Kayla Cooper ’20

Kayla Cooper didn’t have to go looking for a job after getting her degree in film and media production—she created her own. She had already started shooting videos for freelance clients in college and now she's running her own business.

Kayla Cooper didn’t have to go looking for a job after college. She created her own.

Cooper graduated in 2020 with a degree in Film and Media Production, but had already started shooting videos for clients on a freelance basis while still in college.

Today she’s running her own business, Kayla Marie Videography, making videos of engagements, weddings, newborns, businesses, properties for sale, and a variety of other things.

She said there’s no such thing as a typical day for her. She might work a 14-hour day filming a wedding, but on other days she’s home searching through hours of footage to find the best moments, choosing music, or removing background noise from audio.

“There’s definitely a lot of little things that go on,” she said.

She said an Arts and Entrepreneurship class she took with Professor Sam Smartt helped her realize her freelance gig could be her career.

“I wasn’t sure you could do that—take something you really like and make a job out of it,” she said. “It gave me the confidence to take my freelance business full time.”

Time management was another skill she picked up in college that has helped her a lot, she said. While working on her film and media production degree, she would often have multiple film projects in different stages of production, just like she has now.

Cooper also had the opportunity to direct a couple films during her time at Calvin, which gave her a chance to figure out what works and what doesn’t.

“I got to figure it out while also having the support system of really great professors who actually prepared me for life post college,” she said.