Multi-Media Producer, Writer & Story Editor
I’m Ava (آوا), a producer with over ten years of experience with clients like Audible, Somethin’ Else/Sony, StoryCorps and LinkedIn.
I’m the producer you call to help you define the vision, come up with a production plan, and execute the project expertly from start to finish.
I’m most experienced in narrative audio production, writing and story editing, but I’ve also returned to video production and show development. Currently I’m working on a print memoir project, a short screenplay, and a narrative audio doc series.
Work Catalog
2025-2026
LinkedIn Original Productions
Senior Development Producer
Business / Career Video
Audio / Video Podcast
Live Online Events
Some podcasts are meant to stay audio-only, and others can meet their audiences in video too (long form, short form, you name it). Originally partnering with LinkedIn to make an audio-only podcast (The Path), I came back to help them figure out how to make some of their shows video, and how to develop new content to meet the needs of their audience. I'm developing experimental short-form video formats and an online live event "ask me anything" series. All content lives on LinkedIn.
2024-2026
30 Days to Rediscover Your Creativity with Sharon Mashihi
Business / Career
C-Suite
Podcast
Weekly
In this heart-pounding two part memoir, Foroozan finds freedom in an unexpected place after surviving years of an abusive marriage. But when the US withdraws its troops from Afghanistan and the Taliban takes over, Foroozan and her daughters must find a way to escape again. And their escape is only possible with the help of the production team of this very memoir.
You don't have to be an Artist to be creative, but you do need a creative practice to be an Artist. Creativity is core to being fully alive for everyone. This 30-Day Guide will (re)introduce you to your inner creative self.
LinkedIn (now former) CEO Ryan Roslansky sits down with people at the top of their game: Mark Cuban, Caroline Wanga, Dara Khosroshahi etc. They explore one simple idea: there is no linear path to success.
Who built the modern world? You know some of their names, but many haven't gotten their due, either lost to history, or had their credit stolen because of who they were: women, people of color, queer.These are their stories.
Story Editor
Health/ Medical
Narrative
Podcast
Making public what's thought of as "private pain," this storytelling show features the real medical stories of female chronic pain (like vestibulodynia, vaginismus and endometriosis).
Producer
Memoir
Narrative
Audiobook
Senior Consulting Producer & Story Editor
Lead Producer
Producer
History
Narrative
Podcast
Weekly
Incarceration
Narrative
Radio
Amid ongoing debates about whether or not to close Maine's last remaining youth jail, I follow one young person’s experience with Long Creek Youth Development Center to consider whether it’s possible for Maine to keep kids out of jail.
Business / Columbia University
Narrative Series
Podcast
In this 3-part mini series from Columbia Business School, we get up close to the exciting - yes, exciting- world of the COVID-19 vaccine supply-chain. It was a mission with endless roadblocks, almost destined to not succeed. This is the story of how we got the vaccine anyway.
Health / Stanford University
Narrative
Podcast
Weekly
More and more of us will be living to 100, but our society isn't build to accomodate people living longer or aging. Each episode of this series explores one big idea about how we can restructure society to work for us.
You've heard StoryCorps 3-minute stories on NPR, but did you know there is a StoryCorps Airstream trailer with a recording studio that goes around the country to gather oral histories? Some of them end up on the air, but all of them go to the Library of Congress. I managed the tour and its 5 facilitators for a year, living and problem-solving on the road, ending with the ultimate challenge: getting our staff back to HQ during COVID.
Memoir
Radio
2016-2019
Human Rights Watch
LGBT Program Coordinator
Creativity
Narrative
Guide
Podcast
Investigative Reporting
HRW is a renowned watchdog organization that reports on human rights abuses around the world. I got my first job job here, coordinating the research trips and reporting of the LGBT team, and I helped manage the program's fundraising efforts. I slowly learned how to do this kind of reporting and travelled to Vietnam to research for a report alongside Kyle Knight. I was also a shop steward of my union (CWA).
2025
2023-2024
2022-2023
2022
2022
2020-2021
2020-2021
2019-2020
Three Prisons: An Afghan Mother's Memoir of Survival
The Path with Ryan Roslansky
They Did That
Tight Lipped
The Last Juvie (Salt Institute for Documentary Studies)
How It Got Here: The Jab
Century Lives
StoryCorps Mobile Tour
Senior Producer/ Writer/ Director/ Sound Designer
Lead Producer
Lead Producer
Site Manager
"My pinch hitter"
— Sony EP"Topline notes for this draft: IT'S VERY GOOD!!!"
— Sharon Mashihi"You just get it"
— Strategic Initiatives Lead at LinkedIn"Excellent editorial judgement & workflow management"
— Jessi HempelSelect Projects
StoryCorps Mobile Tour
30 Days to Rediscover Your Creativity with Sharon Mashihi
Three Prisons: An Afghan Mother's Memoir of Survival