Matthew Echelman

For more than a decade, Matthew has listened to the stories of people facing different struggles: the stories of children seeing no opportunity in education; of women battling sex discrimination; of indigenous communities fending off persecution; of rape victims, war veterans, and former addicts all readjusting to normal life; of refugees too afraid to return to their countries, girls fleeing from female genital mutilation, gay men and women forced to hide their identity, and cancer patients coming to terms with death. These stories first drew him to the nonprofit sector and then drew him away from it. While he wanted to help put at end to these struggles, he felt that he could do more by sharing these stories with others and giving a voice to the causes that fight them.

These days, everyone talks about thinking big, about having access to all of the answers. But Matthew found there’s value in starting small, in recognizing what one does not know and being willing to ask silly questions. Begin with an open mind, ask "why?", and you'll discover the story of a person's life. Keep asking “why?” and you'll discover what makes us all human. You’ll allow your audience to experience the nuanced reality of struggle—to find satisfaction, hope, and humor even in the darkest moments.

Matthew has applied this approach in creating promotional and advertisement content for both nonprofit organizations and for-profit companies, focusing on simplifying big ideas into relatable human stories that are at once compelling and universal. He’s created content for UBS, Artsy, Pearson Education, Libraries Without Borders, Sky Studios/Dance Network, Soho House, and IMG Media's Apple TV channel, "Made 2 Measure." His work has been featured in The Atlantic, the NYT Blog, the Boston Globe, Playbill, and Us Weekly. 

He is a graduate of Amherst College.