3DR

This one started with research. I was reading up on Greg Mike and the OuterSpace Project, could picture 3DR’s drones fitting into what they were doing, and reached out to pitch a collaboration. That conversation led to 3DR becoming part of a moving art truck project with Heineken and Montana Cans, alongside ABV, during Miami Art Week.

What I did

• Pitched the collaboration and negotiated terms, balancing what the artists and brands wanted while protecting our crew’s boundaries
• Coordinated between our team and the artists, and brought in our marketing director
• Got our drones, batteries and gear shipped to Miami
• Was on-site helping at nearly every truck location
• Took behind-the-scenes photos

Why it mattered to me

What drew me in was the chance to connect drone technology with artists and help document Miami’s changing street-art scene during Art Week. The brand partnership mattered, but so did the stories and the relationships with the artists.

The team’s work

Our production crew covered the week with daily social recaps, artist interviews and drone footage of the truck rolling through the festival. The film below is ABV’s documentary of the project, with drone footage and video credited to 3DR.

Aviators brought together scientists, researchers, photographers, videographers, adventurers, and people in TV and entertainment, all finding creative ways to use drones. I designed the program from the ground up and built the relationships that kept it going.

No two partnerships looked the same. Depending on the fit, 3DR offered equipment, payment, training or promotional exposure, and Aviators gave back in ways that made sense for their field: content, product feedback, demos, or sharing their own work.

What I did

• Found and recruited people across very different fields
• Handled agreements, training and equipment
• Kept the relationships going

I invited Craig Coker into the program as a VIP Aviator, and that introduction eventually grew into a larger creative partnership.

For International Women’s Day, I helped with a 3DR blog feature, written with Bianca, celebrating the women drone pilots in the program, from adventure sports to photojournalism.

From 2014 to 2016, I was Project Manager for Marketing, Partnerships & Events at 3DR. A lot of the job was finding unexpected ways to connect people and technology, then figuring out how to make it happen. In that time, I built 40+ partnerships with aerial photography, technology, and humanitarian organizations, through an ambassador program, industry events, and brand collaborations.

Industry events

I planned and ran eight major industry events for 3DR. The biggest was NAB Show: a $300,000 activation that won 3DR the Best Booth Award.

The centerpiece was an ambitious idea: a seamless 360-degree screen suspended above the booth, playing Solo drone footage. I was the tradeshow coordinator for our whole NAB presence, brought in Danny Kent to help build the booth, and teamed up with engineer Bruno Hulsmann to make the screen real.

This 360-degree screen was a whole thing. Bruno and I worked together to figure out the frame design, and he handled the engineering and CAD drawings. I led the build, starting with a full test run in Austin so I could figure out how to translate our design into instructions for the union tradeshow crew. Then I spent the week before NAB on-site making sure it all came together. I also filmed the footage for this video.