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American Immigrants - The Pursuit of Happiness

The Pursuit of Happiness is a podcast devoted to creating Immigrant anthems to celebrate the incredible journey that all Americans have endured. Every american has a family immigrant story - whether it is a story of escaping persecution, of seeking a better life, of forced migration, or simply in the pursuit of happiness.

• In Act I we interview a special guest to hear their family’s immigrant story. 

• In Act II we create a song based off of that story.

• In Act III we play that song for the interviewee and their family – letting the audience experience the joys, pains, ups and downs of the pursuit of happiness. 

The Team:

Vivek Venugopal - Creator, Host

Vivek Venugopal is a seasoned facilitator, improviser, comedian and host. He was born in Zambia, raised in India, educated in Iowa and lives in the Bay Area. He has a professional background in software development, non-profit fundraising, tech sales, improv and performance - not in that order, but sort of in that order. He has hosted events and performed shows around the world with Speechless, American Immigrants and Freestyle+ and trained thousands of people across the world. He lives in San Francisco, CA with his wife, 2 kids and dog where he improvises being a good parent and partner every day with varying degrees of success.

Anthony Veneziale - Creator, Host

Anthony Veneziale, also known as Two Touch, is the conceiver and co-creator of the acclaimed Freestyle Love Supreme. Anthony has been performing and teaching applied improvisation for more than 25 years and is a leader in the field of musical improvisation. He is a Tony Award winner, a Grammy nominated Broadway / TV star and designer of a UCSF brain research on the positive effects of improv-thinking along with Dr. Charles Limb and Sammy Wegent.  Anthony is also the first Ted presenter to give a totally improvised Ted Talk. Veneziale is also the Co-Founder and CCO of Mindless, Inc., a content and game developer that has built the world’s first improv and hip-hop-inspired, science-backed, AI-powered mental fitness gaming portal.

Kate Purdy - Creator, EP

In addition to her work developing and producing American Immigrants The Podcast, Kate created the critically acclaimed and award winning TV series Undone for Amazon Prime. She was also nominated for an Emmy and won a WGA award for her writing and producing on BoJack Horseman, for Netflix. In addition to writing and producing for TV and Film for nearly twenty years, Kate is a long time improviser, mentor, teacher, community organizer, donator, and volunteer.

Aaron Hilliard - Producer 

A veteran TV and audio producer, who most recently worked as G.M. and Head of Narrative Content for Clamor Audio, the podcast studio of the United Talent Agency. There, Hilliard oversaw a team that developed and produced a wide variety of podcasts and audio series for Audible, iHeart, Warner Music and elsewhere, garnering listener acclaim and winning numerous Audie, Ambie and Audible Best of Year awards. Prior to Clamor, Hilliard was a producer for Audible, where he commissioned, developed and led production for many scripted drama and comedy full-cast Audible Originals Series.

Jake Kleinberg – Producer

A seasoned media executive and hands-on producer specializing in content creation, strategy, and creative development. As the Senior Director of Production and Development for Warner Music Group, he founded their podcast brand and network spearheading series production across multiple genres. Prior to Warner, he oversaw a wide range of original content initiatives at Spotify, serving as Executive Producer to the multi-Webby award-winning series "Wind of Change”. Before joining Spotify he worked at MTV Networks showrunning one of their last weekly music video countdown shows.

J.J. Wiesler – Music Supervisor

Producer, engineer, and guitarist based in San Francisco, CA. In addition to his career helping others makes music, he is a founding member and producer of Highwater Rising, who have released two full length albums and one EP since forming in 1998. The In Between, HWR’s second release, paved new ground in the world of TV and Film licensing with over 25 placements in shows such as The OC, Sex in the City, Boston Public, Summerland, Northshore, and The Real World. JJ also produced, engineered and mixed Aidan Hawken's celebrated album Pillows & Records.

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