Today we’d like to introduce you to Brandi Reed.
Brandi, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
When I was younger, I always had a passion for visual storytelling. At the age of 12, I wrote and published my first book titled “Vicks Dream” in which I won the Young Authors award for best visuals. I remember as a kid, I would purposely take the bus just so that I can listen to music on my walkman and visualize. In high school, I played basketball, I would film being the scenes moments and other random things so that at the end of the year, I could make a highlight reel. I also made my own highlight reel to send out to colleges which helped me get recruited. After high school, I decided to just focus on school and basketball.
After graduating college, I moved to Chicago during a period when “drill” music was at the top. One of my childhood friends was a producer and she had somewhat established herself with bigger names. I remember everyday getting off work and heading straight to her studio to hang out.
Being around the studio and the artist motivated me to get back into videography and storytelling. I started out shooting music videos that had dialogue, acting and sometimes a plot like a movie. At this time there really weren’t any directors in Chicago shooting music videos like this, which made my work unique. After about a year, I decided to switch it up. In 2017, I produced my first 7 episode YouTube series “Home of Drill” which was centered around Chicago music, and from 2018 – 2019 produced six documentaries focusing on creative individuals around the world. In 2019, I won my 1st film festival award for a short series and opened my music video and film production company, “LAKESHOREHY Media”.
Since opening in 2019, I have produced for companies such as Lyft, Instagram/Facebook, NFL, NBA Cares, Chicago Public Schools, Puma, US Census 2020, Jordan, Champion & Apple.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Like any new journey, there’s ups and downs.
The biggest challenge is trying to be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to change you. As you progress, you start to meet new people and start to experience new things, sometimes its easy to lose focus of the main goal.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
LAKESHOREHY Media is an award-winning production company specializing in music videos, film & visual branding. I am the owner, director, DP & editor.
What I’m most proud of about my company is that It’s operated by one person, me. But I am always reaching out to other up and coming creatives to give them a chance to collaborate with me.
What sets myself and my business apart from others is the style of shooting. I study Hollywood techniques, the science behind shots, colors, angles, etc.. in order to create my own unique style.
What were you like growing up?
I grew up the only child in a small town in downstate Illinois. I’ve always been somewhat of an Ambivert. I was the type of child that didn’t believe in the word “can’t”, anything I wanted to do I could do it. I was that kid in gym class that had to be the best at whatever sport we were playing, that mentality I’ve carried with me for 27 years.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.lakeshorehymedia.com
- Email: bookings@lakeshorehymedia.com
Image Credit:
Steven Nunez (StevensJPEG)
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