Unassuming Collective is a Personal Historian Service based in Northern California.
It’s a safe place where folks come to share their stories and their wisdom. We feature storytellers from live events and we offer private life-story recording services for those who wish to preserve their memories for loved ones.
Stories From Our Community
As Long As You Want: Real Stories of Aging, Caring, and Loss in El Dorado County
Each story shared in this project was recorded and produced by Unassuming Collective as part of the NEA Big Read project. Programming for this project included: book talks, self-portrait workshops, a conversation exchange, oral history collecting, and film screenings. We produced an illustrated anthology of collected stories entitled "As Long As You Want" and installed an accompanying exhibition "A Picture's Worth" in Switchboard Gallery.
You don’t have to be in the final chapter of your life to have your story recorded. And even if you are, it’s still not too late to share. Your wisdom and experiences are unique and they deserve to be saved as a part of your family history and the history of humankind.
Why record your story? Here are some of the many benefits:
Spark empathy and understanding
Inspire future generations
Honor your life's work
Strengthen family bonds
Preserve family history
Pass down wisdom
Heal past wounds
Celebrate your life
TESTIMONIALS
“First of all, you will have FUN recording your story! We treasured the opportunity to recount our memories. It was an easy to implement process and Mariah made us sound better than we expected. Really professional.”
“Beautiful! I totally teared up listening to the recording because of the music added. This is my story!”
“I’d love to hire Mariah again. She has great energy and her love for storytelling is authentic and true”
The storytellers featured on our podcast and on stage at our open mics have faced challenges that include mental health issues, chronic illness, addiction, and trauma. They have demonstrated incredible resilience and achieved remarkable goals in life and all of them share one thing in common: they found the courage to share their stories so that others can be inspired and encouraged.
Our hope is that by listening to Unassuming Collective, our audience can gain a deeper understanding of the human experience. We hope these stories make an impression on you and add value to your life. You can also enjoy these stories on Spotify.
