About Mike Buonaiuto
For over two decades, Mike has crafted stories and built companies and studios at the intersection of culture, identity and power.
He understands how stories move people - creating resonant narratives with emotional depth and commercial reach that don’t just entertain, but define and drive cultural conversation and social impact.
Working across advertising, film and games, Mike is an award-winning director, writer and story consultant, helping teams and crews create work rooted in emotion, identity and culture that keeps pace with evolving audience behaviours.
An Impact-Driven Career
In 2015, Mike founded, scaled and has since exited Shape History, the award-winning social impact communications agency, working globally alongside institutions including the United Nations, Atlantic Council, and WHO, and locally with organisations such as The Big Give, My Life My Say, and Amnesty International UK.
He served the agency as its CEO & Creative Director from 2015-2022, remaining a Non-Executive Director until 2024.
Previously, he served as a Creative Director for the UN’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and built the creative studio within Weber Shandwick’s (IPG, Omnicom) EMEA offering.
TEDx: No wonder people are quitting. Business must do better.
Quitting is at a 20-year high. After years of crisis, young people face unprecedented barriers to financial, physical, and emotional security. In response, a generation is voting with its feet - leaving companies that worsen these challenges and joining those that address them. Mike’s TEDx Talk reframes quitting, offering businesses a more human approach and urging founders to take responsibility for solving the defining issues of our time.
Where shall we start?
From ideation, concept and design through to delivery, refinement and final execution, Mike can join your project at any stage - supporting your creative team to sharpen pitches, shape story worlds, strengthen narrative cohesion, and elevate emotional, cultural and commercial impact across development and production.
