Jhaleh Akhavan

I’m Jhaleh. I’ve contributed to award-winning radio shows and podcasts, local and national storytelling archives, and multimedia documentaries. I prioritize projects centered in stories of relationship, restoration, and reimagination, offering over a decade of multidisciplinary experience as an audio engineer, editor, producer, and training instructor. Beyond technical support, I’ve developed curriculum, managed programming, and designed residencies and retreats for cultural workers and artists.

Being queer, bilingual, and second-gen Iranian-American has added to my deep love for story. It has also made personally evident how archival and documentary practice have functioned as colonial instruments in the proprietary “collection,” representation, and construction of time and history. This has informed my value for storytelling that embodies an ethics of self-determination in process as well as outcome.

For me, audio production is an immersive conversation and collaboration that invites depth and breadth of curiosity – whether discussing the behavior of sound waves, nonlinear generational time, or seeds as portals. If I have a pen on me, there will be visual diagrams, because: party favors.