Lori Kinney works with the biggest celebrity of all time…Elmo.
What does the 2007 graduate do? As the associate producer in the digital media department, Lori designs online games and content for Sesame Workshop, the New York City based production company for PBS’s children’s show Sesame Street.
“Working for Sesame Street is great, especially when celebrities and muppets join us!” exclaims Lori, “but what is really great is when you produce a game, you take it out kid testing, and you really see children enjoying themselves and learning.”
Lori was fortunate to get an internship in New York on the set of “As the World Turns” courtesy of E-Media. After that ended, she found a job as an Assistant Editor for a reality TV show series at an advertising agency. Through networking, she was able to get a great opportunity at Sesame Workshop.
Lori was thankful of her time in Electronic Media saying that the diversity in the courses, and the knowledge she gained of things like Photoshop, web development, video and audio editing helped prepare her for working in Sesame Street’s online world.
“These skills were really great to have especially starting out,” says Lori. “I was able to help out with almost every aspect of online production ranging from resizing images, to coding pages for the site, to editing mashups and video clips, to editing scratch audio for builds.”
That’s why Lori advises all current E-Media students to learn everything you can and to be open to new opportunities so you can become a valuable asset for any company to have. She also recommends maintaining good relationships with contacts and peers in the industry.
Lori came across a lot of people during her time in E-Media too because she was the training director at Bearcast Radio. She explains that she was thrust into a position of leadership that she had never experienced before.
“Training people and talking to them in a position of authority really formed the foundation of leadership in me today,” says Lori.
Since 1969, Sesame Street has been a right of passage for all children. We’ve all seen the show and it helps shape us to become better sharers, and to count to three. So how does Lori describe her experience working at Sesame Street? “It’s a very rewarding experience!”
Written by Brandon Kisker, December 2010