Zachary Way Mission Statement.

A message from the Creative.

I have had one goal in creating the brand identity of ZacharyWay, To share the art of digital media with the next generation of creatives who seek to fall in love with it as I have. My Interest started to peak into video production and photography in 2014 and carried into 15-17 while I was in high school and going into college.

I was lucky enough to have a mentor who was able to push my ambitions and equip me with the tools at the time to continue to develop my skills. This continued as I established my brand in 2018 and started shooting weddings, events, portraits, and all together working behind a camera. But I could feel that something was still missing.

In 2020 I moved to DC to begin working under contract with FNC and CNN which led to getting to work with the University of Maryland’s Athletic Department, (Go Terps!) and current Senator Katie Britt. These were all amazing opportunities that showed me the way the broadcast environment functions, as well as understanding graphic design, SEO, and social media trends to better help establish a presence; but as anyone in politics knows, it’s only a matter of time before you’re burnt out and ready to move on, and that time came for me in the form of a new opportunity back in the 704. This meant that in 2023 I accepted a position that kept the lights on, while also allowing me the time to continue freelancing and pursuing the ultimate goal of ZacharyWay.

The Goal started in 2020 and has now come to fruition with Jay M Robinson High School’s Athletic Department. The goal of doing this has never been to make a profit but simply “to share the art of digital media with the next generation of creatives who seek to fall in love with it as I have.” This is important as any money that is received either by donations or by selling photos back to parents and students, entirely goes back into the funding of capturing these student-athletes and giving them a bigger and wider social media presence. This is important as we are involving CTE classes in the planning and creating of social media posts, Parents and staff to have a higher quality of material for use in the Yearbook and promotional material, and students who have an interest in digital media are able to help and learn industry norms to develop their skills if this becomes something they want to pursue.

This Partnership also extends far outside the classroom as it,

• Allows the school to have a much wider Social Media Presence that they are not only able to share and drum up excitement internally.

• Helps in spreading the word to increase attendance, and thus increase the useable revenue by selling of tickets and sponsorships for the department.

• Lastly, this helps the students as they now have better quality and more accurate material that they are able to share with prospective schools and universities to continue their athletic and career ambitions.

This is a partnership that has begun its first official trial here in the 23-34 school year, it’s not yet perfect and not where I believe it can be, but this year we are only walking through the program so that we will be able to run with it next year.

I look forward to the changes that will begin appearing here at the first of the year, I want to thank the Parents, Coaches, Staff, and especially Patrick Helm our Athletic Director for making this possible.

- Zach