I'm On My Way to Becoming a Storyteller

In college, I studied Film and Digital Media. I graduated with a whole lot of debt and even more confusion about what to do next. A year later, here I am, working as a freelance videographer. It kind of just happened. I graduated at the height of the pandemic, when very few companies were hiring, and my efforts to secure a job were not paying off. I knew I needed to start making money, and I knew I had a skill that some people, who I could meet via the internet, would find valuable: video editing. I managed to secure a short term gig with the help of Upwork.com. That client referred me to another client, which led me to start making a full time income from freelance video editing.

I can’t say I love my job every day when I wake up. Sometimes I stay up until 2 am revising a video that I thought was perfectly good the first time. Sometimes I don’t go outside the whole day because I’m in front of the computer. When I graduated from college, I didn’t know what I would end up doing, but I never pictured this. But still, on the days when my job drives me crazy, I think back to why I decided to study film in the first place.

I want to be a storyteller.

I believe in the power of stories. They bring the world together, they help us understand other people better, they help us understand ourselves better. That’s what I want to do. That is my ambition. Stories have been a part of human culture forever. They are passed down, remembered, shared, cherished. I have been touched by so many stories in my life, as have, I believe, most people, even more than they realize. I bet you, dear reader, can bring to mind a story that impacted your life in some way, by teaching you a lesson about the world or helping you understand a new point of view. If you take some time, you’ll find that there are even more than you initially realized.

Even when I make a video tutorial about using editing software, there’s a story there. When I make a video reviewing a restaurant, there’s a story there. Maybe these aren’t the stories I aspire to tell, but each and every time I make a video, no matter what the subject is, I work my storytelling muscle.

And while every day of my job may not feel like my dream job, there are days that do. Like when I got to make a video about a local pizzeria in Chicago, sharing the story of a small business and their delicious food with the world. Or the time I got to work with a musician, to help her share the stories of her songs with the world.

One day, I hope to tell stories that the world needs to hear, stories that will move and shake. I hope to be able to produce independent films that tell these stories. I hope to work with passionate actors, writers, and artists of all kinds. Our passion will bring us together. We will unite with the effort of creating a film to share with the world.

One day, I hope to tell the story of my immigrant ancestors; their struggles and their victories. I hope to tell stories from my own life and the lives of those around me. Though they may seem mediocre or ordinary, they are important. I hope to tell stories that amplify the voices that most need to be heard in the world. I hope to tell stories that haven’t yet been told. I hope to tell stories that inform, educate, and inspire.

I may not be telling those stories yet, but I love my job because it’s a stepping stone to becoming that storyteller. Every cut I make on Premiere Pro, every cross dissolve I add to the end of a clip, every frustrated command-Z I pound on my keyboard when I did something wrong is helping me learn.