Welcome to Spring! WG Updates 💐

Are you feeling alive with these signs of spring?! If you find yourself in Michigan or the Northeast, you'll find blooms and puddles and green again. We're seeing production pick up, a true sign of good weather. Before we get into what we're up to right now, I have some highlights from the last few months that I want to share.

Here's what we've been up to...

We won an American Advertising Award 🏆

It's not every year I'll submit our work to be judged in our industry award ceremonies. It's an investment, for one, and it's not how I choose to measure success for the work we do. We're growing this company slowly, resources are limited, and we have to be intentional about where we place our efforts.

Success for us is in the relationships and connections that we build along the way. It is the impact we have on their lives and our ultimate goal is to provide our clients with visuals and stories that showcase them well.

An award for that work is a bonus.

This year, we submitted some photos and two videos from 2024 for a few awards. We took home one silver Addy, and I'm endlessly proud to celebrate a little win in our region.

See the video below and go like the social version. I think it's so cute on IG!

Thank you to this lovely (award winning) team:

Dir/prod: Jenny Berggren

DP/Camera: Grace Eggleston

Assoc. Prod: Alex Ruff Grip/Gaff: Blake Brown

Photography: Leigh Ann Cobb

Assistant Editor: Kirk Mason

Client: Michigan Apple Committee

I brought on an assistant 👏

This winter I hired an assistant! 😲 It's the first time I've brought someone on to work with me consistently behind-the-scenes over the last ten years of working for myself. Choosing to do this was in response to how 2024 felt in my body and my nervous system. After rebuilding my life and growing the business the last few years, my recalibrated self was less able to hold all the business happenings and sleep at night.

Camille, as well as the talented freelance team I work with, are helping me grow Wondergold in this organic way. Their support levels up the quality of work Wondergold offers to clients and because of them, this can be sustainable and fruitful to all of us. 

Camille and I have been able to find our flow together the last few months and it's been lovely to have another brain in the mix as we grow.

Let me introduce you to Camille:

Camille is one of those hybrid types. She loves building up businesses and people by helping them create organized processes and taking care of the administrative tasks. But she also loves the creative side of content writing and creation to elevate and help promote the fun side of businesses and people as well. In her free time you can find her movie watching, reading, listening to/writing music, cooking, somewhere near water or just spending time with friends and family.

You can find her in Grand Rapids, at the local coffee shops working virtually to support businesses like mine with operations, project management, and administration.

If you get an email from her or see her around, tell her hello!

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My first podcast!

with Bad Idea Social Club

It's my first podcast, y'all! It was very easy to sit and chat with Aaron McCall on Bad Idea Social Club. As I often like to do, I opted to talk with him about rebuilding my life and finding my creativity again. It's not all business professional, so enjoy how comfortable I got with a microphone on the other side of an interview for the first time in a long time.

Listen here and follow BISC on the socials for lots of great convos with creatives of all walks of life. It's one of my Michigan faves.

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We went to the Florida radish fields in January

Watch a cinco de mayo reel from @FloridaRadish 🌱🌱🌱

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Some recent work with Michigan College Access Network

We’re partnering with Michigan College Access Network and filmed their annual Advocacy Day where they connect educators to their local representatives.

Welcome to Jenny's Personal Corner!

First, an introduction and some meanderings

Hello! I'm Jenny, I'm a director, a visual creator, and the founder here at Wondergold Pictures. I'm grassroots growing this little company. If you're following along and don't know me, start with that podcast episode! 😘 I am delighted to be bringing in a bit more of my self back into the business and these posts.

When I started ideating Wondergold in 2021, and then launched her in 2023, the goal was to create some space between my self and my professional world. Now, I'm finding the way to balance that again and want to bring a personal touch back in to this thing.

So, what's going on in my life outside of the 9-5?

Despite the downfall of our democracy, I'm finding pockets of joy. FIRST: I hope you are calling your representatives. And getting into some good trouble. As the current administration attempts to defund and destroy the systems of care and information access, I hope that you are finding ways to get involved, protest, and resist. I recommend using 5 Calls to easily connect issues you care about to legislators who can do something about it. There are plenty of places that need our voices: National Parks, Medicaid, NPR, CDC and higher education funding; find a script and a person to contact on their site.

So, yes, where was I? My creative self outside of work has to be nurtured to holistically care for this business. So I wanted to tell you about it! I am finally creating on my own again. I'm thinking on new ways of approaching my work, watching documentaries, talking with my freelancers about cinéma vérité approaches. And all because I've found my lightness, my knowing, my creative spirit again. Post-divorce life is better, y'all.

I'm experimenting. I'm fermenting. I'm growing plants for a garden, my little starters are out in the sun right now. I read a piece of creative non-fiction writing out loud at an open mic at my favorite bookstore, A Novel Concept. Tell me I'm brave?

I started sketching again; something I did often in high school and college but haven't much since. I found Blackwing pencils and new notebooks and I'm drawing scenes from my travels and from my home. Painting a little with water color, too.

Sara and I took two spoon carving classes at our local woodworking school, Tiny Bit of Wood.

It's spring here so that means foraging for ramps and meetings that happen on the trail or a patio. I've got the motorcycle getting me around town when the weather is above 60 degrees.

I hope you have some lovely projects to keep you hopeful, that you are getting rest, and finding resilience in your community and your creative outlets.

Thanks for reading,

Jenny

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