Nicole Dennis-Benn says she never could have become a writer if she had stayed in Jamaica -- that took living in the U.S. and encouragement from her wife. But returning to the land of her birth, she was confronted with all of the things she had run away from, yet also with the desire to tell the real stories of the people behind the fantasy. Dennis-Benn gives her Brief But Spectacular take.

Anna Deavere Smith, actor, playwright and activist, says she has been trying to become America, word for word. By conducting interviews and creating a narrative, she aims to make a current problem come alive. Deavere Smith offers her Brief but Spectacular take on listening to people.

When you actually hear a journalist grappling out loud with a story they're covering, it changes the news consumer's relationship with that journalist and that story, says Michael Barbaro of the New York Times. Barbaro gives his Brief but Spectacular take on his podcast, The Daily.

Dame Stephanie Shirley was so sick of being patronized that she decided to start her own software business -- then a laughable idea for a woman. But when her child was diagnosed with autism, it drove her toward a new life’s mission. Shirley gives her Brief but Spectacular take on making things happen.