Episode 1

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Published on:

3rd Feb 2023

From Card Games to Connecting Communities through Video Production | Derald Gray

In this episode of the Rooted and Reaching podcast, hosts Nick Kuhn and Bethany Hartley speak with Derald Gray, also known as DG, Owner of DG Visionary, an Elkhart-based business offering upscale video production and mobile DJ services. DG talks about his professional journey as a photojournalist and how his entrepreneurial spirit led him back to Elkhart to start a business in a community he felt connected to. He also shares his passion for music and video and how he believes it has the ability to unify people.

QUOTES

  • “I called the business DG Visionaries because I'm DG and it's my vision. Yes, but it's also about the visionaries, plural. And that's the people who work with us, I don't call them contractors or just DJs, just videographers, but they're visionaries. They have their own passions and their own dreams and desires and if I can do my part to help them reach those goals, then that's what it's all about. It's more than my vision, but it's theirs and also the people that we serve.” - DJ [13:09]
  • “We can share the work, we can collaborate, we can come together to create new opportunities. And that's just been the most exciting thing for me is just being able to be on this podcast, to be able to be a participant in Founder Factory and Network and meet with other not only entrepreneurs but high schoolers who are getting into it, who are coming up and people who just have aspirations for it. And so just being able to just get people together, to connect, to network, to bridge the gap is what I'm most looking forward to.” - DJ [14:08]


TIMESTAMPS

  • [01:53] From card games to video production 
  • [06:02] Going back to Elkhart
  • [09:17] Working with creative partners in the region
  • [13:02] Bridging the gap between communities with entrepreneurship
  • [15:34] Elkhart county partnership




RESOURCES

DGVisionaries


CONTACT

Nick Kuhn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kuhnnick/ 

Bethany Hartley: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bethanyhartley/ 

Derald Gray: https://www.linkedin.com/in/deraldgray/

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About the Podcast

Rooted and Reaching
Stories about local Startups and Founders in South Bend and Elkhart
There’s a job to do, and in the South Bend - Elkhart region, a midwestern work ethic is changing the narrative from rusty to ready. Our cities are opening up and working together as a region—universities are engaging beyond their campuses, sharing their brainpower and realizing that they’re bigger and better with the community behind them. Organizations are reaching out to newcomers and helping them build local networks, leveling the playing field. Infrastructure is being creatively adapted to be gathering places where new deals are made, new collisions happen, and new entrepreneurs take root. Join the Rooted & Reaching podcast, where we discuss the startup life with entrepreneurs with connections to the South Bend - Elkhart region.

In doing this, we will inform the general public and ourselves about what resources are available and the major pain points of entrepreneurs in our region. This podcast is also intended to tell the amazing stories of our local entrepreneurs in the hope that it will inspire another person in the region considering an entrepreneurial pursuit to take that leap of faith and see the supportive atmosphere in the area.