Conversations with Nicolas Burke

Today we’d like to introduce you to Nicolas Burke.

Hi Nicolas, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I’d say my journey has always been rooted in storytelling; I didn’t realize how many forms that would take when I first started.

I began college at Valdosta State as a Visual Arts Major. Then I transferred to Georgia Southern University, where I majored in Graphic Design before changing my major again to earn my degree in Multimedia Film and Production. That’s really where everything clicked for me. I got hands-on experience working with the Multimedia Development Center at school, shooting live sports for ESPN+. Being in that environment taught me how to operate under pressure, think quickly, and understand how all the moving parts of production come together in real time. It also gave me a different level of appreciation for the movies I’ve watched. At the same time, I was heavily involved on campus and served as President of Men of Vision & Excellence, where I focused on mentoring and supporting underrepresented students. That experience helped me grow as a leader and showed me the impact storytelling and communication can have beyond just visuals.

After graduating, I continued building on the creative side as a videographer, editor, and producer for various companies. That role gave me the freedom to really sharpen my voice creatively and take ownership of projects from start to finish. It was scary having that much say at first, but you quickly learn to embrace the fear.

From there, I moved on to UP Entertainment, where I initially worked in post-production and operations. That role was very detail-oriented. I was responsible for quality controlling and delivering thousands of on-air assets. It gave me a deep understanding of the technical side of content and what it takes to execute at a high level consistently. Over time, that experience led to my transition into a Digital Content Coordinator role, where I was able to blend creativity with strategy. I worked on aspireTV, helping create and manage hundreds of digital assets and campaigns that drove real audience growth and engagement. By that point, I realized I’ve spent almost half a decade learning the different aspects of film and TV making, from being in the field to sitting at a desk.

Along the way, I had opportunities to collaborate with film producers on marketing campaigns for television and film festivals, including projects connected to Cannes. That exposure helped me see how storytelling operates on a global stage and how digital content plays a role in shaping how stories are received.

Now at Emory University, I’ve brought all of those experiences together. I work within Campus Life to create content that speaks directly to students. Everything from quick-hit social posts to larger campaign-driven videos used for recruiting. My focus is always on making sure the content feels authentic and resonates with the audience it’s meant for.

Looking back, every step in my journey has built on the last, whether it was learning the technical side of production, developing as a creative, or understanding strategy and audience engagement. It’s all shaped how I approach my work today, and it’s what continues to push me to grow, the thought of knowing this current step is somehow influencing my next.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
I picked one of the hardest professions in life, being a creative. The overlooked part of this aspiration is how your performance is impacted by your mental health, arguably more than any other career. Creativity is fueled by your physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, and other categories of health. I may be able to take care of the technical aspects of what I do, but the main reason I am asked to get involved in a project is because of my creativity. How can I contribute to this project in a way that nobody has, nor will ever, if given the chance to?

So I’d rank the condition of my mental state as the hardest struggle to “get over”. Today, I’m a husband, first-time father, eldest sibling, and a community leader, and each of those roles comes with rewards and stress that impact my creativity for better or worse. Nevertheless, I’m still expected to remind you why I’m the best for the job. These last few months, I’ve made a real effort to balance those aspects of my life while prioritizing myself. I had to learn to set boundaries, even with family.

The next struggle, which is probably the most common, is deciding how much I’m worth. How valuable am I, and how do I translate that to dollars? Am I getting paid fairly? Is that fair pay what I deserve, and if I deserve more, then how do I advocate for that while not feeling like I’m risking my current position? Whether it’s a salary position or a freelance gig, I’ve always battled with this. Now we live in a world where generative a.i. is not only fueled by artists but then weaponizes that information to shrink the human job pool. I’m fortunate to work with people who understand the importance of what people like me do, but I’m not naïve to capitalism. A daily struggle is fighting imposter syndrome, not because there may be somebody better than me, but because there may be some “thing” more efficient than me.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I bring ideas to life digitally. Communications and marketing is my field, and I’ve done this now for aspiring companies and documentary filmmakers to major universities like Emory.

My creative process can be broken down into 2 variations. Completely planned or completely not. Projects like the student-athlete vignettes for Emory University where I filmed 6 students engaging in their high energy athletics while they explain the balance of academics and performance or projects like the 2nd anniversary mini-documentary for Motion Run Club where I condensed months of story telling into a sub-3 minute reel commemorating the success and stories of its members are examples of projects that took almost half of year of scheduling, writing, filming (which I did myself), editing, and more.

From start to finish, I was involved and responsible for the external help I may need. For these tasks, I am my own project manager. Even the graphics and sounds you see and hear are either created or researched by me. I am then involved with the marketing plans of materials like these, often determining when they should be released, and the creation of other materials to support the main ones.

The bulk of my work is short-form, but my love for film has begun to push me into long-form and series-styled projects. My work history has given me experience as a director and producer, so from pitch desks to filming my own pilots for personal projects, I hope that 2027 sees the public release of my own cinematic art and others I’d like to be involved in.

I think what sets me apart is my versatility. I can give you a clean and corporate informational about how to add insurance to your account at Emory, or I can make you a hard-hitting, MCU-styled promo for your club or business.

What I’m most proud of recently is the aforementioned student-athlete profiles for Emory University. That was a project that had its writing started before I was an employee, so it was a project I got to help push forward after my employment began. Over the last year, I’ve also become known for my signature photography style called the “Spin Cycle”. It is a collection of lens effects and editing tricks where I lean into the fantastical more than the real. Motion Run Club is where I use this style the most. Creating a video for a digital billboard in Atlanta for that same run club was also a highlight of last year.

What were you like growing up?
Growing up, I was all over the place. There was always a hyper fixation on something. Depending on what age you ask me, I either wanted to be an entertainer, a mechanical engineer, or a visual artist like my younger brother Demetri Burke, who is today exactly that, having painted multiple murals across Atlanta for major companies.

I was raised on superheroes, Power Rangers, and Veggie Tales, and that shaped my imagination into what it is today. There is no ceiling or limit. If I can think it, then I can see it, and if I can see it, then I can do it. As a kid, I was always in a costume of my favorite characters, I was always dancing, I was always trying to build something, always drawing. It was clear I wanted to be creative, and for a large chunk of my life, I didn’t care where or how many areas I could express that in.

What has stayed consistent with me as a kid to now is my sense of humor. I can find the funny in anything. I like to think my friends, family, and the people who work with me enjoy that the most about my process.

Pricing:

• Because I can be involved with more than one aspect of a project, pricing is something that is usually discussed further. But, I do stay competitive.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.upwork.com/freelancers/~015d3d57d0d896dccc?mp_source=share
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nicolas_burke/?hl=en
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolas-burke-687a971a1
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCu8k1EHGz287sSJM9Quv0Nw