Nobody Knows Everything

Sarah Bucci has spent fifteen years working on environmental and water issues. Though as she tells it, the job really started in the second grade, with a paintbrush and a storm drain in Maryland. At The Water Hub she now leads strategic communications, helping community organizations, activists and academics tell their own stories well.

We talked about the accident of a career, the terror of calling a journalist, and why not knowing everything might be a strength.

This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity. Watch the full conversation on our YouTube channel

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Tell us a little about yourself and was there a moment or memory that first drew you to water?

Sarah: So this is kind of funny timing. My mom and dad are trying to clear out things from their home. They still live in the house that I grew up in. And so I just got in the mail a poster that I had made as a school project, I think in second grade, where I was painting the storm drains in our neighborhood. I grew up in Maryland. “Chesapeake Bay drainage, don't dump,” on the storm drains on the street that I grew up on. And I was like, oh, I got started as a clean water advocate in the second grade, doing that in the neighborhood. I guess I didn't know what this meant career-wise, but I had wanted to be part of the movement to protect the environment in some way since I was really small.

Early career, I started in more of the environmental organizing and advocacy space, and worked in member-based nonprofit organizations for the first just under 10 years of my career. And then I took a career break. As I was trying to figure out what the next phase looked like, I really found myself gravitating towards working on communications specifically.

And then six years ago I learned about the Water Hub, and being able to focus on water-specific communications. I was interviewing for this job, and I was taking a trip rafting on the Colorado River with some friends, in the middle of the interview process. And I was on the water, telling some folks about this job I was interviewing for, and I was like — there's serendipity in this.

So a little bit of a flowing path. But the through line has been wanting to work in environmental protection.

“I got started as a clean water advocate in the second grade.”

Tell us about your work at The Water Hub and what's one project or story you are especially proud of?

Sarah: We are a behind-the-scenes organization. Our goal is to equip community organizations, and activists, and academics, and our partners with the tools and the resources. And so when I'm able to see that facilitation work and come to fruition, and see our partners telling their stories in their own words out in the world, that's certainly when I feel the most proud.

I remember when I was just getting started as an environmental advocate, I was early career, just out of college, in my early 20s, and learning how to engage with media and reporters and journalists, how scary I found that idea. I was like, wait, I can just call a journalist and tell them I have an idea and hope they want to cover something? And the first time I ever organized a media-focused event, nobody came. It was really terrifying, but a good learning experience.

People who work in media are also just people who care a lot about their jobs and are trying to do a good job. And so being an intermediary between activists on the ground who really want to get the word out about something that's happening in their community, and reporters who are looking for really good stories, and making those connections. Whenever I see that make its way into the world, that's when I feel the most proud

“The first time I ever organized a media-focused event, nobody came.”

What's the hardest part of communicating about water?

Sarah: For me, I think the most challenging part is the tension between simplicity and nuance. We are trying to connect with people, so you have to really boil something down into its purest form: the emotional connective tissue, the heart of the issue. But all of the issues we work on, there's decades and decades of historical context and there's really specific technical challenges. And so finding that sweet spot between honoring the complication and the nuance of these difficult issues, and really finding the simple story, the true story that's going to connect with people on a deeper emotional level. And as a communications professional, sometimes the hardest thing is to take your own advice.

And then the media. On a day-to-day, the media landscape changes so quickly. So trying to be adaptive, and keeping up to date with just how bifurcated people are getting their information.

“Sometimes the hardest thing is to take your own advice.”

What do you think makes a story really work? And when do you trust the data versus the story?

Sarah: I do think they're very complementary. There's a time and a place, and some of it depends on your audience a little bit too.

Taking a step back before you even get to that question of what's going to make this story work: if at the end of the day someone is hearing or watching or listening to or reading about this, what are the two or three things that afterwards you want them to remember and be able to regurgitate and take away? That's your starting point.

If they're chit-chatting with a friend over coffee about, “I read this article, and here's what I learned from it,” what are the things you want them to be able to say? And then everything that you do should be towards that goal.

And then not trying to do too much. Maybe there's a compelling data point, or some kind of data visualization that really hammers home the key point you want people to know then that's what to lean into. If there's a personal story of someone in the community, or of a community in general, that really reiterates that point. That's something to lean into.

I think the elements of a good story always have characters. So you've got people who are heroes to root for. You've got villains they're working against. You have elements of plot and tension. There's some kind of conflict, and a decision moment. And the best stories are kind of in the middle. You don't have to wait till after something's been fully resolved. You want the reader or listener to be able to put themselves in the story and feel like, oh, I know someone like that, or I can feel how this would relate to my own life.

At the end of the day especially with folks who are passionate about their work, and I'm guilty of this, there is a tendency to want to tell you everything I know about this issue. And at that point you get information overload, and I don't remember anything. So instead, picking one or two of these elements that really reinforce the main takeaways. I think that's the most effective.

“There's a tendency to tell you everything I know about this issue. And at that point you get information overload.”

What advice would you give someone who wants to start telling water stories?

Sarah: I think we probably put a lot of pressure on ourselves to be both issue experts and communications experts. And I think there's real strength and value in being able to come at issues with fresh eyes, and really leaning into that lay person's perspective.

That's something that I do try to bring to my work. Even having worked on environmental and water issues for the last 15 years, you can't be an expert in everything. There's lots of stuff that I have a cursory knowledge of, truly. And so not seeing that as necessarily a weakness, but bringing that lens to storytelling, and to that goal of simplifying and getting to the heart of the matter, the truth of the matter.

The other is, everything is a learning opportunity. I learn by doing. You try one angle on a story, and maybe it doesn't seem to resonate. And so you try another one, and those engagement metrics online are a little bit better. Because a lot of times, even the most seasoned professionals, we're trying things out, we're seeing what the numbers are, we're iterating on them, we're trying new things and learning from that.

So bringing that adaptability and nimbleness, I think, is really valuable for folks starting out in their careers as well. You should not feel negatively about not knowing everything. Nobody knows everything. So that eagerness to learn, and to bring those fresh eyes to work that's happening, can be really valuable.

“You should not feel negatively about not knowing everything. Nobody knows everything.”

Quick fire: what's your favorite body of water?

Sarah: A different day might be a different answer. But today, my neighborhood lake. There's a small lake just down the street at the neighborhood park where I live in Denver. And there's something really special about places like that, where in a city environment I'm able to walk around, and I see neighbors and people enjoying it. And even sometimes on hot days, and we're dealing with drought, it could get a little stinky, but I still love it. Just being able to see green space and trees and wildlife, whether it's just the geese that live there, or we get a bald eagle or hawks every now and again.