Derek Allen

Andrew,

I was listening to a recent episode of Heavy Things Lightly and John said you are looking to hire an assistant producer/audience growth assistant. I have been following John and First Things Foundation on youtube since 2019 when I heard John speak to Jonathan Pageau. I have really enjoyed learning through WAWTAR and HTL since then and the ideas spoken about in those videos have led me closer to the Orthodox Church. I have been attending St Nektarios in Charlotte NC for over a year now as an inquirer thanks to the experiences I have had speaking to Orthodox Christians such as John.

I met John and Daniel from FTF at the Symbolic World Summit and enjoyed hanging out with Daniel and a couple other guys from First Things in Tarpon Springs at the beach after the summit ended. Hearing a bit about Daniel’s experience in Africa and at Mt Athos was humbling. I also had the joy of experiencing a Supra dinner at the Keipi in 2024 with John as the Tamada. It was an enriching experience for my girlfriend (now wife) Analia and I.

If you’re looking for someone to edit clips for youtube, who has experience with the youtube algorithm, and is very responsive with video edits, and who cares deeply about the ideas discussed on HTL, Please check out some of my work below. I have put a mini-documentary I made about iconography with the icon-writer Ian Knowles, who first introduced me to icons and Orthodoxy in Bethlehem in 2015.

I have also included some education/marketing videos I have made for Stepful (based in NYC) that I think show my experience with editing to be in line with the youtube style that works with the algorithm. I have been working with Stepful to push their views and engagement higher on youtube and linkedin. I also included some videos I have made for Stand to Reason, a non-denominational apologetics organization. I am also building my own youtube channel and I learned a lot getting up to 2.7k watch hours and 850 subscribers in about a month.

I really like what you guys do at HTL! If you think I might be a fit for the role, or you have any questions or just want to say hi, you can reach me at:

Derek@CatawbaCinematicEvents.com

(703)-789-2223

Derek Allen

Gagimarjos!

Here are examples of educational videos that I edited and added music and motion graphics to.