Awake Storytelling is a video production company that partners with non-profit organizations to tell stories that move people and resource movements.
We are located in Richmond, VA, on Powhatan land, and are available for travel.
There are two current offers we’re booking:
creating a 1.5 minute video (from an hour of interviewing) - click here to learn more
creating a 3-5 minute fundraising & advocacy video (from a day and a half of filming) - click here to learn more
Note from our founder:
Hello,
My name is Life Escobar, and I’m the founder and lead filmmaker at Awake Storytelling.
When I started Awake Storytelling in 2013, I had no idea the incredible people, stories, and communities I would connect with as a result of this work.
I first fell in love with still photography in 2002, but when DSLR cameras began offering video recording, I became enchanted with documenting beauty in video.
In 2009, I began partnering with non-profits to make videos that shared stories from the heart of their work.
Stories that shared what’s at stake and what’s possible when people come together to transform our collective conditions.
When I started Awake Storytelling, it began with supporting schools, then school systems, then community organizations, foundations funding community organizations, organizations fighting for abolition, organizations supporting survivors of violence, and so many more over the years.
Through all of these collaborations, I’ve been able to listen to people share soulful stories that name systemic harm, affirm our interdependence, and help us remember how we can act for and with each other.
Creating these videos is sacred work to me. It is an honor to tend to the human spirit through storytelling.
I’m constantly astounded and moved by the beauty of storytellers and their stories.
I love weaving together videos that touch the heart of what oppressive systems try to bury: our wholeness, our connection to each other, our power, and what else is possible.
I’ve seen the power of sharing stories to interrupt dominant narratives that uphold oppression.
When we tell stories that inspire people to act, we unleash liberatory possibilities in the world.
I’ve helped organizations raise millions of dollars to keep their doors open.
I’ve helped fuel advocacy campaigns that have mobilized thousands.
I’ve had videos go viral and lead to unforeseen opportunities for individuals and organizations.
I’ve moved banquet halls, offices, and neighborhood gatherings to tears.
And most importantly, I’ve helped storytellers feel heard and seen in ways they didn’t know they needed.
These collaborations have allowed me to produce independent projects, such as Define: Black.
As a video production company working in the non-profit sector, we are aware of how the non-profit industrial complex has been designed to placate the masses from radically transforming our material conditions.
But I do believe there is so much power in combining our life force, skills, resources, and love to interrupt systemic harm and help us imagine and create a world where people's needs for food, shelter, dignity, and care are met.
We are working towards an end to all oppressive systems - Capitalism, Colonialism, Imperialism, White Supremacy, and Patriarchy.
We are working towards Land Back, reparations, and collective care.
We love partnering with people who work for organizations that are building the infrastructure, capacity, strategy, and services that will help us heal, act, and get free together.
We want to partner with organizations that also want to seed liberatory visions and build movements to water those visions.
Let’s create something transformative together.
With radical care,
Life Escobar
