Abra Sussman Shay

Laurelwood Productions

Updates from the studio

What is it actually like to be unhoused?

January 2021

Meet Charlie. In December of 2019, Charlie and I sat down at NoHo Home Alliance during the drop-in program to speak about his experience of homelessness. Thanks to him, we’ve been able to share his story with a range of individuals interested in learning how to advocate to end homelessness from high school students engaging in volunteer work for the first time to seasoned activists. We center his story because it matters and because the work is only possible when we listen to people with lived experience.

 

We met (and passed!) our fundraising Goal

November 2019

We are so grateful to our donors!

Over two hundred people donated to this project including our families, friends, and total strangers -- friends of friends or distant connections all inspired by the people and the message behind Fight 2 Breathe.

Learn more & donate here.

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The official trailer is here

January 2019

Listen to the official trailer for The Sounding Line, a forthcoming podcast about starting out & starting over. Subscribe at thesoundinglinepodcast.com to find out when we launch. Written, produced, and edited by Abra Sussman. Music by Crystal Grooms Mangano.

Listen to a trailer for The Sounding Line.

Written, produced, and edited by Abra Sussman.

Original music by Crystal Grooms Mangano

 

TEASER: Lisa on choosing a career in activism

"It propelled me to want to be an activist for life."

I reached out to Lisa a few months back when I realized that the student voices I was capturing were not representative of the spectrum of young people whose paths have been challenging in the most extreme way. I wanted to speak with someone who has worked directly with youth who are incarcerated.

It's been about 15 years since Lisa and I were reading bel hooks and Howard Zinn at Cleveland High School Humanities Magnet, one of LA's magnet high schools designed to desegregate the city. It should come as a surprise to no one who knows us that Lisa and I both count our high school experience as a major influence in our career trajectories.

In this small moment from our conversation, Lisa talks about the mentors she met during this time and how they helped her shape her vision for a career as an activist.

As an activist today, Lisa talks the talk and walks the walk (and I can't wait to share more of her story when we release season one later this year). She works to reform systems and policies on behalf of people who have gone through our criminal justice system. She does so by shifting mindsets within the business world and by expanding career opportunities. Lisa introduced me to Kent and Joe, two activists who experienced incarceration as teens and whom Lisa has mentored and worked with. Check out their clips in the previous posts.

Abra Sussman