Into the Woods: A "Fire" Video Series for TNC and a Partner Organization

Links to watch and read how three of five videos are being utilized:

Prescribed Fire (on LinkedIn) 

Real World Impact on Forests (on LinkedIn)

Collaboration at Scale (on LinkedIn)

My Role: Producer

Backstory: In the Spring of 2025, our team was contacted by someone from The Nature Conservancy through an online contact form. I volunteered to produce the project immediately, since nature and science are my jam. Turns out, these videos were not only for TNC but a for-profit partner organization. This is pretty common for my non-profit clients, and always adds and interesting aspect to messaging, coordination and branding. Fortunately, these teams both knew what they wanted and were solid in the understanding between them, which made my job much more straightforward.

After both clients accepted our proposal, we mapped out the plan, assigned crew and gear, and kept an eye on the weather. Our time was limited, so we arrived much earlier than the subjects we were filming. Our small-but-mighty crew was ready to roll as soon as (on-camera) boots hit the ground.

Challenges: We only experienced the usual minor challenges: wishing we had more time to cover the interviews, nature and beautiful landscape, filming out in the Texas heat. Oh, I did stain a good sock the color of red clay when my shoe got stuck in the mud. All in good fun!

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Successes: Due to tight time constraints, we were a little worried about capturing all of the interviews, especially being outside in somewhat unpredictable weather conditions. But, we kept up with the tour group and filmed exactly what the clients were looking to capture. I helped the team keep calm and focused -- and safe and hydrated. The footage turned out gorgeous and the clients are deploying the content in what looks like a successful series of joint posts.

Grant-funded Locust Research Docuseries on Phenotypic Plasticity

Link to learn more and watch all three episodes here: https://behavioralplasticity.org/index.php/video-docuseries/

My Role: Producer, script writer

Backstory: A group of scientists with the Behavioral Plasticity Research Institute came to my team to document their important work and fulfill an educational video aspect of their important three-year-long grant. I was very excited to produce this docu-series for the organization, which describes itself as "a cross-institutional, cross-disciplinary Biology Integration Institute to comprehensively dissect locust phase polyphenism and use it as a model system to transform the study of phenotypic plasticity."

With my science-geek side fully engaged, I worked with the client to both meet their restricted budget and also tell a story that spans the globe. We interviewed our first batch of researchers as they (conveniently) met for a conference in Houston. Then we took a trip to two of the universities involved to visit their labs. We stepped foot into a quarantined facility full of insects, as well as a very advanced facility using CRISP-r to edit DNA and research exact neurons involved in certain behavioral responses.

Challenges: With a bigger budget, we would have been flying to be with researchers in the field, but that was not possible on this project. So, I had the job of gathering and logging visual content from all of the interviewees as well as locating available footage from stock and government sources. Since this was a long-term project, keeping up with these sources, how to credit them and keeping consistency across multiple post-production crew was not easy. Communicating with the editor about which b-roll went with which researcher was a constant back-and-forth.

Successes: Interviewing these subjects and writing the scripts created a massive learning experience for me. I had to understand the topic very deeply, to be able to piece together the story on paper before the editor could start. I can now give my own lecture on locusts. (My nephews can attest to this.) Also, the series turned out great and the client was very happy with the results.

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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.