A Little More of Michael
I may have been an oddball growing up. Who am I kidding? I was.
I was the child who willingly locked himself in his bedroom to be alone with his books and his thoughts. But while inside, I would secretly obsess over understanding the mechanics behind relationships between different kinds of people. I would spend hours creating personas for pencils and crayons and then watch the drama unfold. I didn’t want toys made to resemble characters from recognizable movies and tv shows. I wanted my toys to tell their own stories. I wanted something original. I craved that kind of enjoyment.
That craving led me to my double undergraduate degree in theatre and writing while also pursuing performance art and experimental theatre in NYC’s Greenwich Village. New York helped me get over the ‘solitary confinement’ phase very quickly. I sought to understand how stories could be told, how communication can be warped, and how many friends’ couches I could call home while pursuing a career in performance art.
Eventually, I wanted to dive deeper into the different ways in which we can share stories that could make a lasting impact on each other. And I wanted those stories to make big changes.
That’s when I packed up my bags and moved to San Francisco in the summer of ’08 with no place to live, zero contacts and embarked on a Master’s program with a focus on how storytelling could create the most impact. Thankfully, San Francisco embraced me and helped me find a new family of freethinkers, as well as several opportunities to embrace causes I cared for very deeply.
I’ve since enjoyed a decade of leadership roles that revolved around my passion for storytelling. I’ve had the pleasure to discover and share groundbreaking news from around the globe and collaborate with world-renowned photographers and artists at Storehouse, Ripple, Archive Productions, Hoodline and IAC Publishing, encourage the public to take command of social justice causes with The San Francisco Foundation, San Francisco City Hall, AIDS Walk San Francisco, and Partners in School Innovation, and inspire people to take control of their mental health and personal wellness as a managing editor with Eaze and Healthline. I’m currently volunteering with the LGBT National Help Center, AIDS Walk San Francisco, Darren Main’s Yoga at Grace Cathedral, editing local arts and culture performance videos with Archive Productions and writing for IAC Publishing and Ask Media Group.
With each role, I’ve become more equipped to calculate what kinds of stories resonate the most throughout the social and political landscapes, as well as determine the best way to package and present each new piece. Working across editorial, data, production and design teams, I have been able to generate quality content that speaks from the heart while maintaining a purpose-driven narrative.
I speak on behalf of marginalized and underrepresented communities, the LGBTQ community the invisible illness and disability community, as well as San Francisco’s arts, culture and nightlife communities. I love organizations that values storytellers and people with diverse backgrounds who love to think outside-the-box to help educate and inspire others, and I hope I can do that with you.
If you’d like to dive into some of my work, I’ve prepared some articles and videos from my past that can further demonstrate my commitment to subjects I care deeply about. I can be reached at michaelkasian@gmail.com if you’d like to chat further. Cheers!
