Arestia Rosenberg is the Senior Content Producer at Hill Holliday and a co creator of Boston Content, the city’s largest community group for content marketers, producers, strategists, and enthusiasts. Arestia has a background in major motion pictures and television development and production, and was able to continue this passion by producing online films and other digital content for Hill Holliday. For more on Arestia, check out her website.
Tell me about yourself and your experience with content creation.
My background is in film and television development and production. I used to work on different movies and TV shows. The content I was creating at that point consisted of things like behind-the-scenes DVD content on some feature films.
Now, I’m the Senior Content Producer at Hill Holliday. I’m responsible for the creation and execution of a variety of content, mostly our video. I knew I wanted to do this before I could name what “this” was. I was involved and interested in the startup community in Boston and I knew I wanted to continue working in media, but I wanted to build something while continuing to tell stories. I wanted it to be in a forward thinking, new media, and digital way. I had a friend who informed me Hill Holliday was looking for a producer and while I didn’t think advertising was what I’d be interested in, I met with the team here. I instantly connected with people running the department and fell in love with the idea of creating things that consumers were choosing to spend time with and being a part of working in this emerging media and building a team.
Between your past with major motion pictures, television, and your present with Hill Holliday, what have you created that you’re most proud of?
There are a lot of things that I’m really proud of, it’s hard to pick one. I have had such an opportunity to create things that I love and that I think are beautiful and tell a great story while making a difference in peoples lives. Being able to do that on a daily basis for our clients is something I’m really proud of.
Specifically, the most recent thing I’m proud of is content for One Fund Boston. We interviewed survivors from the Boston Marathon bombings and included stories, and worked with the One Fund to include donor stories and survivor stories in a variety of formats that people can explore on the One Fund website. I’m really proud of that work and think it’s beautiful and I think what it does is important.
What was it like to have a film at SXSW this year?
It was a great experience. In the past, we’ve created many films for clients and we’ve had other films go to festivals, which has been a fun part of the job because I still consider myself a filmmaker. It’s something I love doing. We did this particular film last spring for a client, and on a whim decided to submit it to some festivals and it got into SXSW to premiere. That was really exciting because it is a prestigious festival; only 14 short documentaries were selected. It was a pretty awesome moment for us.
Tell me a little more about Boston Content and why you decided to co create it.
Boston Content came out of a relationship with my co founder, Jay Acunzo. A friend had introduced us and said, “You both do the content thing, you should talk.” I found that relationship to be very valuable. It was someone I could talk to outside of my own team about content. While I’m more focused on the kind and quality of content, and the story and the aesthetics of content, he’s a true content marketer and a numbers guy. Together it was a really nice relationship. We both brought things to the table that the other benefitted from. We thought, “This has been very valuable to each of us, and there’s no space for other people to connect on this topic, why don’t we start something?” So we started Boston Content.
We knew we didn’t just want it to be for networking, but for people to also be able to learn and grow and seek opportunities through that community. All of our events have some sort of a learning or idea exchange component. It’s been really great to see people get excited about it and to create valuable relationships. We’ve grown quickly and have over 450 members now. It’s astounding.
What would your advice be to Scoopr Ambassadors who are trying to separate their content from the rest?
I think it’s just really being yourself and being comfortable in your skin and knowing who you are and what your story is. I think knowing who you are so you can not only let yourself shine through, but allow your story to come off in the way that it’s supposed to. People always say “I need to work on my personal brand,” and I think that’s an insane idea because if you know yourself and you know what you’re interested in, just being able to express that in an online format or in a way that will reach people will come out naturally. Be able to tell your story in an authentic way.
