Today we’d like to introduce you to Dr. Vonnya Pettigrew. They and their team shared their story with us below:
Root Branch Media Group is an award-winning media marketing and communications firm headquartered along the Baltimore Harbor side in Canton. Our credo is that we make meaningful media – media that makes a difference.
Since 2006, we’ve proudly served the state of Maryland, Baltimore City, and major cities throughout the mid-Atlantic region, providing media marketing and video production services to city and state government agencies, local businesses, schools, universities, and community organizations.
We offer services in creative development, content creation, media marketing, media messaging, branded content, film and video production, motion graphics, animation, storytelling, cinematography, photography, audio production, sound design, graphic and web design, casting, and crew staffing.
We are notably known for our media arts enrichment, which provides film and digital media arts instruction to youth in grades K – 12 in partnership with school districts and youth organizations throughout our region. Our mission is to give students (particularly students of color) the voice they deserve and the chance to use media in a meaningful way that rewrites the narrative of how they are seen in and depicted by the media.
Media Mogul Dr. Vonnya Pettigrew, HonD, is the CEO, founder, and visionary of the Root Branch conglomerate consisting of The RBMG Building, Root Branch Office Solutions, Root Branch Press Coffee & Co., 501(c)3 Root Branch Arts and Outreach Institute Inc., and Root Branch Media Group, an award-winning media production firm headquartered along Baltimore’s beautiful waterfront in Canton Harbor.
In February 2024, Dr. Pettigrew made history. Kicking off Black History Month, she was recognized by elected officials in the City of Baltimore and the State of Maryland as the first African American woman of Maryland to buy a block along Baltimore’s waterfront.
Not keeping it all to myself, my vision is to help other small business owners and CEOs scale and become top-tier earners. As a Media Mogul and industry leader, I’ve developed professional development coaching and training because I want to see other businesses thrive in this Digital and Media Marketplace. As you will often hear me say, media is the new currency.
We all face challenges, but would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Hiring and retaining top talent is an obstacle we are currently facing. As our brand continues to grow and scale, there is an increase in demand for our services both on the commercial production side and the education side.
We have more and more schools and districts wanting to integrate media arts into their schools, so we are in the midst of a city and county-wide search for film, photography, and media arts educators.
We continue to crew up as well, so we are seeking a seasoned, talented film crew, audio crew, producers, project managers, photographers, and video editors. Motion graphic animators, graphic designers, and live streamers. Freelance and part-time opportunities are available.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next, you can tell us a bit more about your business.
We are most proud of our two NEW production initiatives:
1) Root Branch Marketplace, an original Root Branch Media talk show series that we stream live monthly on our YouTube channel @RootBranchMG, featuring local businesses in Baltimore. Root Branch Marketplace is an Internet Movie Database (IMBd) recognized 4-camera local talk show web series that accredits each of the small business owners featured as “stars” in our series. It was designed to deliver an expert cinematic experience to local small businesses and showcase the vibrancy, strength, diversity, and high-quality offerings Baltimore small businesses have to offer.
Production is situated in the heart of Baltimore’s shopping districts at the RBMG Building—it’s a launchpad for small businesses to start, grow, and scale. Our web series is not only an at-home shopping experience; it’s a powerful platform for local entrepreneurs to amplify their voices. With deep roots in the community and a robust support network, we provide a platform that can help a small business reach a wider audience.
Root Branch Marketplace was created last winter, 2023, and the pilot episode launched and aired via a live streaming broadcast on SBA Small Business Saturday, November 25, 2023. During our pilot episode, we featured 20 local Baltimore small businesses, including brands like Hiatus Cheesecake, Mess in a Bottle, and Shea Radiance. We featured sponsorship from M&T Bank, Visit Baltimore, Baltimore Main Streets, and the Mayor’s Office of Small and Minority Businesses.
We’ve since begun producing our first full season for 2024, which will run from February through November, leading back to Small Business Saturday. Our February Black History Month Episode and March Women’s History Month feature local businesses like Division Street Outdoor Landscaping and Restaurant Swill.
The Baltimore Main Street has committed to the entire ten-month season featuring one business from each of the nine Main Streets per episode. The remainder of the months will have a specific focus and target audience, such as Hispanic Heritage Month, Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage, tech businesses, youth-led, and social enterprises.
It is our plan to continue to leverage our strategic partnerships with other small business cohort entities throughout the city.
2) Root Branch G.R.O.W. (Generating Resources and Opportunities for a Growing Workforce) professional training and workforce development for adults 18 years of age and older. Through G.R.O.W., we offer a series of media-related courses for adults during the evenings and weekends onsite at The RBMG Building. Courses include Intro to Filmmaking, Photography, Acting, Public Speaking, Podcasting, and Party DJing.
Last spring, Root Branch hosted a job fair and open casting call at the RBMG Building, and we were seeking to hire local talent in the film and media industry to support our company’s growth and scale. We interviewed over a hundred eager local talents with the line wrapping the building. In our search, it became evident that people want to work and they want to work in media, but many were just starting out and wanted a foot in the door.
It became evident to us that there was a need to invest even further in media arts and professional development, and so we formed G.R.O.W. G.R.O.W allows us the opportunity to meet a need, train and enrich talent to, in return, fuel an ecosystem we’ve, created to hire locally. Enrollment for the Summer Semester of G.R.O.W. July/August opens in May.
Are there any apps, books, podcasts, blogs, or other resources you think our readers should check?
As someone extremely multi-hyphenated, I read and listen to a wide range of content, from eating clean, building wealth, investing, and real estate development to thrifting, repurposing, interior design, fashion, and styling.
One of my all-time favorite things to do, especially when traveling, is visiting local cook shops and purchasing cookbooks. I’ve rarely cooked anything in these books, but I have quite an extensive library collection of cookbooks. I often swap them out and have them on display on my kitchen island.
Pricing:
- RBMG Office Leasing Beginning $700/mo
- Root Branch PRESS Coffee $19.50
- G.R.O.W Courses $495-$1495
Contact Info:
- Website: https://rootbranchmediagroup.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rootbranchmg/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vonnya.pettigrew
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/mwlite/in/vonnya-pettigrew-75161664
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/c/RootBranchMediaGroup
- Other: https://www.rootbranchpresscoffee.com/
Image Credits
Root Branch Media Group
