures, and perspectives—to listen differently, reflect on the stories that have shaped us, and discover more purposeful and collaborative possibilities for change. I have trained mental health professionals and faith leaders to facilitate different kinds of storytelling experiences, using approaches I have developed and tested alongside reflective workbook exercises designed to encourage insight, creativity, and positive shifts in perspective.
Come experience the process for yourself.
© 2026, Melissa D. Sexton, StoriesBuildBridges.™ All Rights Reserved.