Varina Buntin Willse

The President of Willse Ink, Varina is a native Nashvillian who—after launching her career in New York and attending graduate school at Oxford University—returned to her hometown to start her business helping others tell their story. Equal parts strategic thinker and creative visionary, Varina has worked with over 75 clients across industries to establish content strategy and messaging, and she has penned four books of narrative nonfiction (with another work of spiritual nonfiction forthcoming). Her book, Home to Us: Six Stories of Saving the Land, which was commissioned by the Land Trust for Tennessee and published in 2012, garnered critical praise and won her two national book awards. In addition to her work with clients, Varina also launched the media platform, Ponder Effect, and was the creative force behind Mangata, both initiatives that foster intentional living and collective inquiry. More about her can be found here.

As to how she came to the work of helping others tell their story, Varina shares her own: The epiphany came late in the fall of 2013. I was finding the simple question “What do you do?” surprisingly hard to answer. I was a columnist for a regional magazine, writing essays on whatever happened to strike me. I was a tutor, helping seniors craft their personal statements for college. I was a content specialist, honing messaging for several businesses. I was a personal author/oral historian, beginning a legacy book for a family wanting to preserve their history. And I was a mom to three young daughters, all under the age of five.

In some ways, these parts of my life seemed disparate, my time and focus disjointed. I had always loved writing and teaching (which I broadly define as guiding people deeper into their own truths and our shared humanity). I had grown up in a home walled with books, my mother an avid reader and my father an advertising executive. I had spent my undergraduate years at the University of North Carolina writing a thesis on Faulkner that earned Highest Honors. I had lived and worked in Times Square, landing magazine jobs at both Conde Nast and Hearst publications where I helped conceptualize the first digital brand for Harper’s Bazaar magazine. I had completed graduate school at Oxford University and begun a second masters in English Education at Vanderbilt. I had served as a member of the core administrative team that founded Ensworth High School and spent years teaching middle and high school English, while also acting as Executive Editor for a regional magazine. Ultimately, I had written my first book, Home To Us: Six Stories of Saving the Land, which received two book awards.

And then this tangle of things. Who was I and what exactly did I “do”? My aha-moment came to me on a long walk in the woods, as so many good insights do. All of a sudden I could clearly see the common thread among my various endeavors, a thread that I now view as my company’s mission. It manifests itself in different ways, whether I am working with a start-up or an established company, working with writers (students or professionals) or working on a book, but the essence is the same. I help other people reveal their story.

That work is essential. It’s the basis of what makes us human: our desire to make meaning of our lives through the discovery and ultimately the sharing of our story. It is also the basis of creating a successful company, one that connects with its audience in an authentic, impactful way. Helping others reveal their story—by capturing the mission of a company or chronicling the ancestry of a family—is my great passion and privilege.

2013 IPPY Book Awards, Best Regional Nonfiction (South)
2013 INDIE Book Award Finalist
“A Word on Words” with John Seigenthaler, Two-Part Series Television Interview
24th Annual Southern Festival of Books Participating Author