You already learned about how I stumbled into storytelling through the research and writing of my college thesis on Tuscan olive-oil production. But why storytelling as a career path, and how the leap to Firestarter Interactive?
I never set out to be a “storyteller,” but as college graduation set in, the career path that appealed to me the most was public radio, bringing together my curiosity about the world around me, with the logic of an almost-college-graduate: “there are public radio stations all over the country, so it should be relatively easy to get a job at one of them somewhere” (if you’re thinking similar, I will save you some applications and tell you, this is not quite the case!) After some deeper research and conversations, I realized my best doorway in was an unpaid internship, so I spent six incredibly valuable and educational months from 2008 to 2009—during the peak of the economic crash, Obama’s first election to office, and a riveting time to be in a newsroom—learning the ropes at New Hampshire Public Radio.
As my internship was drawing to a close, I wanted to continue telling stories. Freelancing appealed to me, but I didn’t have enough chutzpah—or frankly, experience—to give it a real go. In early 2009, I moved to Portland, Maine attend the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies, an intensive certificate program in Documentary Radio Storytelling. During those months, my comfort with interviewing and developing stories grew, and upon completion of the program, I knew that the if I was going to give freelancing a shot, there probably was not going to be a better time than the present. I got a job waitressing to take the pressure off making a living immediately from the creative work I was trying to evolve, printed out homemade business cards, invested in equipment, and one by one, little gigs and projects started coming my way. After an increasingly busy year or so of waitressing-freelancing, my professional identity, relationships, and the size of my projects all began to coalesce. I worked my last shift waitressing sometime in 2010, and have continued along this pathway since.
Original logo circa 2010
Looking at the Firestarter Interactive logo today, you can see how it’s continued to evolve.
Audio storytelling very quickly developed into multimedia projects, and soon after, film and video storytelling. Though my background was in public radio and documentary, the work that really clicked for me was partnering with my clients as collaborators, working together to accomplish a shared vision, rather than top down reporting. That remains true to this day. (Learn more about Our Process: The Firestarter Difference)
From 2009 to 2014, I did everything myself—working with clients developing projects; interviewing, shooting, and editing projects; running the day-to-day bookkeeping, and managing the process from first contact to final delivery. It was a very busy time, with many all-nighters spent editing and I learned a lot. During this time, I also realized that there was a ceiling for what I could accomplish myself, that if I wanted to create with the level of polish and on the scale I envisioned, I couldn’t do it all myself.
This led to the founding, in 2014, of Firestarter Interactive, the business and team that that supports every project today. I am still deeply involved in the process every step of the way, but work collaboratively with a trusted circle of cinematographers, editors, designers, and story producers who are collectively much more technically talented than I will ever be alone. This enables me to focus on the big picture vision with our clients, creative direction, and the success of the projects we create together.
I could write another essay on how I never set out to be an entrepreneur. In retrospect, it’s a journey I’d never trade and now I can’t imagine my life another way—but I’ll save that for another day.