We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Shivawn Mitchell. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Shivawn below.

Shivawn, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

At the top of the pandemic, I had recently moved to the city I had grown up in and didn’t have any community or connections. I decided to create a way for strangers to connect remotely with Seated with Strangers and then it transitioned into also including dinner parties for strangers to come together over dinner to help with finding their people “friend group” and to combat the loneliness that people were feeling.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I remember switching careers after being in the counseling space for over 10 years, deciding to pursue my passion of storytelling. Enrolling in a master’s program for screenwriting and seeing how much of a gap there was for brown women to learn about the art of filmmaking is what pushed me into learning all that I could about podcasting so that I could provide stories of women in the film and media space. This was to ensure that a gap was filled and that we could see that it was possible. From deciding to take that risk I was able to connect with filmmakers who were award winning, working as showrunners for tv networks and more. From there I was able to produce a few more of my own audio projects as well as establish a business that allowed me to tell other stories in the space of podcasting. I am most proud of a show that I created that brings strangers together to talk about the things that we don’t but should with each other.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

The mission of me being able to tell stories for others and myself is to allow people to feel seen and heard through their unique experiences. I recall growing up in a small town and just being observant and quiet. This allowed for people to make assumptions for me — when really I had a lot to say I just wanted to express myself creatively. The more that we make room for people to share their stories creatively it allows us to see their lesson and grow from them. Or to realize that we are not alone and that we have evidence of someone growing through life.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

I had recently relocated and was looking to get my film production business started. I had quit my job and was ready to get the ball rolling only for the pandemic to happen two weeks later. In that moment I had to leverage the skills I had of podcasting and doing live events online so that I could continue to manage my company. In that moment I had to lean into my faith that God would guide me but also the playing field was leveled. I didn’t have time to overthink but to make adjustments in real time while being willing to explore new ideas in a short amount of time.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.seatedwithstrangers.com and www.shivawnmitchell.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shivawnmitchell
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@seatedwithstrangers?si=Q22NBGo6tttCAgHn