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Aaron Calafato
American storyteller (b. 1983) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Aaron Calafato (born 18 April 1983) is an American storyteller and podcast host. He is the creator and host of 7 Minute Stories, a short-form storytelling podcast launched in 2018, and the executive producer and co-host of The Lonely Office podcast.[1]
He is also the author of the one-man show For Profit, a biographical work based on his experiences with student debt.[2] Alongside this, Calafato is an activist in the student loan movement and advocates for those burdened with financial debt.[3][4]
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Biography
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Early years and acting work
Calafato was born in Berea[5] and grew up in Medina.[6] From an early age, he showed a keen interest in radio and storytelling, nurtured by his grandfather.[6]
His first acting experience came in high school, when he played a role in a friend's film.[5] He graduated from Medina High School in 2001[6] and from Bowling Green State University in 2005, where he studied performing arts.[5][6][7]
After graduating, he moved with his wife to New York City, where he worked in off-Broadway productions and experimental theater.[6][7] He studied for one year at the Herbert Berghof Studio (HB Studio) and for eighteen months at Michael Howard Studios.[5] In 2007, Calafato landed a role on the ESPN television series The Bronx Is Burning.[5][6]
After residing in New York for five years, he returned to Ohio with his wife.[5] There, he opened an acting studio at the Solon Center for the Arts, where he taught classes for high school students and adults.[5]
Podcasting
Facing a limited number of roles and an unstable income, his acting career reached a dead end, and he transitioned from acting to storytelling.[8] He began recording short narratives as a creative experiment, which in 2018 developed into the podcast 7 Minute Stories.[8][6] It soon became his primary project and earned him recognition.[8] In the podcast, Calafato shares stories from everyday life, each lasting about seven minutes and created mostly through improvisation.[1]
A year later, in 2019, the podcast was featured on NPR's Snap Judgment show[1][6] and was also included in the Goodpods' Top 100 Performing Arts Indie Podcasts list.[9] By 2025, the show reached over 30 million listeners.[1]
Following this, he joined Glassdoor's podcast The Lonely Office as both co-host and executive producer.[1] As bonus content for the podcast, he launched The Storytelling University, a weekly live show on YouTube consisting of 2–3 hour-long conversations with guests.[1]
He also serves as a podcast consultant for State of Mind with Maurice Benard.
One-man show: For Profit
Before beginning his podcasting career, after returning to Northeast Ohio, Calafato worked in catering and in the admissions office of a for-profit university.[3][1][4] A few months into the job, he created a one-man show, "For Profit," in which he discusses his struggles with student debt and critiques the for-profit college industry in the United States.[3][1][7][4]
The Plain Dealer notes that the play follows a character named "Aaron," an advisor who enters the profession with optimism but becomes disillusioned by systemic practices.[4][7] The show premiered at Euclid Square Mall in 2013.[1][6]
Writing, activism, and other work
Calafato is a student debt activist and a member of the Occupy Student Debt movement.[4][7]
He is also a columnist for Your Ohio News (Medina Weekly) and writes the short story column Stories in a Snap.[10]
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Filmography
Film, television, and theatre
Podcasting
Live audio show
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Personal life
He is married and has three children. He currently resides in Northeast Ohio, US.
References
External links
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