By: Olivia Samuel
Shafer Stedron, MD, is a neurologist and storyteller whose work centers on the connection between personal narrative, place, and well-being. Her next storytelling project turns that lens toward Northern Michigan.
Stedron is launching NoMi Stories (“NoMi” is a moniker for Northern Michigan), a community-focused YouTube channel featuring the artists, events, legends, history, and people of Northern Michigan. The channel is scheduled to launch in July 2026.
The project grew from Stedron’s connection to Northern Michigan, a place she describes as somewhere that “forever feels like home.” Through NoMi Stories, she plans to share stories about the people and places that give the region its character, bringing its unique culture to viewers beyond the area.
The channel will focus on regional storytelling through a local lens. Planned subjects include artists, events, legends, historical stories, and people whose lives reflect the local culture.
Stedron is developing the channel with Taylor Dueweke, an Emmy Award-nominated documentarian whose work includes “Boston Strangler” and “The Birth of a Movement.” Together, they plan to use what Stedron describes as a “cinematic yet raw approach” to tell real stories about the region.
NoMi Stories also fits within Stedron’s broader work in storytelling. As founder of Little House of Dreams Entertainment, LLC, she is expanding her creative work into visual media. The channel gives her a platform to document a place that has shaped her life and to share those stories with a wider audience.
Before NoMi Stories, Stedron’s storytelling work took shape through books, podcasting, and publishing. Her work is rooted in the idea that people’s stories influence how they understand themselves, their health, and their future.
That idea carries into the channel’s focus on community. NoMi Stories is designed to capture the lived texture of Northern Michigan through the voices and experiences of people connected to the area. Rather than adopting a standard travel lens, the channel approaches the region from the inside, through the culture, memory, and everyday life of the people connected to it.
The YouTube format allows the project to reach people who know the area well, along with viewers who may be discovering it for the first time. Stedron hopes the channel may bring the peace, beauty and culture of Northern Michigan to viewers everywhere.
The launch also reflects a broader shift in Stedron’s body of work. Through Little House of Dreams Publishing House, she has supported authors, with a special focus on young authors, in moving from an idea to a published book. Through NoMi Stories, she is applying that same belief in the value of stories to a regional video platform.
When NoMi Stories arrives this summer, it comes as an invitation to sit with the people, places, and stories that make Northern Michigan what it is.
To learn more, follow @nomistorieschannel on Instagram.
