About

Isabel Spiegel is a multimedia digital storyteller and creative, working at the intersection of documentary video, cultural research and branded content. She is drawn to stories about artists who identify as culture-bearers—those who make it their mission to preserve ancestral memory through ritual and artistic expression. Her work focuses on highlighting marginalized populations, traditions, and people through heartfelt, honest stories that bear witness to the power of the arts to empower individuals and communities.

As a young child growing up in Los Angeles, her early love of traditional art forms was ignited in public parks and on street corners—Aztec drums and Mexican American buskers on Olvera Street, African masks at Leimert Park’s mask festival, Hare Krishna processions on Venice Beach. At ten, she began studying Afro-Brazilian percussion with a master drummer, who taught her the principles of rhythm and deepened her love for world music. Her passion for folk traditions supported by her storytelling abilities, led to a journalism internship with Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, and a contract video editor role with Smithsonian Folkways Recordings.  

Her current focus is on expanding her visual storytelling and production abilities (shooting, directing), while continuing to offer creative direction, video editing, story development and research support. She envisions collaborative projects that amplify underrepresented voices, blending documentary storytelling with live arts programming rooted in folk and traditional music. Her goal is to partner with mission-aligned museums, cultural organizations, artists and companies, to create work that educates, celebrates and connects us through our shared humanity.