SBC Hive Spotlight: Kaela Thomas
In this month’s installment of the SBC hive spotlight, we would like to introduce you to Kaela Thomas – an extremely talented freelance videographer/editor/graphic designer in the Toledo area. In addition to her 15 years of collaboration with Allied Media (run by Phil Mariasy out of downtown Toledo), she has been instrumental in the creation of some hard-hitting documentaries.
The documentary A Good Ship and Crew Well Seasoned: The Fitzgerald and Her Legacy was featured at the National Great Lakes Museum. Her work on Infant Mortality: In Black and White was created for the Lucas County Health Department, highlighting the staggering discrepancy rates of infant mortality between black and white people in Lucas County. Further, the Heroin Awareness Program, created for Harbor Behavioral Health, is an annually updated documentary examining the local impact of opioid addiction.
To learn more about Kaela, please read on as we dig deeper.
Tell us about your professional background. How long have you been in your line of work? What is your current role/position?
I am a freelance videographer/editor/graphic designer. I have been doing video-based work for about twenty years now, starting out doing VHS dubs and then learning everything I could at a production company in Maumee. I worked for RGB Productions for about ten years and then went on to do freelance video editing and shooting since then. Currently, I do a lot of work with Allied Media, mainly doing documentary style videos for local non-profits, and Transfer Me To DVD, running the back of house operations and transferring old media to digital formats.
What attracted you to joining the SBC network?
I have been on my own for a long time, so it’s always good to connect and talk shop with others. It’s great to have a network of professionals to draw on for certain things that may be outside of my skills. I like that it’s more like a loose collective than an agency, still totally pro, but just a little less formal.
What is the most interesting subject, or fun topic, you have gotten footage of? Do you travel at all for your videography work?
I have not done a lot of far travel, but I have seen a lot of great local places. I got to see an entire cold steel mill operation just outside of Detroit. I also worked on a Jet Express commercial, so I got to see a lot of Put-In-Bay and ride the Jets for a week. I worked on a documentary about the crew of the Edmund Fitzgerald ship and interviewed sailors on the Schoonmaker Museum Ship at the National Great Lakes Museum. I was lucky enough to interview Dick Anderson and Clint Mauk for the Rotary Club of Toledo and learn a lot of fascinating local history. And just last week I shot footage and got to take an extensive tour at the Libbey Mansion in the Old West End for the Ability Center of Greater Toledo.
We heard you have a talent for music. Can you elaborate on that?
I’ve been in a lot of rock and roll bands, including The Dumb Easies, The Cupcakes, and The French, usually playing guitar and singing. Right now, I play keyboards and sing for The Matt Truman Ego Trip. In normal times, we usually play at the Village Idiot or Howard’s in BG but these Covid times are brutal for live venues.
What is your favorite food of all time?
French fries, extra salty & crispy
How would others describe you?
Creative, quick, jack of all trades
