Michele Carlo, a.k.a.
@Michele_asShell has 8,000,000 stories about New York City. (Perhaps one of them is about you?) She is a native New Yorker, a Nuyorican, a natural redhead — and an author/storyteller/comedy-adjacent performer who has appeared across the U.S., including NPR with Latino U.S.A., the Clearwater Music & Arts Festival, RISK! live shows and podcast, Story Collider, PBS’ Stories from the Stage, and the MOTH's GrandSlams and Mainstage in NYC. Many of Michele’s early Moth stories appear in her book Fish Out Of Agua: My life on neither side of the (subway) tracks (Citadel/Kensington).
Illustration: Rick Parker
Yep, I run a Coquito "factory" from Thanksgiving till New Year's, mostly for gifts. If you don't know what Coquito is, it's the quintessential Puerto Rican holiday libation, a Caribbean vacation in a glass it's... well... you can hear all about it in this story I told for WNYC radio: https://www.wnyc.org/story/how-family-coquito-recipe-stood-test-time/
Plus, on Thursday, December 21 at 6pm, I’ll be LIVE with WNYC at The Greene Space telling another Coquito story in their “Family Recipe Swap” show. LIVE and Online tickets available: https://www.thegreenespace.org/event/wnyc-recipe-swap/
Aaaand, we’re back, live from Washington Heights, it’s the return of NoName at WordUp’s SUPER STORY PARTY at WordUp Community Bookshop with me and my co-conspiritor of Story Crimes, Eric Vetter. First Tuesday of every month at 7pm!!! 🎇🎆🌠😍 🎇🎆🌠
Eric also interviewed me about my artistic journey on the No Name NYC Podcast!!! Listen here: https://blubrry.com/no_name_nyc_podcast/
What does #GrowingUpLatina look like? Three storytellers—including your favorite redheaded Brookli-Rican—share how their experiences as young #Latinas shaped the way they move in the world today. Watch on Stories from the Stage, 10/3 at 9:30/8:30c: https://bit.ly/SFTS_GrowingUpLatina 🎇🎆🌠😍 🎇🎆🌠
Read my story “Exactly Like Nobody” published by Big Other as part of their Big Other’s Puerto Rican Writer’s Folio: A Hauntology.
SOOOOO EXCITED to be part of this amazing lineup at the legendary Leonard Nimoy theater at NYC’s Symphony Space as part of the No, YOU Tell It! special matinee show for NYC high school students on Thursday March 13! 😘😘😘 🔥🔥🔥 😻😻😻 Click on pic or here. 🎇🎆🌠🎇🎆🌠
A radically inclusive and ridiculously affordable hybrid of retreat, conference, and house party is coming back for its fourth year — THE GET-TOGETHER IV, hosted by Scott Whitehair, in Chicago, IL, Friday, April 17-Sunday, April 19th, 2026 — and I’ll be tellling stories AND premiering an all-new workshop, “CHANGE IS THE NEW SAME!” Can’t wait to bring it to NYC at a venue near you later this year 🎇🎆🌠😍 🎇🎆🌠
Check out this NY1 clip (left) from my November 2019 interview with Roger Clark a few days before I performed my solo show Fish Out Of Agua at the Kraine Theater’s Gotham Storytelling Festival. Ah, those pre-pandemic days when a crowd could gather in the dark and be as one…
(Want to book Fish Out Of Agua for your school or event? Click here. )
See Me in Upcoming Shows!
(all times are EDT until 11/01/2026)
Tuesday, June 2, 7:00 pm
“No Name Super Story Party”
Word Up Community Bookshop,
2113 Amsterdam Avenue,
Washington Heights, NY
LIVE & FREE!
Friday, May 29, 7:00 pm
“TALE”
KGB Red Room,
85 East 4th Street, NYC
TICKETS HERE!
Friday, April 17 – Sunday, April 19
The CHICAGO GET-TOGETHER
Storytelling Conference & Festival
Various times and venues,
Chicago, IL
TICKETS HERE!
Sunday, March 29, 6:30 pm
Readings at Silvana’s
Silvana’s Café,
300 116th Street, NYC
LIVE & FREE!
Wednesday, March 25, 8:30 pm
“JUST ONE MORE THING”
4th Anniversary Show
Pine Box Rock Shop
12 Grattan Street, Bushwick, Bklyn
LIVE & FREE!
Hear Me on PODCASTS!
“The Volume Knob: Songs That Saved Me”
where I tell one of my most-requested stories “Kill Whitey Day.”
“Death & the Puerto Rican”
a story on the Story Collider Podcast for Diabetes Awareness (also featuring the fabulous Gastor Almonte).
“45 Years,” one of the stories from my 2021 solo show What a Difference A Year Makes, on the RISK Podcast episode: “Make This Right”
“NO, YOU TELL IT!”
Kelly Jean Fitzsimmon’s great live show and podcast: Click here.
“BIG OTHER: A HAUNTOLOGY”
John Madera’s literary folio featuring Puerto Rican writers.
Click here.
“Circling the Drain”
Julia Granacki and Ellie’s Dunn’s hilarious podcast by and for Gen-X.
Click here.
“No Name NYC”
Eric Vetter and Gary Hardcastle talk to performing artists of all kinds!
Click here.
”Love Hurts”
Bryan Berlin’s popular storytelling podcast about love—lost and found.
Click here.
I’m on the World Channel/WGBH Stories from the Stage series. My episode: Season 1, Ep. 11, “Make It Or Break It!”
TALE Storytelling
Friday, May 29, 2026, 7pm at KGB Red Room, 85 East 4th Street, NYC
Your favorite Brookli-Rican redhead is featured on this unique podcast about the “Songs That Saved Or Lives.” Hosted by Keith Serry. Click here or on image for more info. 🎇🎆🌠😍 🎇🎆🌠
“45 Years,” one of the stories from my solo show, What a Difference A Year Makes, is now available on the RISK Podcast episode: “Make This Right” https://www.risk-show.com/podcast/make-this-right/
A still from Page to Stage, a documentary short about my journey to becoming a writer and performer, streamed September 22–October 2 as part of the 2020 Coney Island Film Festival.
Tuesday, November 11 & Saturday & Sunday, November 15 & 16, it’s “Rhonda & Michele’s Power Hour, part of Frigid New York’s 2026 Gotham Storytelling Festival!
Vintage pic of my “Coquito Factory” ©2012
I Wrote a Book!
Fish Out Of Agua:
My Life On Neither Side Of
The (Subway) Tracks
is about my growing up as a redheaded freckle-faced Puerto Rican in an Italian/Irish neighborhood in 1970s NYC — and a family secret that impacted the relationship between my mother and me for many years.
I’m in a Movie!
Don’t I make a lovely Bruja? 🔥💥😍🎆
I’m in “La Bruja,” a short film written/directed by Eliza Cossio, which won awards at several film festivals and was written up by Vulture (New York Magazine). Learn more about “La Bruja” here: https://labrujafilm.com 🔥💥😍🎆
I’m in Another Book!
One of my RISK! podcast (and MOTH MainStage) stories is included here along with many other amazing stories.
Available Now!
Photo: Fay Hauser-Price
Story Coaching with Michele Carlo!
Have a story you're working on for a solo show, a story festival or any other show/ performance?
Reworking an old story? Polishing a new one?
I can help! Learn more and contact me here!
All 101 episodes of my podcast “Fish Out of Agua with Michele Carlo” are available for sharing, streaming & subscribing on Radio Free Brooklyn, Podomatic & iTunes!
Like our stories? Our Noo Yawk Ax-Sent? Tell us about it!