About

Meet the Team

Explore this page to learn how Culture Creations connects generations, preserves voices, and builds trust with immigrant, refugee, and Indigenous communities.

A circular display table at a community showcase event features a playful, museum-style exhibit without people: upright tablets looping muted interview screenshots, printed story excerpts mounted on colorful foam boards, and a curated arrangement of symbolic objects—an intricately beaded basket, a weathered wooden flute, a bundle of handwritten letters tied with twine. Strings of papel picado and small fabric pennants hang overhead. Warm, festive string lights cast soft pools of light and gentle shadows, giving the scene an energetic but welcoming atmosphere. Photographic realism with a wide-angle, slightly low perspective emphasizes the table as the centerpiece, while informational placards and a blurred projection screen in the background suggest a lively, intergenerational storytelling celebration.

A low, circular wooden table sits on a braided jute rug, covered with a vibrant mix of objects ready for a community oral history session: a small digital recorder, over-ear headphones, a stack of blank consent forms clipped to a cheerful clipboard, and a tin box overflowing with colorful pens and highlighters. Nearby, a hand-painted ceramic bowl is filled with wrapped candies and small stickers shaped like cassette tapes and speech bubbles. Sunlight filters through sheer curtains, creating soft, dappled patterns on the rug. Photographic realism from a slightly overhead perspective emphasizes the circular layout, with shallow depth of field keeping the table in crisp focus while floor cushions and a softly blurred mural in the background add playful warmth.

Origin and Mission

Culture Creations began as a collaboration between elders and youth, rooted in community storytelling, justice, and shared archives that empower intergenerational connections.

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Elders and Youth

Aarav Sharma

CEO

A diverse team of storytellers, researchers, and mentors guiding every interview, archiving, and community event with respect and reciprocity.

A rustic kitchen countertop of worn, dark wood holds an open, flour-dusted notebook filled with handwritten recipes in varied inks, surrounded by small bowls of spices, a wooden mortar and pestle, and a vintage cassette tape labeled with a family name and date. A digital recorder rests nearby atop a folded, brightly patterned tea towel. Warm pendant lighting from above creates gentle highlights on the spices and subtle shadows under the notebook’s curled pages. In the softly blurred background, hanging copper pots and a potted herb plant hint at generations of cooking. Photographic realism with a close, three-quarter angle creates an intimate, sensory-rich mood that celebrates the preservation of recipes and stories across time.

Mateo García

CTO

We collaborate with immigrant, refugee, and Indigenous elders and youth to record memories, songs, recipes, and local histories that might otherwise disappear.

A long archival shelf in a small community archive room holds a meticulously organized collection of oral history materials: acid-free boxes labeled with handwritten community names, transparent cases of digitized tapes, fabric-bound albums, and a row of USB drives hanging from brightly colored tags. A printed color map with pinpoints and strings connects box labels to different homelands. Cool, diffused ceiling lighting creates even, documentary-style illumination with faint shadows under each box. Photographic realism with a straight-on, eye-level shot and strong leading lines down the shelf conveys a sense of care, continuity, and playful visual coding in the preservation of immigrant, refugee, and Indigenous stories.

Zuri Ndlovu

Engineer

Our team values caution, consent, and collaboration, ensuring communities shape how stories are recorded and shared in a digital archive.

A cozy corner of a community center holds a small “story booth” constructed from repurposed bookcases draped with patterned textiles and fairy lights. Inside, a cushioned bench is empty, but a microphone on a low stand, a small digital recorder, and a handwritten sign reading “Record Your Story” rest on a low side table. A stack of blank story prompt cards sits in a ceramic bowl painted with bright, folkloric motifs. Warm, diffused lamplight and twinkling string lights create a gentle, storytime glow, with soft shadows in the corners. Photographic realism with eye-level composition and moderate depth of field captures the booth as a welcoming, playful invitation to share oral histories.

Leila Haddad

Designer

From classrooms to community centers, our leadership blends scholarly rigor with playful, intercultural exchange that honors language, tradition, and family ties.

A clean, bright classroom table displays a complete student interviewing toolkit: a colorful printed guidebook open to a page about consent, a neatly stacked pile of consent forms with bold, friendly headings, a tablet showing a playful consent explainer graphic, and a set of laminated role-play scenario cards held together with a metal ring. Highlighters, sticky notes shaped like speech bubbles, and an hourglass timer filled with turquoise sand add visual energy. Soft overhead daylight from skylights mixes with gentle fluorescent lighting, creating even illumination with minimal shadows. Photographic realism from a top-down perspective emphasizes organization and clarity, conveying a mood of empowered, well-prepared youth interviewers in a supportive learning environment.

Partners Community

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