Over the past 30 years I’ve produced countless videos featuring a diverse cross-section of society: a startup health-food bar company, the owner of a chicken farm in Arkansas, a fledgling Denver dance company, survivors of debilitating strokes, Court Appointed Special Advocates as they help foster kids navigate the court system, kids whose parents were killed on the job, CEOs of major fast casual restaurant chains who truly believe in their brands, homeless single mothers trying to save up for a down payment on a Habitat for Humanity house, just to name a few. During the years in and after film school, I produced two feature films and two TV pilots. The first feature I produced (‘Cannibal - The Musical”) led fellow producers Trey Parker and Matt Stone to land South Park. Most of my Denver film colleagues followed them out to LA. My wife (“Cannibal” producer Alex Kelly) and I decided to stay in Denver and raise a family. I got a job at a local marketing agency who serviced a portfolio of national restaurant chains. Most of my California friends straight up told me that corporate videos were beneath them, but that job taught me a valuable lesson: every story has the potential to be engaging and emotional. After all, lots of people are passionate about what they do. Others perform a job every day that they are very good at. And almost everyone can go on camera and talk about it. Some are deeply flattered to even be asked. Since 2021, I’ve worked on a remote government contract for the Department of Transportation in D.C., producing training videos for law enforcement and vehicle inspectors. When I first got the job, my friends were concerned that the subject matter would be too boring. I wasn’t worried. Within a year, my team and I had created a video podcast designed to educate the public about the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. Episode one of “Where the Rubber Meets the Road” covered the history of the DOT, from the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 through the present day. When we previewed the video for secretary-level executives, many said they learned things they never knew about the DOT. This episode won a 2023 Davey Award for best historical podcast. Over the next year, we produced two more episodes, the last of which featured Safespect, the FMCSA’s new roadside inspection software. During one of our interviews, I asked the lead developer why he cared so much about inspection software. He got choked up and replied, “Law enforcement inspectors have to go through 6 different systems just to find out if a vehicle is safe enough to be on the road. What if an unsafe vehicle doesn’t get flagged and ends up killing someone? If our job is to save lives, why are we okay with that?” I got choked up too. This episode led to our second Davey Award, this time for best historical podcast series. I am someone who believes in the power of storytelling, and that good stories can be found everywhere.…Over the past 30 years I’ve produced countless videos featuring a diverse cross-section of society: a startup health-food bar company, the owner of a chicken farm in Arkansas, a fledgling Denver dance company, survivors of debilitating strokes, Court Appointed Special Advocates as they help foster kids navigate the court system, kids whose parents were killed on the job, CEOs of major fast casual restaurant chains who truly believe in their brands, homeless single mothers trying to save up for a down payment on a Habitat for Humanity house, just to name a few. During the years in and after film school, I produced two feature films and two TV pilots. The first feature I produced (‘Cannibal - The Musical”) led fellow producers Trey Parker and Matt Stone to land South Park. Most of my Denver film colleagues followed them out to LA. My wife (“Cannibal” producer Alex Kelly) and I decided to stay in Denver and raise a family. I got a job at a local marketing agency who serviced a portfolio of national restaurant chains. Most of my California friends straight up told me that corporate videos were beneath them, but that job taught me a valuable lesson: every story has the potential to be engaging and emotional. After all, lots of people are passionate about what they do. Others perform a job every day that they are very good at. And almost everyone can go on camera and talk about it. Some are deeply flattered to even be asked. Since 2021, I’ve worked on a remote government contract for the Department of Transportation in D.C., producing training videos for law enforcement and vehicle inspectors. When I first got the job, my friends were concerned that the subject matter would be too boring. I wasn’t worried. Within a year, my team and I had created a video podcast designed to educate the public about the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. Episode one of “Where the Rubber Meets the Road” covered the history of the DOT, from the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 through the present day. When we previewed the video for secretary-level executives, many said they learned things they never knew about the DOT. This episode won a 2023 Davey Award for best historical podcast. Over the next year, we produced two more episodes, the last of which featured Safespect, the FMCSA’s new roadside inspection software. During one of our interviews, I asked the lead developer why he cared so much about inspection software. He got choked up and replied, “Law enforcement inspectors have to go through 6 different systems just to find out if a vehicle is safe enough to be on the road. What if an unsafe vehicle doesn’t get flagged and ends up killing someone? If our job is to save lives, why are we okay with that?” I got choked up too. This episode led to our second Davey Award, this time for best historical podcast series. I am someone who believes in the power of storytelling, and that good stories can be found everywhere.WWWW…