We had the good fortune of connecting with CJ Casciotta and we’ve shared our conversation below.

CJ Casciotta is an award-winning media producer of thoughtful entertainment trusted by Forbes, Tech Crunch, Sesame Studios, and MGM. He’s the author of 2 books, Get Weird and The Forgotten Art of Being Ordinary, both hopeful manifestos for the next generation. Most importantly, he’s a dad figuring out how to raise thoughtful, creative humans in the 21st century.

Hi CJ, Let’s talk about principles and values – what matters to you most?
The principle that drives my work is that humans have the unique power to “change the story.” In our noisy, distracted culture, it’s not very differentiating to simply be a storyteller…so instead a lot of people settle for becoming a “story-seller” (see: every instagram ad ever). The problem is, we all know what it feels like to be “sold” a story. It usually feels a little gross. When we shift our focus on becoming story-changers, identifying what narratives out there are broken, what tropes no longer serve us, and what well-worn paths need a pivot, we open up an entire world of opportunity for meaningful, results-oriented work! Storychangers are the kind of people I love to work with, the kind of people I like to inspire, and the kind of people I want to be like.

What should our readers know about your business?
So I’m 15, growing up in a fundamentalist religious household, and I’m at a religious rap concert seeing one of my favorite clean religious rap artists perform, a guy named John Rueben.

This is an odd night because I’m actually kind of happy. High school was torture for me. I got bullied all the time because I was this sheltered fundy kid who sucked at sports but really loved Jim Henson. All i could think was, “I need to get out of this place and use my creativity to do whatever the opposite is of what was being done to me…something that ADDS value and positivity to people’s lives.

Fast forward to about 8 years ago. I’m randomly standing on Johnny Cash’s old farm outside of Nashville, Tennessee. I’ve been invited to a creative think tank there. There’s a guy participating who looks familiar but I can’t quite place him. Could it be? I reach into my pocket for my phone and conduct a covert google image search. It’s John Rueben, the former religious rapper who later became a YouTube network executive!

John and I hit it off right there on Johnny cash’s farm. We become good friends. Then we start working together. It turns out we had a lot in common, especially when it came to our childhood years.

Fast forward to today. John helps me run my production company, Reculture, with a bunch of other creatively maladjusted people where we get to tell the kinds of crazy, hopeful stories we always wanted to when we were kids….and people actually pay us to do it!

Simply put, Reculture makes content for brands. If you have a story to change we want to help you change it, coming alongside iy with our own unique point of view. We call Reculture an “unreasonably fun & ridiculously hopeful” media studio. What does “unreasonably fun” and “ridiculously hopeful” mean? It means we’re at our best when we’re creating adventurous, curiosity-inducing stories that inspire positive change, radical kindness, and collective courage in the face of an era that can sometimes feel overwhelmingly bleak. Since 2010, we’ve worked with brands to help them hatch these kinds of offbeat, status quo stomping narratives through award-winning media that influences young, engaged story-changers to create the future they imagine. Some past brand partners we’ve had the pleasure of working with include Delta Airlines, Sesame Studios, Lululemon, and MGM.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Full respect for every self-made person out there, but I’m definitely an others-made person. I’d particularly like to shout out my wife, Kelly, who has never been anything but encouraging and supportive of my wildest dreams while at the same time, always giving me honest, constructive feedback. I’ve also been deeply inspired by the work of Fred Rogers, Jim Henson, James Baldwin, and Rainer Maria Rilke.

Website: reculture.tv

Instagram: instagram.com/bycj.co

Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/cjcasciotta

Other: bycj.co

Nominate Someone: ShoutoutMiami is built on recommendations and shoutouts from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.