It’s story time on Design Downtime, as Laura Costantino joins us to talk about their lifelong love of stories. They take us all the way back to their childhood in southern Italy, to their father's folk tales, their grandmother's wartime stories, and their aunt's classical literature narratives. Laura tells us how that interest led them to study film and eventually curate film festivals, drawing parallels between the communal experience of oral storytelling and the shared experience of watching films in theatres. Laura also explores their preference for certain genres and touches on the impact of artificial intelligence on storytelling. Guest Bio Laura Costantino (they/them) is a senior content designer and strategist working on AI and large language models (LLMs) at Google. For the past ten years, they have worked at the intersection of UX, content, and marketing for some of the world's largest tech companies. Laura developed a passion for storytelling early on and received a MA in Cinema Studies in San Francisco, where they worked as a curator for a range of film festivals and cultural institutions around the Bay Area. Outside of work, Laura is committed to mentoring people transitioning into UX and tech, advocating for content, and sharing advice on LinkedIn. They currently live in NYC, were born in Southern Italy, and speak both English and Italian fluently. Links Laura’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauracostantino/ Credits Cover design by Raquel Breternitz.