Olivia Damavandi Aryeh

Publicity Director

Olivia Damavandi Aryeh comes to Malibu Playhouse from Malibu, California, where she was born and raised.

Originally wanting to study marine biology, she completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Hawaii and majored in English.

After graduating in 2007, Olivia joined Malibu Times Magazine as a contributor and copy editor. A few months later, she became a staff writer at the The Malibu Times newspaper, where she wrote front-page articles on major local news, politics and business stories, in addition to writing the weekly paper’s sports, people, crime and obituary sections, and starting the paper’s first fashion column. Within a year, Damavandi was promoted to assistant editor of The Malibu Times. She also freelanced for Capitol Weekly, The Newspaper of California State Government and Politics.

Olivia’s pursuit of higher education brought her to Columbia University in the city of New York, where she earned a Master of Science in Journalism with a concentration in broadcast.

After graduating from Columbia in 2011, Olivia accepted a job offer as Malibu’s first ever Media Information Officer. As the “face of the city”, Olivia was responsible for creating and implementing a citywide communications strategy. She managed media and public relations, developed communication policies, advised and trained city council and city staff on effective ways to convey city messages, directed the operations of the city’s cable television channel and social media, developed and managed content for the city’s website, and helped develop the City’s branding and licensing program. She also created and produced original multimedia cross-platform storytelling for the city’s television channel, YouTube channel and website, and helped organize and successfully execute several high profile city events.

Her other interests include surfing and traveling.