This special, intimate Live From the Atherton presentation with Michelle Jalowski, director at The Moth, was separate from The Moth Mainstage event at the Hawai‘i Theatre on October 3rd, 2025. This event featured a behind-the-scenes look at how storytelling builds compassion and community, a discussion with featured storyteller Deonna Marie, and an audience Q&A.
About the Speakers
Michelle Jalowski is a director at The Moth, where she helps people across the country mine their lives for meaning, pinpoint the story of it all, and develop it for the stage. She loves the intimacy and connection involved in developing a story - of diving into someone’s life with them headfirst and emerging with gold. Her work at The Moth allows her to combine her love of theater, documentary and live events, and she is grateful. In addition to directing and producing, Michelle teaches Moth storytelling workshops for adults and young people in and around New York. She lives in Brooklyn.
Deonna Marie is an Emmy Award-winning vocalist, storyteller, keynote speaker, and vocal coach from Grand Rapids, Michigan. A classically trained singer with over a decade of experience, Deonna studied under the tutelage of the Godfather of Jazz Duane Shields Davis and Florence Birdwell. She is also the writer and creator of The Deonna Marie Experience: From the Crack House to the Opera House, a one-woman show about her life. Her Emmy Award-winning segment titled The Deonna Marie Experience is currently available to stream on PBS.com.
The 2025 Live from the Atherton: Storytellersʻ Series was produced by Kyla Herrmann with audio production and post-production by Ananddev Banerjee. The broadcast of this event was produced by Russell Subiono.
