Gammy Nieves
Giving a Voice to the Voiceless
Written by Zac Godwin
Spoken by Gammy Nieves & Toni Reece
Photo by Mateo Toro
Insider and Outsider are titles that separate us. In storytelling, these titles are meaningless. Everyone deserves a chance to have a voice, regardless of their zip code.
He spins the microphone chord around his fingers absentmindedly and taps his foot along with each word, but he’s not anxious or disinterested. He is just unable to contain the amount of excitement and happiness that he feels for just being alive. As he talks about himself, he tells stories. Stories about graduating high school in Pennsylvania, working for a fashion magazine in Puerto Rico, traveling to Africa, moving to the United States during the 2008 economy crash, losing a friend and colleague, and so much more. There’s a moment of silence while he considers the personal impact of telling stories: “I learn from them and how I was able to pick a lot from their story and be like, ‘Oh my God, like if they did it, I can do it too.’” He drops the microphone chord and gestures with his hands excitedly: “Because what’s the difference between you and I? It’s really nothing.” There is another smile the shows how much he really believes in what he is saying. His name is Gamalier (Gammy) Nieves, and he is the creative director of The People Chronicles.
“No.” Her single-word response was a surprising response to what was a well-written and rehearsed question. However, it was not an angry or even frustrated “No.” It was soft and patient, as if she knew the question about her hometown was going to be asked. There was silence for a moment, but she quickly responded again: “No. I don’t have to be from Reading to care about the people in this community.” A smile moved across her face and her passion lit up her eyes and swelled inside her as she continued. “People are people. And it doesn’t matter what your zip code is, it doesn’t matter what county you live in, people are people. And everybody deserves to have a voice.” The silence after she finished speaking was different then the silence after her “No.” It was a peaceful, reflective silence. One that can make someone scratch their chin and consider a whole new perspective. Her name is Toni Reece, and she is the founder of The People Chronicles.
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In Reading, Pennsylvania, over the past six years The People Chronicles has immortalized more than 4,000 stories in podcasts and videos. It is a platform that gives the opportunity of storytelling to people who probably wouldn’t have the chance otherwise. The platform was first
Toni Reece, founder of The People's Chronicles
built on an idea: the most important part of any community is the people behind it. Then it was fueled by the desire to give more people a public voice. As far as Gammy and Toni are concerned, few things can impact both an individual person and a large community like storytelling.
Photo by Mateo Toro
Each of the 4,000 interviews is a self-contained story — a piece of someone’s life — but all of them together create another story. A story about insiders and outsiders. A story about a man from Puerto Rico anxious to find his next creative challenge and a woman from Reading dedicated to the people that make up her community. It is a story about storytelling.
In Reading, Pennsylvania, over the past six years The People Chronicles has immortalized more than 4,000 stories in podcasts and videos. It is a platform that gives the opportunity of storytelling to people who probably wouldn’t have the chance otherwise. The platform was first built on an idea: the most important part of any community is the people behind it. Then it was fueled by the desire to give more people a public voice. As far as Gammy and Toni are concerned, few things can impact both an individual person and a large community like storytelling.
Eric Rodriguez — Just a Kid from Reading
In 2018, Eric Rodriguez was interviewed for The People Chronicles. Eric is many things: the owner of Mike and Joe’s Barber Shop, a lover of his community, but more than anything he is, “Just a kid from Reading.” These five words may seem simple, but they mean the world to Eric. What started out as a t-shirt advertisement opportunity for Reading entrepreneurs quickly changed his life: “The kid, Lonnie Walker, he took a big liking to [the shirts], and I got hit up by the Reading High Basketball Team… they wore them for the playoffs … it turned into something big.” The five little words made their way to Walker and became his catchphrase. The prodigy basketball player now represents his hometown in interviews to the entire world by repeating Eric’s words: “I’m just a kid from Reading.” Whether he is establishing a community through his barber shop or collecting and distributing money to people in Puerto Rico after Hurricanes Irma and Maria, Eric has a desire to help people wherever they are.
Eric and Lonnie are both Reading natives, but their community impact extends far beyond Reading’s borders. Gammy and Toni are not ignorant to how some people view Reading. However, instead of just accepting it, their mission for The People Chronicles is to change the perceptions of Reading and show the people in the city that are working to make a difference.
GAMMY: I think a lot of us here in this community are stuck in the past. And they’re always thinking about how Reading used to be … I think Reading was amazing, Reading was great. But now, it’s a different Reading. And Reading’s still great and amazing.
But not only the people of Reading are telling these stories. Gammy and Toni strongly believe that “insiders” with a specific ethnic background or a certain zip code should not be given more opportunity and priority over the “outsiders” that don’t share these traits. The People Chronicles was founded on the idea that everyone’s story matters — not just the people with resources or those that are always asked to share their stories. Everyone.
Marcy Tocker — A Place Where We All Belong
In 2018, Marcy Tocker was interviewed for The People Chronicles. Marcy is a small business owner who recorded an interview with The People Chronicles in June 2018. She is the founder of Grey Muzzle Manor, a peaceful place for animal hospice care as well as animal and equine-assisted therapy: “I want Grey Muzzle Manor to be a place where everybody belongs… whether animal or person. I never felt like I mattered… because I know those feelings, I would do anything to prevent anyone else from feeling that way.” Marcy wanted to use her own insecurities to make her community a better place for everyone in it, and The Manor became that outlet. Marcy speaks often about her dream: “The dream is to just help people and animals from the struggles we go through.” Marcy Tocker saw a problem in the community and took it upon herself to do something about it.
The love for her community is expressed in everything she does. Marcy is not a Reading native, but in her 13 years in Berks County she has been inspired by some amazing people in this community. Grey Muzzle Manor is located in Fleetwood, about ten miles outside the city. Marcy has worked hard to help benefit her community, and her message of positivity and self-love continues to impact her community.
TONI: “You walk down Penn Street and who gets to decide whose story is important enough to be told? Who deemed whom that power to decide that your story gets to be told? I don’t know that anyone waves that magic wand… So, we don’t play favorites.”
Each story published by the People Chronicles is part of a larger series that showcases different people, such as veterans, senior adults, entrepreneurs, and many more. On a grand level, the projects impact the community by highlighting the people that make Reading the great community it is, and on a personal level, the projects give confidence to the storyteller that what they have to say does matter. The difference between when someone walks into The People Chronicles building at 505 Penn Street and when they walk out after giving their interview is notably different.
GAMMY: “When someone comes in, they’re very nervous. But at the end of the day … they’re so passionate… they gonna go home and they gonna tell all their people that they know that they did an interview… So, their interview now has more than just a shelf life. It’s beyond that.”
It is important to want to impact the community as well as the individual person. Reading, like any other place, is a community made up of individuals. Together, thousands of people have built up the city through their lives and their stories. These stories have the power to change how people see the community, but they also can change how the individual storyteller sees themselves. When someone tells their story, they open themselves up to being more confident that they ever thought possible. But it doesn’t end there. Listening to stories can influence and inspire us to be brave and do things that we didn’t think were possible. Gammy’s words could not be truer: “If they did it, I can do it too.” Even when the story is unlike anything the majority of people have ever experienced.
Hilde Gernsheimer — A Life of Love
In 2016 Hilde Gernsheimer was interviewed for The People Chronicles. Saying that Hilde lived an amazing life would be an understatement. At 82 years old she sat down with The People Chronicles and expressed how thankful she is for life she was given. Her voice and laugh are both full of youth. Every time she speaks, the corners of her mouth pull back to show a soft smile. She shows her youthful attitude while reminiscing about meeting her husband: “I met [my husband] in January, I married him in March, and I had two children in December. Now, I dare anybody to beat that!” Her happiness never fades for even a second, even when we she talks about leaving home at age 12 from the fear of Nazi Germany: “I left home at 12 years old because of the Hitler situation and was raised in England, lived in a children’s home, then I moved to Illinois for 9 months, then New York for 9 months and then when I met my husband, married and moved to Bernville PA. I had a wonderful life... I consider myself very fortunate.”
Hilde’s story will continue to inspire people inside and outside the Reading community. Her words will live forever through the interview with The People Chronicles, and will never fade to time. Her positive attitude and joy in sharing her story are exactly what the People Chronicles want for Reading and the larger community of people around it.
Eric, Marcy, and Hilde are just three examples of the thousands of stories that are available through the People Chronicles. One is a Reading insider, one is a Reading outsider, and one is not even a native of this country. Regardless, each story provides something that people inside and outside of Reading can appreciate and learn from. Everyone has a story to tell, and the people behind this amazing platform are no exception.
Gammy Nieves — Thinking in Abundance
Led by a strong sense of positivity and creativity, there is not much in the creative field that Gammy Nieves hasn’t done. Born in Puerto Rico, he came to Pennsylvania to graduate high school in Lancaster, and then back to graduate college in Puerto Rico. To Gammy, life is too short to spend it doing the same thing or being negative all the time. The world is not miserable and cruel, it’s full of life and hope. “You have to think about this: if you stay positive and happy, everything is always good… just enjoy life. We only have one life, why not make the most of it of all of it?... You have to always think in abundance.”
Things were going well for Gammy, but everything changed just by knocking on a door. At the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Gammy was working as a marketer when he saw Toni doing interviews out of a hotel room. Day after day his curiosity rose as he saw more and more “clients” of Toni’s: “I always say that to be in a creative field, you have to be curious.” But even he could have never guessed where his life would go after he knocked on the door. “Meeting Toni, I think it was just the coolest thing ever. I have learned so much from her… This is more than a friendship. It’s more like, I consider her family.”
Photo by Mateo Toro
Toni Reece — Giving People a Voice
The daughter of a singer and a sax player deep in the Reading Jazz community, Toni has been in Reading most of her life. However, she has worked all over the world. Most recently, she spent eight years oversees developing a United Kingdom branch of The People Academy, the parent organization of The People Chronicles. Toni has been in this industry for twenty-five years, and has seen how communities like Reading can impact people far outside the city borders. While on her honeymoon in Chicago she visited an underground blues club, and after talking to the group, discovered that they not only knew the city of Reading, but they had played with her father decades ago.
With a burning desire inside of her, but unsure of how to go about it, she began forming what would become The People Chronicles at room 204 at The Crowne Plaza Hotel. She began small — interviewing individuals and nonprofits that wanted to get their message out there — and quickly gained traction. And it was in this room that Toni began what would go on to become The People Chronicles. Now, all she needed was an incredibly optimistic and driven creative director that would take the platform into this generation. “Working with people all over the world and doing what I did, I have never seen the visual eye that I saw with Gammy. And it also matched his personality. He had a great personality.”
When someone tells their story, they are sharing their history, their successes, and their failures so that we can learn from them. In that way, the more different someone is, the more effective their story will be. It offers a new way of thinking that the listener may have never experienced before. Stories can build a bridge that allows insiders and outsiders to meet. Gammy and Toni believe that if people continue coming together to tell their stories, the boundaries between storyteller and their audience will quickly fade away. Because after all, we are all just people with a story to tell.