the faces behind Innercircle stories

MEET THE FOUNDERS

With a combined 25 years of oral history experience, the founders of InnerCircle Stories – George Gavrilis and Annie Livingston – have built a collaborative and innovative practice that draws on their expert backgrounds and network of oral historians, interviewers, producers, and designers. 

George GavriliS

 Co-Founder and Oral Historian

George is an oral historian, writer, and podcaster who has worked on histories of the Atlantic Philanthropies, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Carnegie Corporation of New York, and the Human Rights Campaign.  He has also done interviews with remarkable individuals, including a secretary of state, an astronaut, and the founder of one of the world’s largest tech companies.

  • He pioneered analytic and diagnostic approaches that allow institutions to use oral history to plan their future strategically while documenting their past. He recently authored The Council on Foreign Relations: A Short History, a book commissioned by the Council and based on oral history narratives. He hosted the Monuments Woman Podcast, using oral history methods to tell the noteworthy story of an archaeologist in Afghanistan. He has worked in international affairs and development, serving as a consultant to the United Nations. He led the Hollings Center for International Dialogue in Washington, DC & Istanbul. After receiving his PhD in Political Science from Columbia University, he taught at the University of Texas-Austin. His languages include Turkish, Greek, Uzbek, French, and Spanish. He was born in Greece, raised in Chicago, and worked in Turkey. He is based in the New York area.

Annie Livingston

 Co-Founder and Oral Historian

Annie is an oral historian and philanthropic advisor with a focus on helping people tell their stories, capture their vision, develop their personal and professional strategies, and collaborate with others. She works with individuals, foundations, nonprofit organizations, and archival institutions. Her clients have included the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Panorama Strategies, the Schultz Family Foundation, and various private family offices.

  • Previously, Annie spent over a decade advancing the mission of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. She was chief of staff for Bill Gates Sr., directing his grantmaking, public outreach, and advocacy. In addition, Annie managed high-profile programs, built relationships with philanthropic leaders, developed strategies, and made grants for programs spanning HIV prevention, rule of law, and the arts. In 2007, Annie lived in Beijing to launch the Gates Foundation’s China office. Earlier in her career, Annie worked on policy at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC, and on art acquisitions for the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Annie has been a Trustee of the Henry Art Gallery and served as a Partner for Social Venture Partners. She holds an MBA from George Washington University School of Business, focused on nonprofit management, and a BA in Art History from Yale University. She has additional training from the University of California Berkeley’s Oral History Center.

meet the team

Christina Pae

Oral Historian

  • Christina Pae received her MA in oral history from Columbia University in 2017, completing her master’s thesis on stories about her parents’ generation of Korean-Americans who lived through critical periods of Korean history before immigrating to the US. She has worked on oral history projects for the Bill Melinda Gates Foundation, Harriman Institute at Columbia University, the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, and various private family offices. She also works with families to record their stories.

    Prior to becoming an oral historian, Christina spent twenty years working as a corporate lawyer in New York at one of the world’s leading law firms and at several major global financial institutions. Outside of oral history, Christina is a volunteer tour guide at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

    Christina received her AB in Russian Studies from Brown University and her JD from Harvard Law School.

Cindy Yoon

Audio and Video Producer

  • Cindy Yoon has worked in the field of journalism, web and museum management, and independent documentary film. After studying media and communications at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs, she wrote content and edited videos for non-profit and educational organizations.

    Her work has contributed to the transformation of numerous non-profit websites as well as interactive installations at museums such as Asia Society.

    When not writing about her adventures raising two kids in New York City, she is a designer and ceramist, specializing in ethereal Korean moon jars.

Terrell Frazier

Oral Historian

  • Terrell is an oral historian who has worked on histories of the Obama Administration and the Carnegie Corporation of New York and served as the Director of Education and Outreach for the Columbia Center for Oral History at Columbia University.

    He has been at the forefront of using oral history as a method of scholarly inquiry and a catalyst for community engagement. He has launched initiatives such as the Telling Lives: Community Oral History Workshop Series for social change leaders and has developed oral history institutes on a range of themes, from collecting life histories in human rights contexts to documenting narratives of the political present.

    Recently, Terrell served as Lead Interviewer for the Obama Presidency Oral History Project—a partnership between the Obama Foundation and Incite at Columbia University—to produce a comprehensive record of the nation’s first African-American president and his administration. For this project, he conducted 70 interviews with a range of administration officials, including President Obama, members of Congress, activists, academics, artists, and others who interacted with the administration at the intersection of governance processes and civil society. He is completing his PhD in sociology at Columbia University and is based in the New York area.

Angela Bogdanovich Turk

Designer and art director

  • A 1983 graduate of the Art Institute of Seattle, Angela Turk has more than 40 years of experience in the Seattle advertising and design community. She spent her early career as an art director at the city’s most highly-regarded agencies where she produced work for diverse companies including Ste. Michelle Wine Estates, Alaska Airlines, and Four Seasons Olympic Hotel.

    In 1990 she founded Angela Turk Art & Copy where she remains today. During this time, countless companies and individuals have benefitted from her unique creative skills and immersive approach to every job she undertakes. Clients have included private family offices, Beecher’s Handmade Cheese, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, Microsoft, Providence Swedish Medical Center, and Visit Seattle.

    Angela’s work has spanned many industries and has garnered numerous local and national awards including The One Show, an Athena Award for best newspaper ad in the nation, and inclusion in Print’s Best Letterheads and Business Cards. Early in her career, she was twice the recipient of The Bill Bernbach Memorial Award for young professional achievement in advertising and in 1995 was inducted into the Art Institute of Seattle’s Hall of Fame for accomplishments in her field.

    Angela has donated hours of public service work to not-for-profit causes and has been a design instructor and speaker at numerous regional high schools and colleges. A native of the Pacific Northwest, Angela currently resides in Kirkland, Washington, and takes tremendous pride in her two adult sons. In 2021 she completed the 500-mile Camino de Santiago across Spain—with more adventures to come.