In the fifth part of WEtech Alliance’s Youth Entrepreneurship Series, I sat down Steve Nicodemo. Steve is one of three partners at LiquidWild Media, a one-year-old creative production company based in Windsor. Even though it has only been one year since the birth of the company, the trio has already covered events like Rock the Vote at Lollapalooza in Chicago and the Windsor International Film Festival and have worked on projects like a music video for The Class X and The Rock 95.1 calendar. I sat down with Steve Nicodemo, 23, last week to talk about his growing business.
LiquidWild Media: these guys work magic. I volunteered at the Windsor International Film Festival last year and these guys ran around taking pictures of the guests, the volunteers and the movie stars all opening night long. I really didn’t think anything of it until I saw the video afterwards. That is when I realized that these guys had something special.
LiquidWild Media is a creative production company that deals with video, photography, web design, print design and more for Windsor and beyond. “We are offering Windsor something different – something that they haven’t seen outside of markets like Los Angeles, Miami, Toronto, New York. We bring a different perspective and a new creative flair to things,” said Nicodemo about the business. Steve is one of three partners in the business. His other two partners are Sean Davidson, photographer and cinematographer and Paul Peladeau, visual designer.
If you would have asked him about his path even a few years ago, his answer might have been a bit different: “…in University, I was in Marketing. I wanted to be in Marketing, that was my main career focus. Five years ago, if you have asked me if I would be doing this, I would have said no. I came across to Sean and Paul […] and we combined our talents and things have really taken off so far.”
So far, the trio’s curriculum vitae is already full with a music video for The Class X (the song is called New Ritual, see above), the media and design for the 2011 Windsor International Film Festival, three commercials including one for the Centre for Enterprise and Law, a calendar shoot for The Rock 95.1 Calendar Shoot and media for Rock the Vote at Lollapalooza at the Hard Rock Café in Chicago. As with many of the other entrepreneurs in the series, Steve has a series of family members with entrepreneurial backgrounds. His Mom is a partner in an interior design firm and his sister Carly is a makeup artist (http://www.facebook.com/lipsntipsmakeup/).
Steve already has his share of lessons for aspiring entrepreneurs “…when you’re running your own business, you make your own hours – you have to be motivated and push yourself to get the best out of your own talent. […] You hit roadblocks that you don’t have when you work for someone else. […] You make your own reputation as a businessperson. That’s the biggest thing for me.” His number one tip was to make sure you love you’re doing and to create long term goals.
In five years, Steve hopes that LiquidWild will be one of the main marketing sources in Windsor, Detroit and beyond. From covering events to music videos to photography and design, they have a ton of stuff they can do in-house. LiquidWild has a very distinct style and their work speaks for itself. For more information about LiquidWild, you can visit LiquidWild.com.
About WEtech Alliance’s Youth Entrepreneurship Series: For the next few weeks, WEtech Intern Jacob McCourt will be running a series of interviews with young Windsor-area entrepreneurs in anticipation of the Entrepreneurial Spark Tour event happening at St. Clair College on September 5th in partnership with Windsor West MPP Teresa Piruzza. This event will allow St. Clair College students to touch, see and interact with innovations happening right here in Windsor.
[Part 1: Domestic Diesel] [Part 2: SIFE YOUTHrive] [Part 3: Wound Up Urban Couture] [Part 4: Astral Social/The Anomalous] [Part 5: LiquidWild Media] [Part 6: The Crier] [Part 7: AIESEC Windsor]
