Satori Shakoor

Artistic Director, The Secret Society Of Twisted Storytellers®

Satori Shakoor is a storyteller, an artist, social entrepreneur and a 2017 Kresge Literary Arts Fellow. Satori received early recognition as a background singer/recording artist when she toured with George Clinton, Parliament/Funkadelic as one of the Brides of Funkenstein. She expanded her performance career to include actor, comedienne, and television comedy writer. Satori was the catalyst and a founding member of the award-winning Obsidian Theatre Company in Toronto. Founded in 1999, Obsidian Theatre has become Canada’s leading culturally diverse theatre company. In 2011, Satori began her professional career as a storyteller touring the country as a Moth main stage storyteller and host. She has told stories globally on many stages and storytelling platforms, PBS, NPR and podcasts. Satori hosts the Twisted Storytellers podcast produced by WDET Radio, Detroit Performs Live at Marygrove produced by Detroit Public Television on PBS.
Satori is the Executive Producer for the award-winning The Secret Society Of Twisted Storytellers®which she founded in July 2012 in Detroit. TSSOTS has a global mission to connect humanity, heal and transform community and to provide an uplifting, thought- provoking, soul-cleansing entertainment experience through the art and craft of storytelling. Satori is the Executive Director for The Society for the Re-Institutionalization of Storytelling, a Michigan 501(c) 3 nonprofit organization. The Secret Society Of Twisted Storytellers partners with businesses, corporations, educational institutions, and faith-based organizations to produce and program live events.
Satori designs and facilitates storytelling workshops in the art and craft of storytelling for arts organizations, small businesses, corporations and to individuals. Some clients include Inside/Out Literary Project, Crain’s Communication, Duke University, Bowling Green University, Detroit Zoological Society, Edsel and Eleanor Ford House, Bing Youth Institute, Wayne State University School of Social Work, New Detroit Racial Healing and Genealogy Project, MPHI, New Economy Initiative, Issue Media Group, Wayne State University Business School, Arab American National Museum, Hannan House, University of Michigan and Detroit Historical Society.
Satori was honored by I. Detroit, along with 100 other Detroiters who have moved the needle forward for the city of Detroit. In November 2018, upon invitation, Satori installed The Secret Society Of Twisted Storytellers Europe Edition in Utrecht, The Netherlands to address issues of racism. In 2023, Satori was in Manchester, UK to take part in a global initiative called “In Place Of War.”
Satori studied Music Performance at Michigan State University, Dramatic Arts at University of Hawaii (Manoa) and earned a degree in Interdisciplinary Studies from Wayne State University in 2008. Satori was trained in the art of improvisation by The Groundlings in Los Angeles and Second City Toronto in Canada.