What is it that you truly dream of doing with your life? And if it’s your dream, why are you not doing it?

One thing you’re sure to find when talking to Elizabeth Uviebinené, founder of journaling app Storia and co-author of Slay in Your Lane: The Black Girl Bible, is a whole new motivation to get started on that dream.

“You know, I’m not the most special person,” says Uviebinené, humbly. “But I realise I have a skill of execution and helping people realise their ambitions.”

This is essentially why Uviebinené founded her app. It follows her 2018 bestselling debut book, which is full of inspirational advice and stories from successful Black women on how to navigate the unique challenges of life and work that Black women face. It became essential reading for women of all races and backgrounds, and made Uviebinené an aspirational figure herself.

“Being the type of author that I am, people look to me for answers,” explains Uviebinené. “I would go to events and meet women who would say, ‘I want to do something that is like what you have done.’ They had the answers themselves. They just needed the tool to get those answers out.”

Storia, says Uviebinené, “Is for the dreamers and doers. It’s for people who want to make progress, but who lack a sense of direction.”

On the surface, it is a journaling app that will encourage you to set intentions and check in daily to reflect on your progress and your goals. You can choose where to put your focus – on gratitude, creativity, your values, connection with others or your thoughts and feelings.

Each day, Storia will guide you through a short reflection ritual combining a check-in, a gratitude exercise and a personalised journaling prompt. Using AI, it will help you make sense of recurring themes, goals and patterns in your entries.

On the Insights tab, your Life Arc will connect the dots across the various aspects of your life, revealing, for example, where a work issue may be affecting your relationship or where poor sleep could be having an impact on your motivation. Over time, this can help you understand your progress with more context and greater perspective.

There is also an accountability element to the app where you can buddy up with friends and fellow users of Storia to keep you on track with your goals. “People need confidence, community and clarity to help them take the next step in whatever they need to do,” says Uviebinené.

But Uviebinené sees this as much more than just a place to write down what’s on your mind.

“I see a tool that helps people get from A to B and make progress,” she says. “Eighty per cent of people who download the app have never used a journaling app before. They don’t see themselves as ‘journalers’ – they come because they want greater clarity, a better understanding of the patterns in their lives and support turning reflection into action.”

In fact, Uviebinené thinks of Storia as a place for self-reinvention. “Most of the people using Storia are at a turning point,” she says. “They have just gone through a break-up or want a new job and something clicks in their brain that makes them think, ‘It’s time for me to be intentional and work towards something.’”

This is a reflection of Uviebinené’s own experiences. “I’ve had several turning points in my life where I’ve had to rediscover myself. It’s a good thing,” she says.

Indeed one of the first of these turning points led to her co-writing Slay In Your Lane and leaving her city marketing job. The next led to the invention of Storia. “I had been somewhat thrust into this book industry… I wasn’t as fulfilled as I knew I could be, so I had to go through a period of rediscovering myself and my ambitions again, away from people’s expectations of me.”

It also led her to begin journaling. “It wasn’t journaling in the traditional sense, it was more like scripting. I would record voice notes about what I wanted my day to look like. That gave me clarity… I realised I love creating,” she explains.

Uviebinené saw the opportunity to create a tool for others, to guide them through that same process. “Dreaming is a privilege and I want people to have the ability to dream,” she says.

“People always ask, ‘How do you know you’re good at something?’ I say, ‘What do you find effortless that other people find hard?’” says Uviebinené. “Often, the clues are already there: in the things people keep returning to, the work that gives them energy and the strengths others naturally rely on them for.”

Ultimately, Uviebinené wants you to take the same power over your life as she has over her own – using Storia to understand what the patterns in your life reveal about who you are and what brings you fulfilment.

“I don’t have the answers, you do!” she says. “All the answers reside in you.”