Michael Chow/Arizona Republic

Kim Haasarudim tells a story at Arizona Storytellers: Stories of Growing up at South Mountain Community College in Phoenix on August 31, 2015.

KJZZ partners with the Arizona Republic to bring you the Arizona Storytellers series. We record the live events and share them with you on the radio. In Phoenix, the storytellers sometimes share stories about our community or the life events that have shaped them in general. Megan Finnerty is the creator of the series.

Kim Haasarud is from Texas. But she moved to New York City after high school to go to college. Haasarud describes herself as always having been a bit of a tomboy. She enjoyed sports and wore her hair short, much to her conservative parents’ chagrin. But Haasarud always made it a point to visit her parents for the holidays. And at the end of one Thanksgiving vacation, Haasarud was getting ready to fly back to school when her parents called her into their bedroom for a talk.

Kim Haasarud is a mixologist and the co-founder of Arizona Cocktail Week.

The next storytelling event is Jan. 18, 2016, at Old Main on the Arizona State University Tempe campus. 

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