Habitat For Humanity
JUL 2022 - FEB 2023
I came to Habitat with the goal of telling the stories of their home recipients, volunteers, staff, and financial supporters. During my contract with Habitat I produced a number of web-distributed mini-documentaries, advised on social content, creative, and facilitated a national news feature seen by 1.3M viewers just days before Christmas.
Coolest part: Working with the dedicated staff and volunteers; telling the stories of the partners who faced tremendous odds to better their life.
Pigeon Loans
FEB 2022 - JUL 2022
Pigeon Loans is a venture capital-funded tech startup that helps facilitate loans between friends and family. They contracted me to brand themselves in a way that made them stand out in the digital space. I created an animated series featuring a pair of mascots; staring a poor chicken who was constantly getting himself into expensive situations and would call his rich pigeon friend to borrow money to bail him out.
Coolest part: Managed the project from pitch to delivery, developed the concept, hired and managed the team, and was fully funded from start to finish.
NewsNation
JUL 2021 - AUG 2022
NewsNation is a new national cable news network owned by WGN Chicago’s parent company Nexstar Media. I was hired as their head of social media where I built their social team; hired staff, creating short-form video shows, and writing their social media strategy. I later transitioned as a producer to help launch their morning show, covering business, veterans stories, human interest, and futures projects.
Coolest part: Built a tight-knit community of fellow creatives and storytellers who support me and help me grow both personally and professionally. – Specifically, I met Maureen White who has become a close mentor and aunt-like figure.
Team STEAM
JAN 2021 - JUN 2021
Through Science IRL, I saw the need for inclusive STEM education for younger generations; encouraging women and minorities to pursue advanced STEM degrees. I also saw the need to show youth the power of combining art and creativity with STEM. My Science IRL team and I developed an original free-to-stream web series featuring a diverse group of five best friends who travel through time, meeting real-life historical figures and experiencing major events, learning about S.T.E.A.M. topics through interactive historical fiction adventures.
Coolest part: It was my first experience experimenting with animation and opened my eyes to how I could use new technologies to tell stories in a new way.
Timo After Hours
SEP 2018 - JUN 2021
My latest attempt at talk show stardom. This was a multi-year project with a number of interactions and trial formats… It will most certainly be revived. In its final form to date, the show was based out of my parent’s basement where we built a state-of-the-art live broadcast studio. I interviewed viral internet celebrities who joined via zoom, being displayed on a screen attached to a mannequin’s head.
Coolest part: This was a creative dream… allowing me to utilize all my skills from set and lighting design, graphics and animation, technical stuff, storytelling, journalism, and editing. I pretty much put this show together by myself with some set-building assistance from my parents. – Tied as my all time favorite project to date with Science IRL.
Science & History IRL *The Brand
APR 2020 - JUN 2021
After the explosive success of Science IRL and History IRL’s short-form content, I saw the growth potential of expanding it to be a larger education brand. I spent the year developing a monthly science camp subscription box, long-form video content, a teacher’s resource site, and live educational events. Because of a lack of capital, experience, and creative burnout I ended up shutting down the projects to take on the role at NewsNation.
Coolest part: Learning how to be a boss; managing staff, capital, timelines, and personal life.
Science & History IRL *Tik Tok Show
JAN 2020 - JUN 2021
After solely running a daily Gen Z news show for 6 months with very slow growth, I started posting science videos on Tik Tok as a way to get passionate about content creation again. In a week I gained 10x more followers on the science account than I had on my new account over 6 months. I went on to create daily posts that pushed 8-12M views a month, creating a second sister account focussed on History content that same year.
Coolest part: The kids! Seeing my follower’s excitement to learn science and discussing history topics will forever live on as the peak of my career. This was my all-time favorite project to date.
Bach Reports
SEP 2019 - FEB 2020
Bach Reports was a daily 10 min online news show for Gen Z. Coming out of college I was scheduled to attend Northwestern law but was not able to secure funding so I deferred for a year. My goal was to get a news or political analyst job that would then pay for my education in exchange for signing a longer contract. To help draw attention, I decided to create a daily online Gen Z news show that would either deep dive into one big topic or would cover a mix of headlines ranging from gaming to world politics. It gained a small but consistent audience, bringing in 500 daily viewers with a 70% watch time.
Coolest part: While I decided not to pursue this show long term, it built the infrastructure (sets, business processes, contacts, etc) for my biggest career success. Science IRL would not have been possible if I hadn’t done Bach Reports.
Blatantly Honest
MAY 2019 - OCT 2019
I got the opportunity to pitch ClevverTV a show concept to help rebuild their audience following their acquisition by Hearst. I pitched a Gen Z and young millennial comedy show that would break down entertainment stories or relatable experiences in a short 5 min YouTube format. While they ordered a pilot of 6 episodes, there was a change in management which doubled down on news content and the show was not green lit.
Coolest part: This was the first time I had the opportunity to pitch a massive media company. I can not explain the joy I had developing the project.
World News Daily
APR 2019 - NOV 2019
Saw an opportunity to produce an online newscast that could be sold to an online agency. Developed an entire headlines news show: building a graphics package, set, format, and production requirements with the goal of being picked up by an online magazine or newspaper.
Coolest part: It was the first project I did under The Creator Factory LLC and was seen as a professional player in the media space for the first time instead of a student.
The Creator Factory
APR 2019 - JUN 2021
Created my first legally protected LLC with the goal of creating original media brands, scaling them into larger consumer and lifestyle brands.
Coolest part: I was naive enough to try anything… creativity ran free.
The Jam - WCIU
DEC 2017 - MAY 2020
The Jam was new local morning news and lifestyle, think GMA for Chicago. I started as an intern and then was hired back as their digital manager helping with digital marketing for the station.
Coolest part: I met Jessica Smedick, a veteran producer, who would go on to nurture and mentor me. She would go on to play mom, manager, therapist, and business partner without ever asking for anything in return. I would not be alive today without her.
Ordinarily Extraordinary
JUN 2017 - DEC 2017
Student film that I shot as part of a grant project I received through my participation in the Northwest Passage Project. I interviewed 6 of the world’s leading ecologists, telling their life story using stock footage.
Coolest part: I learned to prioritize story over fancy visuals and was supported by a professor that understood the purpose was for me to learn and not produce a perfect project.
SAVVAGE TV - TSL
MAY 2017 - JUL 2019
Savvage TV was my first attempt at making a larger-than-life media brand for Gen Z. It was centered around entertainment news and lifestyle content; covering social media gossip, gaming, music, and other culture. Think MTV meets old school Entertainment Tonight circa 2010-2018. I created all the graphics, sets, wrote the stories, edited videos, posted and promoted on social. This is how I learned my craft… creating over 1500 daily news packages over two years.
Coolest part: My proudest project was getting the team together to produce a daily 30-minute live news show out of my parent’s garage. Now that I’ve done both, I can honestly say national network news was easier.
Northwest Passage Project
DEC 2016 - AUG 2018
The Northwest Passage Project was a research initiative that came out of a partnership with six or seven universities around the US, NOA, and NSF. I was selected as an undergraduate student my freshman year and stuck with the project throughout my entire undergraduate career. I had the opportunity to go to the Inner Space center to learn how they broadcast live from the research vessel to national institutions around the world.
Coolest part: Meeting Miquel Gonzalez Meller who has been a stable force in my life, supporting my different media projects and encouraging me to pursue my talents and interests in STEM.
Granny Games
FEB 2016 - DEC 2017
Granny Games stands as the second stage of my social media career where I emulated blogger-style content. I tried DIYs, holiday videos, vlogs, but my most popular was a series called Granny Games where I tried internet challenges with my Grandma and sped up the voices to sound like chipmunks. I will never forget posting my video that got over 1k views and the excitement it gave me to keep creating content.
Coolest part: Looking back I started to develop my first systems and style guide for how I create visual media and tell stories.
How To Do it With Timothy Grider
APR 2015 - JUN 2015
How To Do it With Timothy Grider was my first attempt at a talk show. My dad and I build the set using leftover materials from a church play, purchased the furniture at Ikea, and borrowed the church mics and lights to make the project work. I invited student-athletes from my local area to come on and show me how to do their sport.
Coolest part: Looking back I see myself having a dream to host a talk format but ultimately making it my own, focusing content around education, comedy, and storytelling.
Microwave Mondays
OCT 2014 - OCT 2015
My first attempt at internet stardom was a series called Microwave Mondays where my aunt and I would show ways to make home-cooked meals entirely in the microwave. The idea was to show college students they could cook out of their dorm rooms. In hindsight, there was absolutely no way college students would be watching a fat 15-year-old gay kid and his aunt, but it was a start and I learned so much making those videos.
Coolest part: Every Friday my high school chemistry teacher would make the class all sit around and watch the video I had posted that week and give me feedback on how to improve. It made me feel supported. My former teacher turned friend Eric Bjornstad has become a trusted mentor and guiding voice in my life.
Small Business and Wedding Videographer
MAY 2013 - MAY 2018
I used to create little videos that I would share with my friends on social and one of their parents asked me to pay me $500 if I made videos for their company website. I didn’t know it at the time but this was my first taste of starting a business. I remember asking off of my job at Chick-fil-A (I know I know… it was part of my closeted cover) and thinking how much more I would be making that weekend shooting the videos and not having to sell chicken.
Coolest part: Everything I did I was doing for the first time and the stress and joy I had for completing those low-stakes projects was exhilarating.
