Michael Kass is an award-winning storyteller, facilitator, and experience designer who works with leaders, impact organizations, and communities to weave a new story. Raised in Washington, DC, he grew up with a vague sense that the world was vastly more complex and magical than his parents and teachers let on. He loved myths, fairy tales, and any story where the world revealed its hidden layers. At the age of 11, he declared to his parents that he wanted to spend his life exploring the ways that story reflects and shapes both culture and identity. They nodded and immediately sent him to science camp. That tension between societal expectations and deeper knowing showed itself in every aspect of his life for the next 25 years — from a career that straddled acting on stages throughout Chicago and nonprofit financial management consulting, to relationships and friendships. Ultimately the tension became too heavy to hold, and at the age of 35 he collapsed under the strain. Unable to get off the couch, he looked ahead and saw endless years of deskbound drudgery and pasta dinners eaten alone over the kitchen sink. That wasn't acceptable. So he did the most terrifying thing he'd ever done: he began to believe (slowly, slowly) in magic. It was a quiet rebellion, and it changed everything. He quit his job, and a month later found himself working with Indigenous healers in South America. Following a trail of breadcrumbs, he began to practice and facilitate breathwork, launching the first breathwork community on the Eastside of Los Angeles. From there, things unfolded in unpredictable and beautiful ways. He wrote and performed a solo storytelling show, Ceremony, that won awards and toured the United States for three years, serving as both entertainment and transformational experience. His storytelling workshops made their way into spaces including The Nonprofit Partnership, The Walt Disney Company, Google, and the Pan African Leadership Institute. Since 2017, he has been a leading voice in the Ethical Storytelling movement, working to shift the culture of impact storytelling away from extractive practice and toward models that uplift the voices and dignity of all. He served as an advisor to the Dignified Storytelling Project and has brought ethical storytelling conversations to conferences including SOCAP, Opportunity Collaboration, and the 501(c)onference. Along the way he has journeyed across the world as a Wondermaker with the Nomadic School of Wonder, guided breath and sound journeys for social impact leaders and communities around the world, and continued his study with teachers including Deena Metzger and José Luis Stevens. Most recently, his work has centered on the stewardship of Vibrational Intelligence, an emergent field of practice for leaders cultivating their capacity to attune to, discern between, and act from a wider range of frequencies and signals. It's the latest manifestation of that childhood knowing: that beneath the world we're told is real, there are deeper layers of information available to anyone willing to listen. And that, especially right now, those layers are necessary to navigating the world. Michael comes to Soularize as a fellow traveler, eager to learn alongside this community, to trade breadcrumbs, and to find out together what becomes possible when we lead from that deeper knowing. Learn more at www.storyandspirit.org and www.vibrationalintelligence.org.