The Beginnings
I am the child of missionaries, born in Brazil, and a graduate of Asbury. I grew up in the church and missions community surrounded by Third Culture Kids (TCK’s). Early on I decided I wanted to be a citizen of the world, one place just feels small to me. Traveling with my parents as a kid I had the opportunity to see much of the country. My closest friends were scattered around the globe, in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. I wanted so badly to be out there with them. In high school I got to see Thailand and Brazil, each for a month. On those trips, I was handed a camera…
The Path towards Media
As much as I feel it should have been obvious I didn’t immediately gravitate to photography, I tried traditional art first. I spent a solid 6 months almost producing a finished artwork every day. Some good, some not, but all of them done. I felt so strongly that everything I made had to mean something, and not saying something with what I made was a waste of time. Ultimately I burned out but that lead me back towards photography. Every photo tells a story, of varying depths grant it, but you can’t capture a moment in time without also alluding to what took place immediately before and immediately after. the difference between a good photo and a great photo is often not in what’s taking place in the photo itself. but what we infer from it. And so off I went to University… For audio production.
School
Audio production didn’t work out, not because I didn’t like it, but because it felt like a cop-out to me. Audio is extremely important, but without video, it’s less impactful. So off I went to another school called Asbury. Asbury has a great program that’s half film and half broadcast. I dedicated those 2 years entirely to Light. I focused almost exclusively on Light. It started with helping out in the theater, and then I was “Gaffing” projects, then I taught myself how to run the light systems. By the end of my time there, I was the first team lead IT’d had in lighting, and I was writing training for the poor soul who would take my place. At the same time, due to the pandemic, I and a few others were creating content for different departments in preparation for students to do orientation online.
Post-School
Once I graduated and aged out of student work though, I ended up returning home to find a job. media jobs had become scarce so I worked as a photographer for Lifetouch at a J.C.Penny Portrait Studio. Retail photography isn’t for me, but that job forced me to work on all the things that I was bad at. and got me much more precise on my trigger because I couldn’t burst fire. After that, I was a camera op at a horse race track. There I learned more broadcast skills and camera operation and maintenance. And from there I went freelance. I worked on 2 Olympics, countless commercials, a feature film, a few short films, and some photo shoots. I worked in most of the major departments (at the lower levels) and learned a lot of skills and tricks from just being around all these people.
So how did I end up here?
If you told me a couple of years ago I’d be going into a nonprofit and trying to raise support I would not have believed you. But looking back I feel uniquely placed here. But as with many of us men in this world, it started with a girl named Sarah. She’s in another org and so I went to that organization’s recruiting event. ultimately I didn’t align with their job description or their goal of Bible translation as much. Not that that’s a bad goal but I’m much more passionate about helping people thrive. And that’s when I crossed paths with ILAD. Because ILAD isn’t a Christian organization, its goals of holistic development are much more exciting to me. I also love that it’s a small team who are all cool like-minded people working together to change the world. I feel like I belong.
The Perfect Fit
My Faith may have wandered to and fro over the years. But looking back I think it’s clear that God has been training me over the years for this role, He’s taken me to 4 continents and 6 countries, each for a month at a time to teach me about intercultural experiences. He sent me out of the blue to the only school I’m aware of with such deep Olympic ties. Each job I’ve had has taught me something else useful for my role here. And he’s given me the desire for my work to mean something. So I’m trusting him to provide the resources. I am not eloquent but I trust that he’ll lead the right people to me, and vice versa. So if that’s you, please consider reading more about ILAD and joining my team. Or maybe even joining us.
