I'm Susan Berston, and here's what I believe:
Everyone has a story worth telling. Maybe it's the very moment you found people like yourself. Or the day you decided your truth mattered more than their comfort. Your story is proof of what is possible.
Whatever it is, I want to hear it—and I'm excited to help you tell it. When someone trusts me with their story, I'm reminded what a privilege it is—each and every time. This work is my dream come to life and every story recorded is one that can never be erased, lost or rewritten. Let's not wait -- these stories won't exist unless the people who lived them agree to tell them.
If You Lived It, We Need to Hear It!
The generation who discovered and explored their identities between the 1950s and 1980s lived through seismic change—from a time when being gay or lesbian was criminalized and pathologized, through liberation movements, the devastating AIDS crisis that claimed an entire generation, and into an era of increasing visibility and rights --only to watch hard-won rights challenged again.
Many built lives in the margins, created families without blueprints, and survived by finding each other when the world insisted they didn't exist. Your experiences, in your own words, help future generations understand where they come from, help researchers and educators tell the full story, and create a record for your own families and communities - preserving not just what happened, but what it felt like to live through it.
Your Story As a Couple
There's an entire generation of trailblazers whose love stories have never been told as love stories. Many found each other in a world that was not always welcoming, stayed together through decades that tested them in ways many couples never face, and built loving and lasting relationships. There are young LGBT people who grew up without models for what a long life together could look like -- and knowing that a love story can grow old.
This is the evidence that our version of a long life together exists, has always existed, and deserves to be named — and witnessed.
Why This Matters
Your story doesn't preserve itself. Your voice, your memories, your hard-won perspective. The next generation needs to know how we got here. Your chosen family — some of them not even born yet — will one day want to know what it was really like. And here's what surprises people most: the act of telling your story has a way of revealing something back to you — your own grit, your resilience, your sheer determination to keep going. You already lived it. Let's help you see it.
Step 1 — Reach Out
Simply send me an email at sberston@ccsf.edu to start the conversation. There's no commitment — just a chance to ask questions, share a little about yourself, and see if it feels like a good fit to schedule an in-person meeting at your location.
Step 2 — We Meet First In-Person
Before any filming, I will meet with you in person for a relaxed, unhurried pre-interview conversation. This is your chance to get to know me a bit, discuss the types of questions asked, share your story, and decide together the narrative that you wish to share. Nothing is filmed until you're ready.
Step 3 — We Film Your Story
When you're ready, I will film your interview. You'll have the opportunity to review and edit before anything is shared. Your story will then be archived — and preserved as part of a permanent, living history of your experience.
.jpg/:/rs=w:1209,h:1209,cg:true,m/cr=w:1209,h:1209)
As our history gets erased from classrooms and textbooks, the most powerful act of resistance is the same one it's always been: telling the truth. Our shared truths. In our own words. I've recorded dozens of these stories. I know how to make it easy — even fun. Whatever you've lived through, wherever you've been, I want to hear it. And I'm genuinely honored to help you tell it as your most authentic self.
Prefer to talk by phone? Email me, and I will call you. :)