10 Years and Counting - Client Testimonials
As you might have seen, Forever Ready Productions is celebrating 10 years in business this March! It’s a really exciting milestone that we’ve been honoring all month long. As part of the celebration, we decided to interview some of our longtime clients (who have honestly turned into friends!) so they could share their origin stories of working with Forever Ready and Lauren.
LifeLine to Success
We spoke with DeAndre Brown, founder of LifeLine to Success, a community organization that prepares ex-offenders for a life after prison through teaching and hands-on work cleaning up blight in their communities. The Forever Ready team created a documentary about the organization called “You Must Believe: A Lifeline to Success”. The documentary went on to win festival awards as well as a Midsouth Emmy award. Since then, Lauren has continued to follow DeAndre’s story, most recently being there when he was pardoned by the Governor of Tennessee. On his first meeting with Lauren, DeAndre said, “One day she told me she was going to tell my story and then she started to talk about being a storyteller. And I think we don't really value storytelling anymore with social media and scripts being written and reality television. But to be able to gather information and then package it in a way that not only pulls on the viewer, but it also makes the person that's telling their story feel empowered, that's a gift that many people don't possess.” We are so privileged to know and work with DeAndre!
“Congratulations Forever Ready for 10 solid years. It’s only the beginning. The best is yet to come”
CodeCrew
While Forever Ready is celebrating 10 years, one of our partners has been growing alongside us nearly the entire time. CodeCrew is nine years old this year and it’s been a privilege to partner with the organization since the beginning. Meka Egwueke, Co-Founder and Executive Director of CodeCrew, said, “We're more partners than clients. (Lauren) makes a connection to partners in ways that she jumps in, understands the partners, understands how they do what they do, understands the big picture of the story and impact that each one of us are trying to achieve in our storytelling. And then she brings her A-game to ensure that it's done high quality, world-class.” We always look forward to our shoots with CodeCrew!
“I’m so proud that you made this choice to be a great storyteller because it has made a positive impact on the thousands upon thousands of kids and adults and teachers that we serve at CodeCrew.”
Regional One Health
Another one of our longtime clients is Regional One Health, and Lauren just so happens to be very close friends with Allison Vance, Chief of Staff. Forever Ready has worked with Regional One to make videos for its One Night Gala, live streams during the pandemic, and most recently producing PremierTV, an internal TV show Regional One is making for its employees. Through it all, Allison says she has always trusted us to tell their story. “When we first started working with Lauren, from the first time, I feel like she's the only vendor I worked with in this space who got what we were trying to do and that we needed our story told in the way that we were looking to tell it.”
“What an amazing milestone. Who would have known when we started working on all of those little videos so long ago how far you would come? It’s been so fun to watch you on this journey and see the success of Forever Ready.”
Memphis Botanic Gardens
Some of our longtime partners have worked with us at multiple organizations. We first worked with Mike Allen when he was CEO of Catholic Charities of West Tennessee. When he moved to the Memphis Botanic Garden in 2017, he continued to work with us. From Holiday Wonders at the Garden to Capital Campaigns, our work has supported MBG in a variety of ways. Mike said, “we've had two very successful capital campaigns, and I certainly attribute a portion of that success to the videos. Holiday Wonders at the Garden has grown exponentially over the past six or seven years. And again, I think the videos that we use mostly on social media or in email blast, and occasionally make available to the mainstream media and who then pick it up, I think those are the sorts of tools and instruments that have helped us to achieve this growth that we were looking for.” It's a privilege to be a part of MBG’s growth and success!
“Congratulations, Lauren. The fact that you did it and you’re here ten years later and you continue to grow and you continue to evolve, I think it’s really a wonderful testament to you and your team and congratulations.”
Room in the Inn
Room in the Inn is another one of our clients we’ve partnered with since 2017. Lisa Anderson remembers meeting Lauren as a news reporter and discussing a change of careers with her. “We had a conversation about that pretty early on where I had done something similar, where I was a chaplain and I loved what I was doing. I loved every minute of it and thought that I would do it the rest of my life. And then felt another call. And Lauren understands a personal call to do something important,” Lisa said. We’ve seen her organization grow and provide services to those experiencing homelessness in Memphis and we’re so honored to see the work and growth.
The Center for Enriched Living
In 2020, we launched an office in Chicago. Despite the challenges we faced with the pandemic, we were able to make connections with nonprofits and support them during a difficult time. One of the first organizations we reached out to was The Center for Enriched Living. Like so many other organizations in 2020, they were struggling to figure out how to make their in-person event a virtual one. They took a gamble on us and we were able to help them plan and execute a very successful event! Now that they’re back to in-person events, we create a video that plays during the event. We work with Angela Pasyk and it’s a great partnership! “One thing that really stands out about working with Forever Ready is the way that they treat our members with developmental disabilities. They have conversations. They get to know them as people. They treat our members with the dignity and respect that they deserve and they treat them the way that we would treat them,” Angela said.
“Congratulations from your friends at CEL. We love you guys. We appreciate the work that you do for us!”
The Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy
The Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy, another one of our first clients in Chicago, has worked with us in a variety of ways since 2020. From producing and executing fully virtual conferences, planning hybrid ones, shooting and editing virtual home tours, and producing graphic videos, we’ve done a little bit of everything for the organization! Through it all, it’s an absolute joy to work with Eric Rogers, John Waters, and Barbara Gordon. “It's amazing to me that I've been working with you for as long as you've had an office in Chicago,” Eric said. “And I'm so glad that you all reached out and got in touch with us, because it's been a really tremendous partnership that I look forward to continuing. So thank you.”
The well-wishes we’ve received from all of our partners have been incredibly heartwarming. Thank you all for the support of us and continued partnership. We can’t wait to see what the next 10 years have in store!
“Happy birthday! Congratulations Forever Ready on 10 amazing years.”
