Stories at
the Table
Mēz
Mēz is a one-of-a-kind multimedia platform that aims to inspire, inform, and represent our world through storytelling. It will feature videos, magazines, blogs, digital museums, podcasts, soundscapes, and so much more, created by youth, for youth. Above all, this is a space to uplift and honour stories that often go unheard.
Background
Mēz is the in-house storytelling platform of Stories At The Table, a social good creative house that provides a range of storytelling services to impact-driven clients around the world.
Maryam and Nivaal Rehman are the co-founders of Stories At The Table. These University of Oxford graduates and current Harvard University students have been storytellers and activists for 10+ years, working with the Walt Disney Company, the United Nations, World Bank, Malala Fund, and more on a variety of projects, demonstrating the power of youth-led innovation. Their storytelling projects have reached millions of people around the world.
Now, they're working to actively decolonize and hone their storytelling practice and artistry. They're living in various communities globally, having been to 70+ cities, 20+ countries and 6 continents thus far. They're consciously travelling as a means of gaining knowledge and transforming themselves, especially learning from non-western epistemological sources. They're also co-creating storytelling projects highlighting various people, places, and issues along the way. Through Mēz, they’re creating a truly unique digital platform which connects people through these authentic stories, particularly from the Global Majority.
Founders
as
seen in
Behind
the Name
Long before we decided what we wanted to name our storytelling company, we sat in our garden during slow summer evenings and reflected on what storytelling actually meant to us. What feelings did it evoke? What memories? And what was universal about storytelling? Somehow, we were always taken back to times when we were surrounded by family members or strangers at tables, of all shapes and sizes, sharing meals with generations of recipes coming to life. And the stories that were shared in these spaces always stuck with us. Whether it was in our family homes amid the mountains of Kashmir or the wide, sprawling fields in our village in Pakistan, or during our travels to countries all over the world. Stories at the Table, was the name that emerged after endless hours of reflection and our constant return to these memories. It was the perfect way to describe the feeling of familiarity and humanity that we hope to evoke through the many storytelling projects we work on as a company.
And then, when we decided that we wanted to create an in-house storytelling platform through which we could continue to inspire, inform and represent our world, we spent years without being able to decide on a name that would be suitable. And in the end, once again, we landed on a name that seemed to bring all the pieces of the puzzle together: Mez. A familiar word from our childhood in Kashmir and Pakistan. Mez means table in Urdu and Koshur, and even Persian. It is the perfect metaphor for what we are building, and what we hope this platform represents: the digital “table” at which we bring together stories from around the world in various multimedia formats. And even though this platform is innovative and hosted digitally, we hope that it is rooted in our collective histories and honours the knowledge and stories that people have been sharing for generations, particularly in the Global South, and ones that often go unheard.
Vision and Creative Roots
Mēz is intentionally designed to inform people about issues and stories of our world and inspire them towards action. In a media landscape reliant on fast-paced, binge-worthy, and addictive content, Mēz is a platform counting on people disconnecting from it and implementing change. It will serve as a starting point for learning about issues, foster connections with voices and perspectives of youth from around the world, and use the power of art, stories, and knowledge-sharing as a means for transforming our world for the better.
Current Projects and Timeline
Mēz is scheduled to be launched in September this year, in London, UK. Over 20 projects are lined up for the launch, including but not limited to documentaries, an academic journal, photo series, blogs, podcasts, and more.
Beyond the launch, our focus is creating a sustainable infrastructure to train, fund and platform young creatives, activists, and storytellers through Mēz. Maryam and Nivaal are also actively filming, creating, and pursuing knowledge-development projects in the field to hone their creative and storytelling practice, and of course, produce and share content for Mēz.
Preview Mēz Series
Current Stage
Idea for Mēz and start of production
Wrapping up production of launch series
Mēz launch in London, UK
Want to Help Tell
Stories That Matter?
If you'd like to support our mission and work, reach out to us. Whether you're a young creative or storyteller with a project you'd like to work on/feature on Mēz, or an organization, supporter, or collective that would like to support or create a project for Mēz yourself, please reach out and we'd love to hear from you!