Kendra Foerster and Kerry Anne Rothe - The Story of Corporate

[00:00:00] Nola Simon: I'm here to tell you a little story. I'm Nola Simon and I am the podcast host of the Janus Oasis And way back once upon a time I worked for the American division of a global conglomerate and it was like, I moved to Boston and for 16 years I realized that nobody in Canada actually understood what my skills were.

[00:00:22] Nola Simon: And it was really important for me to raise my profile in Canada so I can transition jobs. So I did a couple of different things. One was start writing on LinkedIn. I started using the hammer, which is like Facebook for internal corporate. And then I also noticed these videos that were actually going around and being talked about At the water cooler, the proverbial water cooler that everybody loves, but these videos really cool and they create a community and the created engagement.

[00:00:49] Nola Simon: And there was one in particular that came out and it was all set to wake me up before you go go by George, Michael. And if you know me at all, you know that George Michael is like my be all and end all. And any team that could actually get George Michael. Corporate message into the same video and make that have fun and have people adore that I wanted to be part of that team.

[00:01:12] Nola Simon: So I sent an email and I managed to get myself into two little change management videos, which helped me improve my video skills and propelled me on this path that I've been to actually improve my personal brand. So today I have the honor of introducing Kendra Forester. If you read my LinkedIn or Instagram or it all, you can recognize her as the photographer did my headshots, but she is also a videographer and carry you in a Roth is the owner of a jock 45 and she is a creative storyteller.

[00:01:42] Nola Simon: So she's a lady after my own heart. So welcome. Thank you for joining me today.

[00:01:50] Nola Simon: So exciting.

[00:01:52] Kendra Foerster: We are in sync.

[00:01:54] Nola Simon: We are in sick. Exactly. And that's actually a part of why we're always enjoying working with [00:02:00] you is you just have this ability to read people. So Kendra, in particular, I'm going to address this to you. One of the reasons that I chose Muna as my photographers, I started noticing that all of the executives that I was paying attention to, I really cool.

[00:02:13] Nola Simon: And you could track through the company who had used that photographer. And so when I did some digging, I found that it was you. So when you're taking headshots and working with people and it doesn't have to be executives in particular what do you look for? How do you start that process when you're meeting with people?

[00:02:31] Kendra Foerster: The first thing I want to do is make sure that people feel comfortable and enjoy the experience. So part of it is actually. Just being me, having fun, laughing.... everyone is the same to me. I don't really care about titles. I don't care about hierarchy and the company. I want to know who you are as a person. And that's what speaks to me. So when I'm behind my camera and I see you through my lens, I want to make sure that I'm representing my client in the most authentic way.[00:03:00]

[00:03:00] Kendra Foerster: So we have fun, to take them to interesting and different locations that are going to spark, really nice portraits that tell a story because let's face it, first impressions are key and people judge. Immediately when they see a photo. So I want to make sure that person comes across as their true, authentic self - warm, friendly.

[00:03:24] Kendra Foerster: And that means smiling with your teeth and your eyes?

[00:03:31] Nola Simon: Yes, she had me during her. And that was quite fun.

[00:03:36] Kendra Foerster: This is true. We need to take people out of their comfort zone. A lot of people think, oh, I just want to stay in here. And I don't want to smile and see, okay, I'll take a few of those different shots, but Hey, let's try something different.

[00:03:47] Kendra Foerster: Let's get you out of your element. Let's move around. Let's laugh. Let's have a fun let's joke. And it's always in those in-between moments where I find

[00:03:55] Nola Simon: the magic and at the end of the

[00:03:57] Kendra Foerster: day, yeah, those are the portraits that actually, [00:04:00] they. And it makes me feel as an artist that I've done my job.

[00:04:13] Nola Simon: Yeah, exactly. And you're not kidding when you say people judge in seconds and there's actually websites where you can actually upload photos to get feedback immediately from other people to comment on, how much they like trust and would want to work with you.

[00:04:28] Nola Simon: So it's a whole judgment process, but the key thing honestly, is to be comfortable. So I remember when I first came to you, I'm like, I want to come across as friendly. I want to come across. Knowledgeable. I want to come across as approachable. And, I ended up in a photo with a B and it was fun, but it was weird.

[00:04:51] Nola Simon: It was unlike any photo I'd taken before, but that photo, I think it was the photo right beforehand. That's the photo. That was the whole session. [00:05:00]

[00:05:00] Kendra Foerster: That's right. Yeah.

[00:05:01] Nola Simon: So it's really cool. The way that you get results without actually. Hosing and being stiff and just like every other headshot experience that I've had before.

[00:05:11] Kendra Foerster: I'm glad to hear. Yeah. Let's do something different.

[00:05:21] Nola Simon: Yeah, exactly. And that really takes us into what I really liked about the award-winning videos that you guys put together. That was really cool because there were different locations.

[00:05:31] Nola Simon: They were there, silly little props that you wouldn't expect there was DayGlo.

[00:05:39] Nola Simon: So what do you look for when you're creating like a

[00:06:22] Kerry Anne Rothe:. So the way to start from my point of view is figure out what it is you need to say, and then find a creative way to tell that story. So just like our friend, Kendra, when she does headshots, that really reflect personal brand, it's about putting someone in a place that is unexpected. And then from there, yeah, you mentioned some fun props and then figure out what you can take to do it a little bit further. So it's always that unexpected. So you hear me talk a lot about surprise and delight.

[00:06:41] Kerry Anne Rothe: I'm not the first, I won't be the last talk about the. But that is really the key when you're doing video is what can you do to surprise your audience? So the you're not doing the corporate, phase at the corporate table, but, I think back to some of the stuff we did and one of them, we shot in a.

[00:06:57] Kerry Anne Rothe: Like a city park and [00:07:00] that included bringing lawn chairs. So we put our executives in lawn chairs. I think we surrounded them with what was it? It was a inflatable Flamingo, like oversize, like beyond life-sized Flamingo. Some of the surprise and play we got in the bloopers was when the attacks won, that was floating by in the stream and the park decided to come on up and attack the Flamingo.

[00:07:23] Kerry Anne Rothe: That was fun. I remember riding around with our props in our chairs pretty quickly. Cause swans are really frigging scary is what I also would like to impart with. So beginning back to your question, I think at the end of the day, it's finding a place, whether it's the place you shoot, it's how you shoot.

[00:07:39] Kerry Anne Rothe: It's surprising the people that you're working with to in a good way so that, they get a little smile before you ever even turn on the camera. It's oh, you want me to sit by the bank of the river? And we're going to have a inflatable Flamingo beside me, and we're going to talk about this.

And then you get the actual human being, not just. Potential corporate automaton, I guess I shouldn't say corporate and Thomas, but that's okay. We all know the corporate autonomy, right? I don't care about the corporate automaton.

[00:08:40] Kerry Anne Rothe: There's lots of people that can do really bad corporate videos for you. I'd be happy to give you a list if you would like

[00:08:48] Nola Simon: I chose you in particular.

[00:08:50] Kerry Anne Rothe: I'm not saying people are lacking in creativity. I think everyone has sparks of creativity. I think the trick is though, is to allow yourself to be creative in the moments that [00:09:00] potentially traditionally haven't been that creative. So resist the temptation of the boardroom table. Resist people resist.

[00:09:21] Kendra Foerster: Absolutely. And to add on that, carry on ditch the teleprompter, ditch it entirely, throw it out the window. We don't want to hear it. We don't want to see your eyes scrolling across the screen because as soon as a leader does that they just lose credibility.

[00:09:38] Kerry Anne Rothe: That's right. And I'd say absolutely. Throw the teleprompter. I'd also say, throw out the script. So I can't tell you the number of times I've had executives, they get a bit squirrelly, right? If you just, say, Hey, we're not gonna have a script for this. We're just going to talk well, okay.

[00:09:51] Kerry Anne Rothe: No, let's not do that. So the approach to how the approach to the approach, is important to in that every time that we connected, when we [00:10:00] wanted to do a video with an executive, it always started with a conversation. A one-on-one conversation with that executive, with that person, I got to start calling them a person.

[00:10:10] Kerry Anne Rothe: They just happened to have an executive role. And

[00:10:27] Kerry Anne Rothe: And it's a first name basis. It is a casual conversation, making them feel comfortable and making them feel safe and secure because I want the person to show up not the executive.

[00:10:45] Kerry Anne Rothe: I'm going to give you a heads up on the kinds of questions we're going to ask. And I'd like you to think about the answers to those questions. You can write them out if you want, but those notes aren't coming anywhere near you when we're on, when we're filming, because I want to know what you actually think and [00:11:00] feel about the question.

[00:11:02] Kerry Anne Rothe: And that there's real power in that because suddenly, it might take a couple of takes where I can drive where, we have to remind them. No, let's just talk. Let's just talk. And suddenly you peel the executive. Off the person. Gosh, that sounds terrible.

[00:11:26] Kerry Anne Rothe: But yeah, I want to talk to the person, right? I want the person on camera. I want the person to express their opinion and their perspective in a way that, that helps people understand who they are and why they think what they think versus. Regurgitating some corporate bullet points. I don't need to make a video about that.

[00:11:48] Kerry Anne Rothe: I'm sure there's a webpage for that somewhere internally

[00:11:54] Nola Simon: discussed. When would you

[00:11:55] Kendra Foerster:

And I challenged communicators to do better to not just repeat the same thing.

[00:12:50] Nola Simon: Yeah. So do you actually have people who push back when you talk to them and tell them. Approach and refuse to work in your math or

[00:12:58] Kerry Anne Rothe: your, I have never had anyone say [00:13:00] no, we have a hundred percent success.

[00:13:03] Kerry Anne Rothe: I'm batting a thousand. And I think that's based though on, on a level of trust, right? You have to build trust with the person you're speaking with before you can expect them to trust you. And again, coming to it from a point of being really clear about what we're seeking to achieve, how we're seeking to achieve it, what we're hoping to get from it, the opportunity that they have in front of them to build their own personal brand, to, and to be more accessible, to be more approachable potential.

[00:13:51] Nola Simon: Yeah, exactly. And Kendra, you've mentioned that big to me before, too, that you actually look when you're actually videoing somebody where you're taking photos of them. [00:14:00] You're looking for the smile behind the eyes. What do you call it? The smile.

[00:14:03] Kendra Foerster: The smile. Yes, absolutely.

[00:14:06] Kendra Foerster: We have to have life in those eyes, right? Real smiles – I’m looking for that genuine vibe because that's going to attract your audience. It's going to tell the story. It's going to make people trust you. Carrie Ann said, it's going to make people feel comfortable and want to get to know you.

[00:14:24] Nola Simon: Yeah. And that's actually interesting after the fact, do you leaders actually find that people are approaching them more?

[00:14:32] Kerry Anne Rothe: Yes. Absolutely. Absolutely. Absolutely. It changes, right? So once you see someone who has opened up as a human being, you may have only ever seen the corporate person at the boardroom table video.

[00:14:45] Kerry Anne Rothe: And so that's the only thing you know about that person. That's the only facet of who they are that you can see. But gosh, it opens things up nicely. When you get the opportunity to see somebody being interviewed in a park being [00:15:00] chased by a Swan. Yeah. That, that changes your perspective.

[00:15:02] Kerry Anne Rothe: There were no swans injured in the making of the video .

[00:15:42] Nola Simon: They're all searching for the key to communication and the key to engagement. And the key is really just be yourself and be creative.

[00:15:50] Kerry Anne Rothe: Be creative. Be yourself, be vulnerable, build trust show up as the human being. You are not your title, that your audience, [00:16:00] if you're, if we're talking about corporate videos, your audience.

[00:16:31] Kendra Foerster: I'm just reminiscing about some of the different locations that we actually filmed. Some of these interesting videos, like a, to park, a furniture store, skating rink, a Ferris wheel, just, getting out of the corporate boardroom, like you said, it putting people and leaders in different communities.

[00:16:50] Kendra Foerster: Locations that bring out a completely different vibe and people want to actually watch you're like, whoa, what's going on here

There's always a way that to tie in though. Like those places weren't entirely random either.

[00:17:13] Kerry Anne Rothe: I don't want to leave people saying, oh, they could rent a Ferris wheel. So they went on a Ferris wheel, but we chose a Ferris wheel because it worked. The topic that we were speaking about. I think in that case, it was finance. It was talking about, the ups and downs and finance and how, how teams can help reduce costs, how the organization is, moving through the ebbs and flows of financial changes.

[00:17:35] Kerry Anne Rothe: And we drew the line to the metaphor in the words, and obviously in the pictures, putting them on affairs. Hey, why are we on a Ferris wheel today? Glad you asked here, let me tell you why. And then we brought that metaphor. We pulled that thread all the way through,

[00:17:53] Nola Simon: so there's not necessarily a script.

[00:17:56] Kerry Anne Rothe: Absolutely. Absolutely. Again like that to me is born of the [00:18:00] creativity. So again, start with what story you're looking to tell. Are you looking to tell a story about finance and reducing costs and moving with ebbs and flows and change of the economy? Okay. What might visually help tell that story?

[00:18:13] Kerry Anne Rothe: And that's how we ended up on a Ferris wheel.

[00:18:15] Kendra Foerster: And on that Ferris wheel, we would get hours of footage. And it just came down to the magic of editing to reduce that to what, a three to five minute video telling the story and taking that conversation and unscripted questions and making it whole.

[00:18:45] Kerry Anne Rothe: Yeah. Yeah. That's exactly right. I just thinking back to that particular shoot and I guess on every one of the shoots. 'cause and I think I mentioned this before, but the idea that you're putting someone in a new environment, in a different environment and in a [00:19:00] delightful environment, I'll go ahead and call it a delightful environment.

[00:20:03] Kendra Foerster: Oh my goodness.

[00:20:04] Kendra Foerster: And just thinking of all the laughter that. And the blooper reels.

[00:20:09] Nola Simon: Oh my goodness. That's

[00:20:10] Kendra Foerster: the best part of editing for me is honestly the blooper reels. I will just sit editing and just giggle to myself. So for so long, just again, seeing these leaders as humans or employees as humans sharing, I can't say sharing your humidity, just laughing, poking fun at themselves, having a great time that.

[00:20:34] Kendra Foerster: Speaks to me, that's what makes my job feel like I've done my job when I see

[00:20:40] Nola Simon: the blooper reels

[00:20:43] Kendra Foerster: and we always would always get the most comments on the blooper reels. Sometimes people would actually maybe fast forward to the blooper reels.

[00:20:52] Nola Simon: I remember watching the blooper reels first.

[00:20:57] Kerry Anne Rothe: That's a really good point though, because the blooper reels, [00:21:00] we want to talk about building trust. You want to talk about helping someone develop a personal brand that makes them more approachable, whether it's a leader or an employee. That's a great way to do it, is to be able to see them at their most human when they've yeah. We all mess up all the time.

[00:21:15] Nola Simon: So yeah. Don't ask me to turn left. Remember

[00:21:17] Kerry Anne Rothe: that? Yeah. Dear audience NOLA cannot turn left.

[00:21:21] Kendra Foerster: You cannot

[00:21:22] Nola Simon: turn left for the life of me because I'm deaf in my left ear and I am very right to centric. And I learned that by shooting this. That's right. I need you to turn left and she's no, your other left.

[00:21:36] Nola Simon: Okay. You're just going to turn right.

[00:21:38] Kerry Anne Rothe: I think we actually changed the seat because you could not turn the last time

[00:21:43] Kendra Foerster: we changed the setup

[00:21:47] Nola Simon: that needed to the blooper reel. I can't remember the first

[00:21:49] Kerry Anne Rothe: year, but that's a record foundation I'd make for anybody. Who's listening and is toying with this idea of being a little bit more creative in how they approach video and how they approach storytelling [00:22:00] is include the blooper reel.

[00:22:01] Kerry Anne Rothe: Don't embarrass anybody. We certainly, there's, he needed to build trust all the way around and you never want to embarrass someone. And at the same time, there's gold in them there. Blooper hill. Let me tell because that's where people see, that's where people see. See the moments, right? Those kinds of magical moments where it's oh, I got that one wrong.

[00:22:23] Kerry Anne Rothe: Oh, darn it. She can't turn left now. So yeah. Again, that's another thing,

[00:22:30] Kendra Foerster: is it infectious? Yeah. When you hear people laughing at themselves, which we all should do more often and it just makes you laugh. It makes you smile. It

[00:22:38] Nola Simon: makes you human.

[00:22:39] Kerry Anne Rothe: Yup.

[00:22:41] Nola Simon: Yeah, no, that's good. And editing is really what makes the magic come alive Kendra?

[00:22:45] Nola Simon: That's your favorite part? Usually

[00:22:48] Kendra Foerster: it is editing is by far my favorite part, whether I'm editing photos, whether I'm editing videos the magic just comes alive for me because I'm able to create the story that I again [00:23:00] see in those people and just bring it to life. And I just, yeah, I'm in my own little zone.

[00:23:08] Kendra Foerster: I'm in my editing bubble, so to speak.

[00:23:12] Kerry Anne Rothe: I can't tell you the number of times we would shoot so much video and ideally we would cover it. We had covered all the points we wanted to cover. I knew we had some good moments and I knew we had two hours of footage, whether it was, B roll plus, the stuff we were really to get.

[00:23:26] Kerry Anne Rothe: And and I just remember looking at Kendra and saying over to you, I don't know how the heck you're going to do what you're going to do, but she is magical at it. Absolutely not. No, thank you.

[00:23:38] Nola Simon: I I've found that as well too, but I think that this is fascinating because really, as we go into a world where it's more hybrid remote and people aren't seeing each other, like you need to build on those connections and you need to tell the stories in different ways that are going to be relevant and relatable.

[00:23:55] Nola Simon: And I think there's just going to be more and more transparency in, in all organizations, if [00:24:00] they're going to survive, they're going to need to commit to this kind of stuff. And that's where I wanted to bring you in to talk about this, because I do think that it's a really important thing for the future of work.

[00:24:13] Nola Simon: Were there any last gems that you wanted to leave us with? Any more insight?

[00:24:19] Kerry Anne Rothe: Always work with

[00:24:20] Kendra Foerster: props, always have a clapper, make sure that people feel like they're on a true movie set. We had production assistants. We brought in co-ops when we could, we made people feel like, wow, like how did I get to be a part of this production? Making people feel special. It's all about the expense.

[00:24:40] Kendra Foerster: Yeah,

[00:24:40] Nola Simon: yes. That's actually part of the story. I left out my daughter, actually, I, because I was working remote, I did not have a traditional grade nine day office to bring her to when she was in grade nine. And so one of the videos she's ended up being on grade nine day and I was actually able to bring my daughter in and.

[00:24:57] Nola Simon: Gotcha. Operate the clapper. And she got to see the whole [00:25:00] video production. And when she went back to school, everybody else had been in accounting meetings and compliance meetings. I did bring her to compliance being she was born but she had the best coolest experience of everybody else in her entire grade.

[00:25:13] Nola Simon: And that was a challenge because I was remote and I didn't have authorization to really access offices like that. I had to go to the today. She's got the highest mark in photography in her whole entire grade right

[00:25:25] Kendra Foerster: now. And she

[00:25:27] Nola Simon: attributes that to that experience. So I wanted to say personally thing.

[00:25:31] Nola Simon: That's cool. Cause that wasn't a fun experience for me to do. But you made my kids year and still has an impact.

[00:25:39] Kerry Anne Rothe: So

[00:25:39] Kendra Foerster: That makes my heart.

[00:25:41] Kerry Anne Rothe: Yeah, she was a good production assistant. We had a bunch of them in grade nine day. There were a bunch of grade nines,

[00:25:46] Kendra Foerster: my nephew as well,

[00:25:48] Kerry Anne Rothe: and we got lots of help.

[00:25:49] Kerry Anne Rothe: We need a break every time we film. That's right.

[00:25:54] Nola Simon: And maybe next time you'll give me lines. I didn't have lines. You guys did voiceover [00:26:00]

All right. I really appreciate you making time. We'll make sure that all of your contact information is available in the the show notes.

[00:26:38] Nola Simon: So if he wants to personally connect with Kendra or Kerrianne that there, there are services for corporate storytelling or photography. You're more than welcome to contact them that way. And thanks again, guys. Nice to see

[00:26:51] Kendra Foerster: you. Thank you so much. Thanks for having us on.

[00:26:55] Kerry Anne Rothe: Perfect.[00:27:00]