My creative passions and drive to bridge communities together began in high school at Waukesha North, and I saw a disconnect within my community. After graduation, I pursued an opportunity to run for the Board of Education. Throughout this experience, I met with hundreds of members in the community, held meetings with stakeholders to tackle problems facing the district through creative and collaborative ideas, and strategy. While I ultimately did not win a seat, I learned how to better connect across multiple communities, which continues to drive me.
After obtaining my associate’s degree in Business Management in the Winter of 2020, I began to wonder exactly what next steps I wanted to pursue. I had taken a position within a national non-profit organization that continued to connect communities across the Midwest, including partnerships with other organizations and clients. I grew my skillset to include digital content strategy and thought partnership with clients, and promotional materials.
After two years in the workforce and gaining a diverse skillset across multiple industries, I was provided with a proven background to deliver high-performing results, and continued curiosity for personal and professional development. I made the decision to go back to pursuing further education, this time focusing on strategic communications from the School of Journalism and Mass Communications at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. While pursuing further education, I began freelance consultant work for digital strategy and communications for multiple clients.
Now in 2025, I have continued developing my skillset in the media industry, supporting two lifestyle and entertainment shows highlighting events, businesses, and products. Across this work, I developed further proficiency in film production, editing, client outreach, creative storytelling, SEO & SMO strategy, promotional materials, and digital media strategy and execution.
Across all of these fields, my drive for impact, purpose, mission alignment, and curiosity has only continued to grow. Throughout these experiences, I have gone through the process from identifying a need to further refining the real-time strategy for continuing clients’ services and products.
Matthew Gifford 