James Smartt Jr.’s “Black Boy” is a personal project that shares James’ experiences through his multimedia work. James was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia. “Black Boy” is just one of the many projects James uses to tell his story.
James Smartt Jr. is a second-year graduate student at Loyola University Chicago. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Morehouse College, located in Atlanta, Georgia. Being a native of Atlanta, he expresses his art through experiences and culture. James is currently interning for the Walt Disney Company as a digital content producer. He aspires to inspire others and tell his story as a vessel for all creatives.
In his introduction of his multimedia project, “Icons Only,” Keagan Hynes writes, “This body of work is first and foremost a love letter to pop music and the women who make it.” Keagan has created unique portraits of female music icons, women who have achieved critical and commercial success in the U.S. from 1958, when the Billboard Hot 100 launched, until April 2022.
Keagan Hynes is an eternal poptimist, multimedia collage artist, Bravo scholar and advertising professional in Chicago.
Tanvi Soans produced the “Art of Maya Varadaraj,” a documentary about the titular artist. In the documentary, Varadaraj discusses her exhibition in Soho New York, as well as her work.
Tanvi Soans is a 2022 graduate of the Digital Media and Storytelling program.
Ying has worked in the digital media industry as a journalist and content director since 2010 in mainland China. She came to Chicago in 2019 to study at Loyola.Ying’s 2020 election video went viral with average page views of 1 million+. She is also a member of Alpha Sigma Nu Honor Society and Investigative Reporters and Editors.
Since moving to Chicago in 2021, Javed Hydaralli has fallen in love with the vibrant city. The Urban Explorer is an homage to the Chicago and its people.
Javed Hydaralli is a second-year student in the Digital Media and Storytelling Graduate Program. Javed is a photographer and videographer from Toronto, Canada and shoots mainly street photography and event videography. He is currently working on several new projects, including as an intern alongside author, public speaker and creater Rich Hebron on a documentary about the Chicago band, Bonelang. Javed is also editing Rich Hebron’s podcast. Other recent work includes shooting and editing a music video for Toronto band, Atom and the Volumes; and shooting and editing video content for Bartlett House, a Toronto-based artist collective that hosts monthly events.
Tom Arnison created an award-winning television spot for Santa Calata, a Chicago-based clothing brand that creates upcycled clothing. Thrifted materials and clothing donations are turned into modern apparel, showcased in Tom’s video.
Tom Arnison is a Chicago-based videographer, cinematographer and storyteller with a passion for soccer. Several of Tom’s projects have been shared by national media outlets, including Sports Illustrated and hosts of NPR and ESPN programs.
“She Art” is a three-part documentary series produced by Megan McKinley. The series, which includes “impart,” “curate” and “present,” features women in the arts from the Chicago area. View the full series on McKinley’s Vimeo page.
Megan McKinley is a 2018 graduate of Loyola’s Digital Media and Storytelling master’s program. In addition to her “She Art” series, Megan produced an award-winning video titled “Dress for Success.” Megan received the Broadcast Education Association (BEA) Award of Excellence for her documentary series..
“What the Yak!?” is a BEA-winning, digital documentary exploring the ethics behind the anonymous social network Yik Yak. Leopold Stuebner explores how Yik Yak can be used in times of tragedy and how college-aged students communicate on the app.
Leopold Stuebner is a graduate of the Digital Media Storytelling program at Loyola University Chicago. His project “What the Yak!?” won first place in the Interactive Multimedia Category. Leopold is a business intelligence analyst at Apple and he is based in Ireland.
2020 became the year of the COVID-19 global pandemic. For single people, is there any hope to find love from six feet apart?
Julie is a Midwest native and graduate of Kent State University. After several years working in the visual content creation field, she decided to pursue a master’s degree in Digital Media and Storytelling at Loyola University Chicago. She is enjoying expanding her knowledge of digital production tools in an effort to become an expert storyteller in a variety of mediums. Her video “Love, 2020” was nominated for a BEA award under Microdocumentary.
Have you heard of the possibility of a serial killer in Chicago? Dating back to 2001, 51 strangulations of women on Chicago’s South, Far South, and West sides have gone unsolved with the lowest clearance rate in the country — leading many to believe there’s a serial killer on the loose in Chicago. Tune in to this six part digital series exploring how these women’s stories have gone largely unheard and what is being done about it.
Jacob Pieieczynski is a Chicago-based editor, producer, and writer with a passion for meaningful and intentional storytelling.
He has experience working with non-profit organizations in Milwaukee and Chicago. Most recently, he worked on The Chicago Public Education Fund’s #PrincipalPrideChi campaign, creating three profile videos that garnered an organic reach of over 50k people, supervising the design of campaign collateral, coordinating newspaper advertisement placement in all major Chicago newspapers, and assisting in a social media campaign that compiled a total reach of over 3 million people across Chicagoland.
He attended Marquette University, receiving a Bachelor’s degree in Digital Media and a Bachelor’s degree in Writing Intensive English. He graduated with Master’s of Communication in Digital Storytelling from Loyola University in 2020 and now works as a Marketing Manager for One Hope United.
A multimedia portfolio from graduate students of Loyola University Chicago's Digital Media & Storytelling program
