NOT JUST A STAGE
A CONVERSATION THAT SPARKS CHANGE
WHAT IS THE UNMUTE PROJECT
The UNMUTE Project is a community-powered storytelling platform giving voice to the real, the raw, and the #BraveNewVoices. Through live events, a quarterly journal, a post-season magazine, a book club, a story hub, and workshops, we have created a full ecosystem, from the stage to the page, where brave new voices find their home.
Through voices, stories, and conversations, we spark connection and transformation. Because every voice we amplify isn't just heard, it builds belonging, opens doors, and drives real change.
The UNMUTE Project was born as a response to the curated world. A world where influence is measured in likes and stories are told with a PR budget and an agenda. But real stories, everyday life stories and conversations, the kind that change us, shape us, and make us feel understood and seen, don't need pre-approval. They need a platform.
What began as intimate community conversations quickly grew beyond the room, finding its way onto larger stages, including a collaboration with the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature, where UNMUTE brought its community-driven storytelling into one of the region's most celebrated cultural spaces.
We believe in a different kind of story, not the filtered version and the trending version, but rather the raw and true stories that the algorithm never quite captures. Those are the stories UNMUTE is built for.
Through The UNMUTE Project, we nurture the voices within the community to foster meaningful and impactful connections and a sense of belonging that goes beyond the algorithm, the superficial, and the trending.
Our dream is simple: to become a space for every single member of the community to share their truths; loudly, proudly, unapologetically.
Founder
Mariana Missakian
The UNMUTE Project took 10 years to unravel. 10 years for me to come undone, to find my voice, believe in my story, share my truth and change the narrative. And now through The UNMUTE Project I invite others to do the same.
And it all started when I became a mother.
Motherhood transformed me in ways I never expected. It challenged my identity and reshaped me. But above all, motherhood taught me the extraordinary power of a story and how it can connect us, uplift us, and remind us that we are not alone.
I started The UNMUTE Project because I witnessed the magic of a safe space where real, untold stories take center stage. Because if we want to spark change, we can't rely on trending headlines, filters, and scripted conversations. To spark change, we need brave new voices.
UNMUTE is built on the belief that authentic storytelling changes culture, not perfectly, not neatly, but deeply and lastingly. We are building a community where every voice, story, and conversation has a space to be heard loudly, proudly, and unapologetically.
