Mike o’krent

About The Founder

The Inspiration

I am the founder of LifeStories Alive, LLC. We specialize in making personal history videos for families that value their heritage. We create family heirlooms in video format – digitally mastered records of life stories with personal accounts, photos and mementos of family history.

I was born and raised in San Antonio, Texas and graduated from Southern Methodist University with a BBA in Marketing and Management. I entered my family’s retail floor covering business as the 4th generation to be part of that business.

Between 1996 and 2000 I interviewed Holocaust survivors for Steven Spielberg’s Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation. During that incredible experience, I discovered the process and the importance of recording the life stories of our loved ones.

I moved to Austin in 1998 when I bought and managed a local floor covering business; which I then sold in 2004. I founded LifeStories Alive at the end of 2005.

lifestory Production

Since the beginnings of LifeStories Alive, the business has expanded its expertise beyond capturing personal histories for families to now include recording the histories of businesses and non-profit organizations. The professionally produced videos can be used externally to promote the organization or internally as a training tool for new employees/volunteers.

Connect with The LifeStories Team

A Conversation You'll Never Forget: A Guide to Capturing a LifeStory

I have written this book as a guide to help you record the life stories of your friends and loved ones so you will no longer have a reason not to record a LifeStory.

This book combines the training I received in the 1990s while preparing to interview Holocaust survivors for Steven Spielberg’s Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation (now the USC Shoah Foundation Institute for Visual History and Education) with the practical experience I’ve enjoyed gaining from my interviews with hundreds of people since I started LifeStories Alive in 2006.

My hope is that this guide will give you the basics to take the plunge and capture the life stories of someone you love.