Meet Sabrina Merage Naim | Entrepreneur, Philanthropist, and Executive Producer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Sabrina Merage Naim and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Sabrina, is your business focused on helping the community? If so, how?
For over 15 years, much of my work whether in finance, marketing, or consulting has been overlayed with the question of how I am making a positive impact on my community and the broader world. In fact, I dare say it is the question that keeps me going through different iterations of my career and businesses. After many years of granting to nonprofits and sitting on boards, I found myself drawn to the power of storytelling to shift hearts and minds in crucial and sometimes divisive issues. Evoke Media was created to empower storytellers to bring to light and life the many human stories that we as a society need to grapple with in order to begin to bridge those divides. Whether partnering on podcasts around domestic violence and our criminal justice system to funding documentaries on racism in the U.S. and reproductive rights, we have found no shortage of impactful ways the community will be touched by these deeply personal experiences.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I worked squarely in the business world for most of my career and that’s certainly still a major part of my days. When I created Evoke Media, I began to blur the lines between art and business in the most beautiful way. As Evoke has taken off, more and more of my time is spent considering documentaries, podcasts, and other creative media; supporting and advising our projects in production; and ensuring we play our part in maximizing the social momentum that our projects hopefully catalyze. For example, we recently co-produced a true-crime podcast about a domestic violence survivor who was prosecuted when she fought back (Blind Plea). It hit #1 on Apple Podcasts. That’s amazing! But that’s not the end of the story or the work. There are still thousands of women going to prison because we, as a society, don’t fully understand the nuances of domestic violence. Another one of our projects, a documentary called 1946: The Mistranslation That Shifted Culture is having a phenomenal run on the festival circuit. But it still needs distribution. The general public still needs access to this film and the revelatory story it tells. So a lot of what keeps me busy is ensuring that the tails of our projects are long—that people are moved to act differently, think differently, empathize differently after we tell them a story. 

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Some of my favorites spots: A day at the beach in Malibu followed by fish and chips at Malibu Fish Market (or Nobu Malibu if you’re feeling fancy and not on a weekend!) plus some shopping at the Malibu Country Mart
Museum hopping: Hammer, LACMA, Broad
A day at the Getty
Comedy show at the Laugh Factory or Groundlings LA
Almost any night at The Hollywood Bowl
Huntington Library and Gardens

So much!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I’m a big believer that no success happens in a vacuum. In this case, a big shoutout goes to the ladies in my life who are strong, powerful, supportive, mentors and visionaries whom I look up to. This includes my group of friends who inspire me through their own leadership accomplishments. It also includes my mother who became a respected and important business founder in the later years of her life. She showed me through words and examples that it’s never too late to recreate yourself and live out your dreams, particularly if you are driven by impact and passion.

Website: https://weareevokemedia.com/

Instagram: @breakingglasspod