Join us for five stories about healing from a historic show venue in Seattle, WA.
Hosted by Emi Okikawa and Kent Whipple.
Stories by:
Connie Henderson lives in Vancouver, Washington where she practices law with her husband Paul and son Jordan. Her practice focuses on representing people who have been injured as a result of medical negligence, which is probably the only reason she is alive today.
Melissa Reaves (She/Her) is an award-winning, Seattle based storyteller, a professional improviser and storytelling mentor for Fortune 500 executives, C-Suite professionals and capital raising entrepreneurs. Proud mother of Quincy (He/They) and Maisy (She/Her) and they love to laugh and tell stories that are quite animated. Her business book, The Storyteller's Mind Movie, is due out in Summer of 2022. Melissa also produced, Melanin Stories Matter, a storytelling show to amplify the voices of Black, Indigenous and People of Color to be heard for social advocacy. As a storyteller Melissa appears on The Moth, Risk, Ignite Seattle (2x), NAMI, and many more. She loves the artform of storytelling and has dedicated her life to producing more amazing tellers in the business world.
Audra “Polite Kitty” Sisak is a previous research scientist and mental health therapist turned actor and comedian! She found joy, expression, and true healing making others laugh. Their relatable human experiences are honest with twists and turns for any audience!
Sam Blackman is a physician-scientist and pediatric oncologist. He's the founder and chief medical officer of Day One Biopharmaceuticals, a company focused on drug development for childhood cancers. He's an avid storyteller, baker of bread, and recently returned from a trek to Everest Base Camp. Sam lives on Orcas Island with his wife and daughter.
MB Velasquez uses she/her pronouns and identifies as a queer, cisgender, Filipina-American with a disability. She is a Family Medicine physician and Clinical Assistant Professor at the UW School of Medicine, where she works to reduce bias in the curriculum. She loves being the Faculty Advisor for the Queer Medical Student Association and discovering new bakeries around town. She recently started a Queer Mentorship Program across the WWAMI region and is now launching the first UW Medicine-wide OutList. In other queer news, she was recently elected president of 'Women in Medicine' (a national non-profit organization for queer female and gender expansive physicians and medical students). She can often be found in the cookie aisle, baking, paddling, marimba-ing, or otherwise percussing to the beat of life!