I grew up in Huntington, West Virginia, a tri-tate region in the Ohio River Valley.  My young life was filled with creativity as I filled design books with my own art, played in the band while on the soccer team, participated in academic competitions and was cast in many plays.

    Graduating from Marshall University with a B.B.A. in Marketing/Advertising, I worked a few odd jobs before moving to Seattle to attend the Art Institute to study film and television production. These were the burgeoning days for Seattle and myself. I got to see the Grunge movement up close and personal as I saw Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Alice in Chains before they were famous. One of my best friends was comedian and musician Reggie Watts. 

     I next moved to San Francisco and then Charlotte. Dissatisfied with the multimedia options while looking for my niche, I moved to Philadelphia and joined its arts scene. I worked for the dance presenter for the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg Center, where I got to work with the titans of dance. Twyla Tharp even gave me her limousine to use for a day!

     Unfortunately, my father fell ill a few years later, so I returned to Huntington to help take care of him. After returning home, I took interest in an initiative to build a central airport for the Huntington & Charleston market. I attended public outreach meetings and met the players behind the project.

     I was hired by the West Virginia Department of Trans- portation (WVDOT), first in public and media relations, but later as a multimedia specialist. This afforded me the opportunity to make my first documentary, The Road to Opportunity. From there, I made four more documentaries and several other films in service to the agencies of transportation. 

     In 2009, I was asked to create a film about the Kanawha Gateway region, where the Kanawha and Ohio rivers meet. The film was to be part of a mitigation for the people who lived in the region, who wanted to see their farms and history preserved on film, and their story told with the hopes of encouraging conservation. The final product was The Legacy of the Land, a two-hour film narrated by Oscar-nominated actor Chris Sarandon, and now playing on PBS. 

    While I was happy at WVDOT, Governor Jim Justice was elected in 2016 and in 2018 he handpicked me to join a select group of communicators to form a public information nexus overseeing all state capital marketing and public relations, placing me under the West Virginia Department of Commerce.

     My new role allows me to perform many of the same roles while having greater autonomy. I also work not just with state agencies but with private industry. This role has allowed me to truly spread my wings across a wide variety of messages, styles, and media.

     In my every day life, I like to participate in cultural events and I sing in a Yiddish choir at the local synagogue. I am a big believer in community and the idea that what we ourselves create can manifest itself in a better world. Thanks again from visitng my portfolio website. Please drop me a line with the form at left!

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