Honoring Habitat for Humanity's Big Contributors

Links to watch:

• Brian Ching (honoree): link to dropbox

• Mr. Phillips and Meghan (volunteers): link to dropbox

• Aliya and Maria (homeowner story: link to youtube

• Sima Ladjevardian (honoree): link to youtube

My Role: Producer and writer

Backstory: Houston Habitat for Humanity orders four to five videos for their big fundraising luncheon each year. I've been producing their videos since 2021, and it's always one of my favorite projects. We get to tell touching homeowner stories that tug at the heartstrings and help honor the organizations biggest contributors. This usually includes a high-profile supporter or advocate from the community and at least one of their boots-on-the-ground volunteers.

Challenges: Scheduling is usually the biggest challenge for these videos. Also, homeowners are sometimes hesitant to host a film crew in their home, but I try to make them feel comfortable by chatting with them beforehand to calm their anxieties. I, too, would be overwhelmed with someone coming to my house to record something thousands of people will see!

Successes: This client is always happy with our personal, creative touch and the videos we deliver. They've raised millions of dollars with the help of these videos at their events.

The Global Helicopter Project I Can't Shut Up About

Links to watch:

• Search and Rescue Video (My favorite)

• Safety is Personal (series video from Brazil)

• Safety Vignette (SAR pilot in Louisiana)

See all videos here: https://www.bristowgroup.com/news-media/videos

My Role: Producer

Backstory: This multi-national helicopter's corporate comms team chose our firm as a partner for video production across their global footprint on a long-term basis. I coordinated with them to collect interviews and b-roll from their locations in Texas, Louisiana, the United Kingdom, and most recently, Brazil. I also the scripts and managed post-production for these videos.

This included some amazing flights over Scotland's northern coasts near Aberdeen and time hanging out with the UK's Coast Guard in Inverness. In January of 2025, I flew over the coast of Brazil in and around Rio de Janeiro.

Challenges: Coordinating and capturing air-to-air shots of helicopters is inherently challenging from a safety and logistics standpoint. Planning it across multiple time zones just makes the project more challenging, but the end-results are worth it.

Interviewing subjects who speak Portuguese and scripting from those interviews were also challenges. I had to communicate with an editor who didn't speak the language and then get stakeholder feedback, also in English. But, there are so many tools available now to speed up the translation process, that the language barrier merely slowed the post-production process down by a few hours per deliverable.

Successes: Not only have I had the work trips of my dreams, but the client also won awards for some of the videos. They were so happy with the videos in 2022, they've engaged our team again for more videos in through 2025.

Behind the scenes:

Evidence-based Policy and Heart-Felt Storytelling

Link to read and watch:

https://www.arnoldventures.org/stories/at-big-brothers-big-sisters-mentorship-moves-the-needle

My Role: Producer and writer

Backstory: Arnold Ventures is an evidence-based philanthropic organization that focuses on funding evidence-based policy and programs from a wide range of areas including criminal justice, education, health care, and public finance. They came to us to help tell the story of new research that came out showing the benefits of mentorship programs like Big Brothers, Big Sisters on youth. I jumped at the chance to dive in and discover more, eventually interviewing a lovely mentor and his mentee.

Challenges: Incorporating data into an emotional, impactful video can be tricky. I collaborated with the client to "sprinkle" this information throughout the video, creating emphasis at important transitional points in the video and at the end.

Successes: The client was able to successfully use the video and a shorter version to amplify the story across all of their social media and digital platforms.