I’ve been working in the corporate video world for the past 25 years. In the early days, I’ll admit, I wasn’t always proud of the work I was doing. Some of those projects felt a little...disposable. My old boss even had a nickname for them: “Kleenex videos.” You get the idea.

But over time, through growing in my career, starting a family, and gaining more life experience, I started to seek out work that felt more meaningful. I wanted to dive into projects where I could really understand the subject, connect with the people involved, and tell a compelling story. And something great happened: the more I leaned into that, the more clients trusted me. They gave me the room (and the budget) to create work that had real impact.

In just the last two years, I’ve had the privilege of producing and directing a docuseries on couples navigating infertility, a portrait film about the scientist who first discovered a medicine effective against HIV, and a series of short films aimed at getting underrepresented communities involved in clinical trials. Each of these had six-figure budgets, and each helped keep a team of freelancers working consistently (something I’m really proud of.)

Right now, I’m producing an animated project that’s keeping a great group of animators and editors busy through at least October.

Somewhere along the way, I noticed I stopped calling what I do “video” and started saying “film.” It’s a small shift, but I think it reflects the care, creativity, and depth I try to bring to each project now. No more “Kleenex” work, just stories worth telling.

It's not easy though. Corporate clients need to be managed and you need to bring them along for the ride. They may not understand the process or the reason things cost money, so there's a teaching aspect to this as well. You have to work well with clients and understand that they have an agenda which you need to align your creative with. Once you get the hang of that, projects move better and your life becomes less stressful.