BIO

After studying photography for two years at the Rochester Institute for Technology in Rochester, NY, I completed my undergraduate education abroad at an experiential Quaker college. My studies in London and Jerusalem sparked my interest in ethnography, which continues to inform my work. I trained in radio documentary at the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies, freelanced for public radio, and started an oral history business, Audio Heirlooms. Later, I earned my MFA in Film Production at UT-Austin, where films I worked on screened at Cannes (winning first prize at the Cinéfondation), SXSW, and on PBS.

My central concerns as an artist revolve around exploring memory, identity, connection, and creative storytelling in innovative and participatory ways. I’m fascinated by how the narrative of self evolves over time. Some of my projects span from 100 days to 20 years. They capture and revisit moments across decades, offering space for reflection and growth.

I approach storytelling with an ethnographic curiosity, documenting the intersections of individual lives and broader cultural contexts. Whether interviewing queer refugees, former lovers, or tight-knit communities, I aim to amplify personal narratives that resonate universally.

Humor, playfulness, and experimentation are vital to my process. From the whimsical Merylthon film festival to creative ideas shared in my newsletter, I strive to make art that feels surprising, accessible, and joyful.

I also have experience as an educator and facilitator, and my workshops emphasize community and collaboration. My participatory projects invite contributions that foster shared meaning. Spanning audio, film, photography, and writing, my work challenges traditional formats while remaining deeply committed to storytelling as a tool for connection, reflection, and delight.

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CURRENT WORK & Projects

• I help people make podcasts and tell important stories. Most recently I produced audio content for The New York Times and their Audio App.

• I am gathering creative ideas for Games, Gifts and Gatherings that foster connection in my series How To Have Fun With Your Friends.

• Co-habitating with my partner inspired me to reach out to all my former flames and consider my entire romantic career in All My Exes.

• In 2003, I interviewed 36 people in Portland, Maine to discover the ways in which the community was connected. 20 years later, I went back to each person for an updated interview with my project 6x6: Portland.

• I founded and co-organized the MERYLTHON, a film festival fundraiser that celebrates the work of Meryl Streep. The inaugural Merylthon in September of 2023 was a benefit for Queer LifeSpace, a San Francisco non-profit. We raised 15k toward affordable health care for the LGBTQIA+ community. In June of 2024, we brought the Merylthon to Tacoma, Washington and raised critical operational funds for the Grand Cinema.

• I’m documenting 50 friends via audio messages they leave every December once a year every year for ten years with my project Message to the Future 2020-2030. You can join this ten-year project for $2 a month at Patreon (Update: Membership Closed)

• I post stories on my personal podcast, Recollector, a place for intimate stories and found sound.

• The Library of Compliments is open and accepting your submissions! Collaboration with Phoebe McIndoe.

• I am working on a story with Adam Sussman about the Dissident ACT UP/SF chapter in the 1990s. We were 2023 Fellows in the Orchard Project Audio Lab.

PREVIOUS WORK

• I’ve produced podcast and audio content for IDEO, Salesforce, Pandora, The Dodo, The Mission, OZY, Bessemer Venture Partners, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

• I reported a story about lesbian icon Phyllis Lyon that aired on KALW in June of 2020.

• With my friend and journalist Tina Antonlini, we produced stories of the COVID-19 pandemic with Corona Voicemails that aired on KQED.

• I am the founder of Audio Heirlooms, an oral history production company that preserves family stories with custom, intimate audio portraits. I was inspired to start Audio Heirlooms after I interviewed my grandmother back in 2000. I compiled her interviews into a book that I gifted to my mother for Christmas. When she cried reading it, I thought: “I wanna do this for everyone.” I recently produced audio pieces for my parent’s 50th anniversary and a friends father’s 80th birthday.
  

PERSONALITY

Top 5 Clinton Strengths: Restorative, Context, Ideation, Empathy and Futuristic

Myers-Briggs: INFP

Astrology: Virgo Sun, Sagittarius Moon, Sagittarius Rising

Chinese Zodiac: Fire Snake 🔥🐍

Enneagram: 4

Human Design Type: Generator

I asked Chat GPT to synthesize all these personality tests and write a paragraph about my personality:

You are an imaginative architect of ideas and emotions, a person who sees the world not as it is but as it could be. With a mind that shifts between the practical and the poetic, you are both a fixer and a dreamer, capable of unraveling tangled knots while envisioning futures that feel just out of reach. You are drawn to depth and meaning, often finding beauty in the overlooked and significance in the small moments others might pass by. Your energy thrives when you are deeply engaged—whether in creating, helping, or simply being present—and you have a natural ability to inspire others with your quiet determination and thoughtful insights. At your core, you are a seeker of truth and connection, unafraid to explore the layers of yourself and the world, always aiming to align what you do with who you are.

Here is a short observational documentary of my family during one day in August, 2013.

Teaching

From 2014-2016, I was an adjunct lecturer in the College of Liberal Arts at the University of Texas at Austin. I taught a screenwriting class called Adapting Life Stories where students would interview a member of their community and record their stories. Then they would focus on one event in that person’s life and fictionalize it in a short film script.

FILM WORK

My short documentary ARVIND was a semi-finalist for a Student Academy Award. ARVIND premiered on PBS/KLRU in June of 2016. I was a co-producer on SKUNK, directed by my talented friend Annie Silverstein. SKUNK won First Prize in the Cannes Cinefondation Selection in 2014, among numerous other awards. My other short films include 33 Teeth, Yeah, Kowalski! (runner up for the Iris Prize; Best Foreign Short Film at Brazil Mix Fest) and Rush, all of which have screened in festivals around the world - including Slamdance, SXSW, and Frameline. My films have been broadcast on Comcast and Alaska Airlines and were even pirated by Ukrainians! I was a fellow at the Storytelling Institute at Skidmore College and a recipient of an Austin Film Society grant for ARVIND.

STUDY

I studied photography at the Rochester Institute of Technology and studied abroad in Europe and the Middle East. I co-taught a photography workshop in Palestine to refugees in Bethlehem. It was a life changing experience that shifted me towards oral histories and radio storytelling. I later studied Radio Documentary at the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies with Rob Rosenthal. I received my MFA in Film Production from the University of Texas at Austin.

INFLUENCES

Wendy Ewald. Photographer, educator. 

Wendy Ewald profoundly influenced how I approached the photography workshop I taught to Palestinian refugee youth in the West Bank, particularly my decision to pair students’ images with interviews from elders in the camps. This work was my college senior project, which required an outside reviewer. To my surprise, Wendy agreed to review it after my school contacted her, providing a sincere and thoughtful critique.

https://wendyewald.com/

Studs Terkel. Writer, historian.

I know Studs Turkel mostly from his oral history collections like “Working”, “Hard Times”, and “Division Street.” He has influenced so many radio producers like me to turn their focus to “ordinary” people (working class, the poor, and the incarcerated) and their experiences. 

https://studsterkel.wfmt.com/

Alan Berliner.Filmmaker

Alan’s films are personal and experimental and unexpected. He is a filmmaker who makes films about his family, as a window for the audience to think about their own relationships. I’ve been inspired by his installations, his incredible archive, and his advice to always follow your fascinations.

https://alanberliner.com/

Have an idea for a story? I’d love to hear from you.

WORK Photos throughout the years