A body of work by Emeli Paulo
We become who we are inside conditions.
These books examine how those conditions shape what we carry, how we relate, how we work together and what becomes possible collectively.
Begin with the book that speaks to you.
Or become a Founding Reader of the complete four-book body of work.
[LIVE FOUNDING READER COUNT] of 500 Founding Readers
The first campaign goal is 500 Founding Readers.
Personal
It Was Never My Shame to Begin With
Interpersonal
The Return
Organisational
Culture by Co-Design
Social and collective
SoCo
Why this body of work exists
It does not.
We develop inside families, relationships, workplaces, communities, cultures and systems. Those environments influence what we learn to hide, what we believe about ourselves, how safe it feels to participate, how we respond under pressure, how power operates and what support exists around us.
This body of work looks at those conditions at four different scales.
Each book stands on its own.
Together, they move from the personal to the interpersonal, organisational and collective.
Four books. Four scales.
Personal
It Was Never My Shame to Begin With
PersonalBook 1 of 4
Not everything you carry belongs to you.
A story-led investigation into how shame is made, inherited, embodied and sustained through relationships, culture and institutions.
It asks what happens when experiences produced through families, communities, identities and systems become interpreted as personal failure.
Interpersonal
The Return
InterpersonalBook 2 of 4
Reconnection is a practice.
A practical field guide to rebuilding relationship with ourselves and others through boundaries, trust, participation, repair and the practices of returning.
It begins after recognition. Once we understand what shaped us, how do we live, relate and participate differently?
Organisational
Culture by Co-Design
OrganisationalBook 3 of 4
Stop performing culture. Start practising it.
A story-led field guide to the behaviours, decisions, power relationships and systems that create the culture people actually experience at work.
It examines the gap between stated culture and lived culture, especially when work becomes difficult.
Social and collective
SoCo
Social and collectiveBook 4 of 4
Good people need better infrastructure.
A field guide to the shared structures, relationships, resources and collective capability people need to sustain meaningful social, cultural and creative work.
It asks why talented and committed people are so often expected to build important work alone, and what becomes possible when better support exists around them.
How the books connect
You do not need to read the books in order.
Choose the doorway that is most relevant to your life, work or community.
The later synthesis
Atlas of Human Groups is the later synthesis of this body of work.
It will examine recurring patterns across the ways humans gather, belong, participate, perform, exclude, fracture, create, transform and repair.
The Atlas is not included in the four-book pre-order.
Readers can join the Atlas list separately and follow the research as it develops.
Story-led. Evidence-informed. Made to be used.
These books draw from more than two decades of facilitation, community work, organisational practice, lived experience, research and conversations with people who have shaped this body of work.
They are not academic textbooks.
Across the series, story is combined with research, frameworks, questions, reflection and practical application.
What readers will take away
Sample the work
As manuscripts move through development, this section can include excerpts from each title.
Personal
Not everything you carry belongs to you.
Choose your doorway
Start with It Was Never My Shame to Begin With if you are examining shame, identity, belonging, survival patterns or the experiences that shaped how you see yourself.
Choose ShameStart with The Return if understanding what happened is no longer enough and you want practical ways to reconnect, set boundaries, repair and participate differently.
Choose The ReturnStart with Culture by Co-Design if you lead, facilitate, design or work inside organisations and want to understand the conditions people actually experience at work.
Choose Culture by Co-DesignStart with SoCo if you are a creator, consultant, community leader, social entrepreneur, organiser or funder interested in what helps meaningful collective work survive.
Choose SoCoInterested in all four?
Become a Founding Reader of the complete body of work.
Why pre-order
A social audience tells us people are interested.
A paid pre-order gives us stronger evidence that people intend to read the work.
Pre-ordering does not determine the editorial direction of the books.
Readers will receive clear publishing updates as each title develops.
[LIVE FOUNDING READER COUNT] of 500 Founding Readers
The first campaign goal is 500 Founding Readers.
Pre-order options for readers
A$25
Choose one digital book from the four-book body of work.
Delivered when the selected title is published.
A$49+ postage
Choose one first-edition print book.
Delivered when the selected title is published.
A$79
Choose one title.
Includes:
Complete digital body of work
A$99
Pre-order the complete four-book digital body of work.
Includes:
Each title includes one reader licence. Before delivery, you may assign that title to yourself or gift it to another person.
A$149
Includes the Founding Four collection for you, plus funded digital access for readers who may otherwise be unable to purchase the work.
Community access will be allocated through the project's published access process. Readers who receive funded access are not publicly identified.
Keep it. Gift it. Pass access forward.
The four titles are designed for different moments, roles and parts of human life.
If you buy the Founding Four collection, each title can be assigned before delivery.
One body of work can travel through a network in different ways.
For teams and organisations
A$99
One Founding Four reader licence for one staff member or professional.
This does not provide company-wide distribution rights.
A$300
Includes 10 digital reader places across selected books or the four-book collection, subject to licence allocation.
Designed for small teams, peer groups and community organisations.
A$750
Includes up to 25 digital reader places and organisational acknowledgement, where appropriate and agreed.
A$1,500
Includes up to 50 digital reader places, organisational acknowledgement and one online author conversation.
Support community access and contributor participation
Approved public-benefit publishing, accessibility, contributor and community participation activities may be supported through SoCo's auspice relationship with Our Race Community Limited, subject to the approved project scope and donation arrangements.
Commercial book purchases and philanthropic donations are separate transactions.
Tax-deductibility and donor recognition are subject to the approved Our Race arrangement.
The SoCo Anthology
The SoCo Anthology is a separate collective publication designed to gather stories, reflections, creative work and lived knowledge from people and communities.
Buying a book is not required to contribute.
Buying a book does not guarantee publication.
Selected contributors will receive clear information about consent, editing, attribution, payment where funding permits, withdrawal and reuse before publication.
Atlas of Human Groups research
The wider research will continue alongside the books through story circles, interviews, facilitated conversations, practice documentation and pattern mapping.
Readers and non-readers may have opportunities to contribute.
Participation in research and participation in publishing are separate consent decisions.
Not ready to pre-order?
About Emeli Paulo
Emeli Paulo is a culture and experience designer, facilitator and social entrepreneur whose work centres on how people gather, participate, belong and work together.
Across more than two decades, her practice has moved through community development, facilitation, organisational culture, creative industries, experience design and social infrastructure.
This publishing body of work brings those experiences into a connected examination of the personal, interpersonal, organisational and collective conditions that shape human groups.
Begin with the book that speaks to you.
Choose the complete collection.
Or give a book to someone whose life, work or community makes it useful.
Help build the first community of 500 Founding Readers.
[LIVE FOUNDING READER COUNT] of 500 Founding Readers
The first campaign goal is 500 Founding Readers.