Daily Inspiration: Meet Heather Hukari

Today we’d like to introduce you to Heather Hukari. 

Hi Heather, so excited to have you on the platform. So, before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I loved video starting in childhood. I had shows I loved, I adored movie nights and my dad shot A LOT of home video (picture giant camcorder back in the 80s). So, it was no surprise to anyone that I studied media in college and dove headfirst into a career in video. I started at an ad agency editing car commercials and did that for several years. Editing has always been my favorite part of production and I have a natural knack for it as well. I got tired of the full-time world in my mid-20s and took a road trip for a few months to get away from the office life. I really missed making video, though, and got back home (Dallas, TX at the time) and started a freelance lifestyle. It was awesome because I was able to work on a large variety of projects. I moved to Colorado in 2008, where I still live now. In 2014 I fell into another full-time job at Chipotle Mexican Grill making training and internal communications videos. I had THE BEST team and loved working there. We were able to be really creative with our video work. Chipotle moved to California in 2018 and I got laid off…which was a blessing! I used the opportunity to start my own video production company, Video Service Hub, and have been running that ever since. We make professional videos of all kinds for big and small companies. 

In 2017, I wanted to try my hand at teaching people how to shoot and edit video themselves on their phones. Smartphones had become great cameras by then, so I knew if people learned just the basics of how to make video look good, they’d be able to do it themselves. I taught live classes at Colorado Free University and eventually for other companies that would bring me in to teach their employees. I loved it and really honed the craft of teaching video creation. I turned it into an online course, PhoneVideo101 and now people can learn on their own schedule at their own pace. 

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
Honestly, it has been pretty smooth. I was lucky enough to know what I wanted to do from an early age and have stuck with that for my entire 20-year career. I love making video, and it’s always worked out for me. The hardest part was when I moved to Colorado when I was 28. I left freelance clients in Dallas and assumed I’d just find new ones in Denver. It took a while, though, to establish myself as a professional in a new place. I had to take side jobs like handing out Larabars in Whole Foods and I also started doing personal training. Those were both fun side gigs and I eventually got enough video work again to drop them. 

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I’ve been an editor for so long that I start every project with an editor’s eye. That means I’m imagining the end video from the beginning and that leads to a clear vision for pre-production and production. I take like being proud of every video I finish, so I work hard to make each one absolutely perfect…basically, I’m a big show-off who likes praise! I do think having that editor’s eye sets me apart from other people/companies in the production world. 

As far as my teaching and coaching with PhoneVideo101 goes, I have been told that my teaching style is clear, direct and easy to understand, and implement. I make sure not to talk over anyone’s head as far as techy talk goes. Laymen’s terms and showing examples is my style. 

Where we are in life is often partly because of others. Who/what else deserves credit for how your story turned out?
I think the earliest influence I had was my dad. Since he did shoot so many home videos, I really attribute my becoming a video professional to him. Long with that, he was a really hard worker and ran his own business (not in video) for a long time. Growing up watching that, I think it also makes sense that I did the same thing. 

An early mentor was at my first job out of college with a company called RadiovVision. I worked the second shift as an editor from 4 PM to midnight, making car commercials. The daytime editor who station I used, a guy named Jeff Morgan, was really helpful in teaching me how to become a better editor. He constantly was encouraging me to learn motion graphics, etc. when we had some downtime with our production schedule. He was absolutely obsessed with making great video, and working with somebody like that really pushed me to become a hard worker and also want to make really great video. He was already a great editor and really good at what he did, he was constantly learning more, taking tutorials online, trying things out. And that showed me that you can always keep learning no matter how good you already are at your craft. 

Finally, my peer in the industry, Jordan Spalding, has been a really big influence. When I worked at Chipotle, he came on as an intern my last couple years there. He absolutely blew us away with how hard he was working and how creative he was with the types of videos we were making. To be honest, it was actually sort of annoying! He was totally showing us up even though he was younger and less experienced. After leaving Chipotle, we worked together many times in a freelance capacity and it’s always such a joy. He’s so passionate about video as a craft, and that really rubs off on me every time I’m around him. And, he is the most optimistic and positive person I’ve ever been around! 

Pricing:

• $397 for the online course PhoneVideo101

Contact Info:

• Email: heather@videoservicehub.com
• Website: www.videoservicehub.com
• Instagram: @phonevideo101
• Facebook: @phonevideo101
• Youtube: @phonevideo101
• Other: phonevideo101.com 

Image Credits
Mary Amor
Julia Stine