Bound

Chris Paicely has been a storyteller his whole life. From writing and recording songs with his friends on the east side of Indianapolis to writing short investigative stories as a journalist for Huffington Post and Uproxx, Chris has found beauty in the transformative power of the written word. After graduating with a Master of Science in Journalism from Northwestern University, Chris covered Chicagoland education and politics for years before shifting into public relations and marketing.

Chris now leads a growing marketing and communications team and the development of several key storytelling campaigns and initiatives, including Shades of Leadership, a 2019 documentary short featuring Lin-Manuel Miranda, and the Shades of Impact live stream series.

As a creative, Chris has continued to build new projects while leading at Surge. He produced and hosted multiple podcasts with the 2 Blacks and a Mexican trio, including Your Favorite Movie is Racist and Survivor’s Ed, reaching thousands of listeners and further developing his creative partnership with Miles August.

As co-founder of Swym Good Films, Chris is eager to push forward his ideas and is co-writing several projects with Miles. To this day, his passion remains in storytelling, with a specific focus on influencing the national zeitgeist so that people of color are seen and heard with equal credibility to our peers.

Miles August is a multi-faceted visual artist and music composer. Born a Michigan Native, Miles moved around quite a bit as a youth and eventually migrated to Chicago. His nomadic upbringing would allow him to meet a wide variety of people that would help influence his path to artistry. At a very young age, he was introduced to the world of music production by an older friend. It wouldn’t be until a few years later that he would study music composition and begin telling stories through songwriting.

After spending over a decade crafting music for himself and various artists, Miles would pivot and go on to study Graphic design at the Illinois Institute of Art. In college, he would be introduced to photography and video and begin to develop his own visual aesthetic. Since then Miles has worked in digital advertising while doing freelance and never abandoning his music roots. In 2021 he would partner with Chris Paicely and another host to discuss their love of film on a podcast called “2 Blacks and a Mexican”. The podcast would go on for a year and turn into two shows that would inspire a partnership with Chris. Miles is now focused solely on telling stories through the medium of film while also incorporating the many skills he’s learned through advertising and music-making.