One day you might be in the Salt Lake Valley and a gentleman with a camera and a cheery disposition will approach you while you are having lunch, a smoke break, texting on your phone, or just enjoying the day. He’s going to ask your story. Maybe not in those words, but Mike Angelieri will come up with a question that will make you think about your life and you’ll want to share it with him. Mike will take your portrait and hen he will share with the rest of us at Humans of Salt Lake City.
We feel like we should call Mike “the collector.” Mike has been a collector of people’s stories and memories in Salt Lake City since 2013 when he realized no one had created a HOSL yet. He estimates that is about 1400+ people he’s had the opportunity to meet. Sounds like a huge responsibility, right? After speaking with him on this week’s episode, we couldn’t think of a better person to carefully record and document these stories. Mike’s memory of conversations is also very impressive, which just goes to show how much of an impact people are on the mind.
If you’re not familiar, Humans of Salt Lake City is a spin-off of the greatly popular; Humans of New York City. They are labors of love by the creators and have sprouted up around different cities around the world. There is no discrimination in the interviewee process. Children, homeless, pets, black, white, gay, veterans, straight, and so on. The magic of this project is that everyone has a story and something to teach, even the creator himself!
What happens when a story is too good to be true? What happens when Mike takes footsteps back to a familiar neighborhood, meets up with someone he interviewed prior, and they flag him down to show him that their life has completely shifted for good since their choice meeting? Mike told us absolutely heart wrenching stories as well as incredibly inspiring ones of people that he’s met along this journey. We don’t want to give away too much, but you may need a tissue for this one!
You can follow Humans of Salt Lake on Facebook and on Instagram.
**disclaimer** If you feel the urge to message Humans of Salt Lake City to tell him he shouldn’t be interviewing particular ethnic, religious, or otherwise types of people… how about you just don’t.
We will ALWAYS love your “likes” BUT don’t forget to click that little SHARE button (or retweet) *sharing IS indeed caring* You can find us and subscribe on Soundcloud, Stitcher, or Itunes, and Google Play and TuneIN. Leave us a review and Follow us on the Twitter @tnupodcast, Instagram @Tnupodcast, or on Facebook The New Utah Podcast