2023…What a Year!

Looking back on 2023, we have so much to reason to give thanks! New clients, amazing travel, inspiring work, and results for so many of our clients. We’re grateful for it all! Here’s a look back at what we accomplished.

Emmy Nomination

Let’s start with the most recent news. We are nominated for another Midsouth Regional Emmy! This time in the Public Service Announcement Category for our work with MIFA. “Now Is Your Time” is a project we created last year to encourage donors to make year-end gifts. You can view the full video here. Hopefully it inspires you to support your favorite nonprofit this holiday season!

While this project inspired viewers, it also made an impact in our office. After working on another project with MIFA (this year’s ‘Our City, Our Story’ video), Lauren decided to sign up to become a regular volunteer for Meals on Wheels. Read about it here!

Wright Virtual Visits

Speaking of recent news, we just wrapped up another season of Wright Virtual Visits. As sponsors of this show, we helped the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy, in partnership with the Graycliff Conservancy, produce monthly livestreams that featured a Wright site. The show goes live on the Wright Virtual Visits’s Facebook page and has a loyal following. We’re proud to support the Conservancy in its efforts to facilitate the preservation and stewardship of the remaining built works of Wright!

Memphis Botanic Garden and Holiday Wonders at the Garden

Each year we feel the joy of the season as we document the Memphis Botanic Garden’s Holiday Wonders at the Garden display. And this year was no different. We served as a sponsor of the event and had a wonderful time capturing the beauty of the lights on their 96 acres.

Earlier this year, Executive Director Mike Allen sat down with us to talk about how our commercials and videos have helped increase their foot traffic each year! You can read all about it here.

And don’t forget…there is still time to visit on select nights!

CityHealth Projects in New Orleans and Boston

Here at Forever Ready Productions, we pride ourselves on being able to take complex topics and turn them into simple, inspiring and easy-to-understand stories. That’s what made our latest project with CityHealth a perfect fit.

CityHealth is an initiative of the de Beaumont Foundation and Kaiser Permanente that advances a package of evidence-based policy solutions that will help millions of people live longer, better lives in vibrant, prosperous communities.

In this case, they wanted to showcase the work of New Orleans’ Right to Counsel Policy and Boston’s Healthy Rental Housing policies. These two initiatives are transforming the lives of people in each community and the focus on policies that require both collaboration between government, nonprofit and for-profit as well as buy-in from property owners and tenants.

We traveled to both cities, spent two days on the ground and dug into each policy. It’s our hope that these videos inspire other cities to consider adopting one (or both) of these policies. A true example of how stories call people to act!

One Million Degrees Storytelling

One of the highlights of the year was creating a gala video for One Million Degrees. For the video, we interviewed one of their scholars, Shirley. She is a non-traditional student, having gone back to school later in life. Despite the challenges she’s faced, including losing her son to gun violence, she’s committed to her education and making a difference in her community. The video was a huge success at OMD’s gala and Shirley received a standing ovation. Mayor Brandon Johnson was even in attendance! Watch it here.

American Heart Association - Memphis Chapter Breaks Records

It’s always great news to hear that a client got record in-room donations from a video. And that’s what the American Heart Association of the Midsouth reports after their annual Heart Ball.

The story focused on a family whose infant was born with a ventricular septal defect (VSD), a birth defect in which there is a hole in the wall that separates the lower chambers of the heart. At 6 weeks old, Lennon underwent an open heart surgery to repair the hole in her heart. After recovering from the surgery, she grew stronger and gained back her energy. She went from heart failure in the early weeks of her life to now being a thriving 2 year old who loves playing with her older brothers and her baby sister. American Heart Association of the Midsouth credits Forever Ready with helping connect this personal story to their overall work in advocacy and research. Today every baby born in Tennessee is now screened for heart defects before they leave the hospital.

Watch the impactful video here.

Speaker Reels

This year we’ve started offering speaker reels and speaker stories to speakers from across the country. It all started when Lauren began speaking to national audiences and realized she needed a reel to help get more opportunities.

From there, we’ve connected with multiple speakers to help them better tell their story and get more gigs!

Jenn Whitmer (a Forever Ready favorite who spoke to our team in July 2022) reports that she has TRIPLED her speaking fees since she started using both the story and the speaker reel as a part of her outreach and prospecting. We also created a reel for a fellow Duhawk, Beth Mund, whose Stories of Space nonprofit is sending people’s stories to space.

Learn more about the results our speakers are seeing here. And watch more of the reels we’ve created here.

Thanks for continuing to follow along and trusting us with your stories. We’ll see you in 2024!