Interview by Audrey Russo and Jonathan Kersting
What if you could walk into a studio, hit record and walk out with a polished, multi-camera video ready to roll?
That’s the idea driving StudioMe, and TechVibe Radio gets a firsthand look at the technology making high-quality content creation faster, easier and a whole lot less intimidating.
Keith Parish and Joe Leachko join Jonathan Kersting and Audrey Russo to talk about StudioMe’s evolution from traditional video production to automated communication studios that handle cameras, audio and live switching in real time. They also dig into StudioMe’s AI-powered Sidekick Coach, which can listen to a conversation, suggest questions and insights, highlight key moments and even score your podcast performance.
Plus, hear why authenticity and consistency still matter more than the fanciest camera in the room and how two guys who met at the gym nearly 20 years ago ended up building technology that is changing how companies create content.
Hit play. The cameras are already rolling!
The Pittsburgh Technology Council produces TechVibe Radio to explore Pittsburgh's technology and innovation ecosystem.
Transcript:
StudioMe radio cut
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[00:00:00] one. Fancy seeing you here, Audrey, in the Huntington Bank Studios. You know how excited I am every time I roll into these studios? I know.
You're very protective of the studio. Very protective. I gotta tell you something, if anyone comes in here And he, I think he has like an alarm I do As soon as someone comes in, he, "Oh, what's up?" Yeah. "What are, what are you doing in here?" Don't touch that. "What are you-" We've had some incidents in the past.
"What are you touch- what are you touching? What are you touching?" Exactly. That's, that's natural. I mean- Yeah. It's your baby. It's, it's our baby, and because we are talking to our friends from Studio Me here, Keith Parrish and Joe Lechko, who built the Huntington Bank Studios here for us. I know. We have upped our game, Audrey, like it is no one's business.
Fantastic. I've gone from iPhones and 10-year-old cameras- You have ... patched up with duct tape and stuff to this full-blown studio where we are having the best conversations with everybody in Pittsburgh's tech sector. And I cannot wait to talk to these guys about... They do this for lots of people. I know. And they got so many things going on between videos they shoot, between their studios where people can come in and create their own content and [00:01:00] have high-quality stuff.
We're lucky because we, they built us our own studio here. So we're gonna jump in and have a lot of fun today. So guys, welcome to the show. It's so great to have you guys here. And what does it feel like to be in your own creation here at the Tech Council? It feels weird. Does it feel weird? We're not used to this.
We're used to being behind the camera and making this production happen and showing people what we have. But since we walked in, you've shown all the new things you have done inside of your own- Yeah ... part of the software that we built for you. It's just, it's, it's fun to see you make it yours. Cool.
You know? Yeah. So- It's, it's always cool to see something that was, you know, just a, a blank canvas before. I mean, you had a table in here. It had... But you didn't have this, this nice background, the TV. And then to see it come together and, and look like a studio at the end of the day, and then to be actually like sitting here and having a conversation is pretty cool.
Yeah. For sure. It's really cool. So let's set the stage. Tell everyone or tell us exactly, what's your pitch? So we always had envisioned that we wanted to make high quality content easy to [00:02:00] create for everybody, and we had to build a bunch of systems to make that happen for the general public or whomever we interact with on a video or photo shoot. We wanted to make that easier, easy, so media made easy no matter what it was.
~Keith and I met probably almost 20 years ago. Oh, this is a good story. I like this. Oh, let's hear it. In the gym, right? Yeah, yeah. This is, yeah. I like- Well, it, it's interesting. Yeah, so Keith and I met in 2000 something. By the way, this is our most asked question for some reason. Is it really?~
~Everybody's interested in how we- How did you meet? ... how we met. How did you meet? Not about the business, but how did you guys meet? Yeah, exactly. Yeah. It's it was like almost 20 years ago. We met at a gym, and it was Market Square when it was Gold's Gym. Now it's a Taj. And I was in college still. He had just graduated college.~
~When you see the same people in the same places, you say, "Hi." It's a friendly hi, that sort of thing. That's what it was. And we all came at the same time after, after school for me, I think after work for him. Became friends. Never really hung out, but he invited me to go to a bar one time with his buddies and everything to hang out.~
~I was not 21 yet, so I couldn't go. So I said, "Listen, if there's a house party or something, you let me know." But it never happened, and I ended up moving across the city. And then I think it was, like, five years later or so, we run into each other at the Southside Gym at LA Fitness down there. And it was like walking past each other through the locker room or something.~
~It's "Wait a second." And, and he- Where you been? You sound like frat boys telling this story "Yeah, we were at the gym." I love that. Yeah. "There was a bar." And, yeah. But I mean, keep in mind, this is 20 years ago. Yeah, it was, it was 2007, '8, just about. And yeah, so I, you know, he had just moved into a really cool house on Southside Slopes, and I was going into my career in architectural designer at an events company.~
~And I was like, "I would love to come see your place. It s- looks super cool." And ever since then, we kinda hit it off as buddies and stuff, and knew that we had the same synergies, same morals, everything kinda fit together, and we knew that, we could probably build something together, too on a greater scale, something bigger than ourselves.~
~And he had an idea. He wanted a, an itch to scratch, essentially, when it came to studios. He was already in, in video production and I didn't know anything about it then. So he said, "I'll pitch to you, and I'll convince you in one workout." Wow. So we went- In one workout? Okay. So we went back to the gym, and for an hour and 15, or whatever it was, he talked me through this idea,~
~He has a lot of great aspirations toward it, and I had the public facing, 'cause I was more on the marketing side, more of an environmental side of things when it comes to building spaces, and he knew more the tech side, the knowhow and everything. So there was a lot of bouncing back and forth in between sets, you know, at the gym- I love it~
~and, ... figuring that out. So- Pumping iron and building a business. We, we, we originally looked at a lot of other kinds of businesses to get into, and nothing really seemed to just fit us personality-wise. So I was like, "All right, is there something in our space that we can kinda get into?" And I'd always had this, this idea.~
~Every time I'd go out on a shoot, I felt like I was doing the same setup every time for a talking head. It was like, you know, same lighting setup, same audio, same camera placement. I'm like, "Couldn't they just build a room that already does this?" And at the time that's more common nowadays, but at the time- Yeah~
~everything was, like, meant for big productions, big crews, lots of equipment. It was expensive. You needed, your own insurance. And but there was, like, a whole new kind of media creator that was emerging- Yeah, the- ... and there wasn't a space for it ... it was coming together at the time- Yeah ... where, yeah, people were making their own content and so forth.~
Yep. And you're thinking of a space to allow anyone to do that. I mean, there's two sides of the business. We're known for the production work, but we're also known for our automated studios, which we're in right now. For those watching, if, if you wouldn't otherwise know, you might think there's a whole, crew in here working the space and, or, and then a, a whole post-production process.
But it's doing everything in real time. And so that's what we've built now, and that's kinda what we're known for with our spaces. But originally it was, it was more just the concept of can we create a space that's easy to use for this new type of content creator that didn't exist before? But what's changed?
What's changed since you sort of had this idea? 'Cause the technology- ... has just shifted. Yeah, since- It's almost 20 years ... well, yeah, I mean, podcasting has obviously blown up. These studios can be used for much more than podcasting. They're, they're just general communication [00:03:00] studios. But a, a lot of the use cases are for podcasts or interviews.
And , that medium's, just taken off and, everybody's on their phones now. And I, I just, the media world has gone from,, producing like one high-quality video a year to now you just need content all the time. You can't produce something now and launch it in several months.
It's gotta, it's gotta be high speed- Yeah ... to market, and that's what our studios are good at, is producing- And that's- ... content immediately. So, do you help companies think through that as well? Yeah. Because, I'm sure people still, there are still people who say, "Oh, I just do this kinda contrived, structured content- Yeah
and I'll come here once a month." And there is- Once a quarter ... there is still space for both. There is? Yeah. So I, I don't wanna say ... I mean, we, we work on the 20-person, , larger productions as well. But that used to be the only thing, and now there's, there's much more. The pie's grown, and it's also been divided, to, to a lot more different variety.
~And so yeah, we help companies think through that, 'cause a lot of companies, ~I think COVID changed that a little bit for people- Good point ... where, where they lost square footage or it became empty and they didn't know what to do with [00:04:00] it.
So we were thinking, if we helped COOs and people like that, utilize the square footage in their space. And we didn't know what was gonna happen, so you know, why, why not be productive in an empty space somehow? So you know, a lot of low-hanging fruit was low-hanging content that they needed to create all the time.
And that has kinda changed the game from everybody, where I've seen posts that people post 30 to 40 times a day for their businesses. Oh, my God. And how are they creating that content? Exactly. How are they doing that? Wow. But yeah, so you know, e- even from then, companies getting into it just now still, they're like, "Well, I don't wanna spend all the money hiring the crews every single day to come in just to do an HR video or announcement video or leadership, thought leadership interview or a podcast or whatever."
Why not be able to walk out of your office, walk across the hall into your full communication studio? Exactly. So we built a few in the the city here, and so that's what they do. They go in and they have different aspects of their business come in and create content for it, whether it's a learning management system or it's onboarding [00:05:00] videos or anything like that, they're creating it internally with their own team.
~And then we also have our team that can, log in remotely to help them produce it as well. So you know, they're saving costs, getting way more content out of it. So there's a win-win at the end of the day for people who invest in this. And it's interesting. When we first started this, we, we saw a lot more hobbyists.~
~Now we're seeing a lot more business, and I, I feel like that's always the trend that you see with technology- Yeah ... is, the young kids are, adopting things early and then businesses kinda catch on a little bit later. They follow suit. But now we're seeing, you know, a lot more larger companies come in and rent our space or ask us to build them studios.~
Yeah. So do you help with the strategy? Yeah I'm a big company, I wanna do this I've been playing with it. Do you come in and actually- Yeah, we- ... help with the strategy? We typically w- we'll act as like an extension of their marketing team where we are, more on the, the video production aspect of it or you know, the studio aspect of it.
I went to school for marketing. He's got a background in marketing, so we we can speak that language. , We understand kinda what , they need. But we also, mostly just listen. Some companies know more than others , on what they wanna achieve, and a lotta times, like we're just bringing their vision to life, and happy to do that.
~And then sometimes they, they want a little more guidance and direction in how they wanna go. And so what has surprised you over the years? What are some of the things that have surprised you? A lot yeah, a lot is, we were just talking about that earlier of we have pivoted so many times, and we've, we've had to pivot because of either the demand became great or the demand has shifted for video.~
~I think it surprises every couple of years something new happens. Before we built studios just for people to come use them as a content creator space, and then when podcasting became greater, all those studios turned into podcast studios. So they went away from the traditional video and photo side of things.~
~And then from there it became, "Well, I need to create more of this." Then we created a membership where you could come in for money off. Oh, nice. Okay You could come in as much as you wanted and give money off as you went. Okay. You know, that sort of stuff. Like a gym model. Basically like a g- yeah, like a gym.~
~These are gym guys. Exactly. These are gym guys. Yeah, so like- A lot of inspiration there ... what surprised us sometimes too is we thought, and it, it happens from time to time, that the DIY movement was gonna keep going. It's still going, but people love having their hand held sometimes, or they love- having that kind of professional in the area somewhere that can tell them they're either doing good, they're not doing so good, that sort of stuff. Yeah. That came back tenfold of, "I don't wanna do it myself. I need somebody else to do it for me, and I'm scared to even figure it out." Like- Ah ... so that's where the automation came in, where it's like, "Okay, great."~
Yeah. Now we can put a, basically a virtual director in the room with you that's gonna be capturing things live. Yeah. We also noticed, what surprised us the most you, you surprise us too, is that people who didn't know what they were doing with the space now are experts in the space, and they understand how to use our software.
Sometimes more than us sometimes. We're like, "Oh, they found something or they did [00:06:00] something," or they become more relaxed. We've helped people that started on the ground floor, didn't know what they were doing- Yeah ... then now charge people to be on their podcast in our space. You know? Yeah. So it's kind of cool.
I've watched Jonathan grow up. Yeah. Yeah. So it's, it's kind of interesting. Even, just even in the last few months. Yeah. The whole point of this is to just have it so that the creator doesn't need to worry about the tech at all. They can just kinda come in and,, very easily set up- Yeah ... get a, get an episode recorded.
Here's what I can attest to, this is something that I think really proves all the points. It all, it all gels with how I Run the Huntington Bank Studio here for all the interviews that Audrey and I do. I mean, we, we do about 200 interviews a year- ... all together, which is an insane amount of content.
And in the olden days we weren't able to get video. Everyone wants a video now. So the idea that it's almost like it's a video studio first- I know, that's true ... not a podcast studio first is, is m- more the mind-changer for me. Because of course, we have a podcast, but we now video. But what's worked so well is the fact that you have this technology, which first off, these guys developed themselves.
This is like- I know, I wanna talk about that. Yeah ... this is their technology, which we- we- but we'll jump into that in a minute [00:07:00] about- Yeah ... how you developed this. But it's very easy to use. You select your cameras, you v- dial in your shots, and from a content creation standpoint, I can literally interview somebody and have a video out the door clean in, a- under an hour.
He jumps up with joy over that. Literally, literally that fast. He does. That's what blows my mind is the speed to market is insane, and the quality is even better. I've struggled for 20 years, like- Put a camera up. Oh, the white balance is not matching the other ca- Everything just looks kinda amateur.
Mm. With all the automation you have set into this, I get crisp, clean line cuts. Like I'm not .. Back and forth, like I said, in no time. So we can create more content, the tech council, we can tell more of our members' stories. We can get different channels because it just makes us really excited- And we can do it-
about this ... like instantly. Yeah. So if there's a matter at hand. Yeah. Yeah. Could be an issue- We, we can take care of it ... a policy. Yeah. It could be someone doing something really cool with the company. We can get it out there, like in no time. What I love about your story too is, and [00:08:00] we, we hear this a lot, where sometimes it's like talking to a blank wall when they've never created m- content before.
They don't fully understand, , that it's not ... they're used to their phone where they just push a button and talk into their phone. But when you have multiple guests, multiple camera angles to, to set all those cameras up, know where to position them, and then how to layer all that together in post-production.
Exactly. When you actually do it, then you realize, okay, it's, it's actually a lot more time-consuming than, than I want. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Even, even if you, you know, have a video background, it's still nice to- have it all set up and ready to go. I dare anyone to go into Premiere and do a line cut.
Yeah. Okay? Right. And do it in anything under an hour for a 20-minute video. Oh, I know. Think of the things that we've experimented with- Oh, absolutely ... and cameras and all that stuff- ... where we thought we were being so clever. Yeah, and it's okay, that- Yeah ... kinda worked- That, right ... but not so much. It didn't work.
And the, the AI tools for post-production editing, like they're great, but this gives you a nice baseline. Like it gives you- Exactly ... a fully, edited together long-form podcast. When I say [00:09:00] edited, I don't mean if we swear it's gonna know to cut that out. But what it does do is it cuts between all the different camera angles, mixes all the audio gives you basically a fully baked, edited long-form version that you can then use these other AI tools to make short- Yeah
reels out of it. And that's ex- exactly what I do each and every day. It's how I live my life right now, and it's just, it's been transformative for us. And that's why we're so excited to have you guys in our studio to be our guests, so we can tell your story about how you do this. And w- could we jump to the tech side of things?
'Cause this is the thing- Yeah, I want to. I, well- I wanna talk about like- This is- ... the future and what kind of tech you're using and- And these guys don't brag enough. They're very nonchalant- Yeah ... about this. First off- I mean, A, you guys put all this code together to actually make this happen and provide an interface that pretty much anybody can use, but there's also this secret thing.
When you laid this on me, I was like, "Why didn't you tell me about this earlier?" Is the sidekick coach that you have- Right ... that we're using right now, that it listens to the conversation. Correct. It provides potential questions, it provides quotes and insights we can bring in if we want to. But what I love the most about it is when we're done, it gives me a podcast [00:10:00] score, and it goes through and it tells me- Oh, yeah
where I can improve with pacing and engagement. Yeah. I get a transcription at the end. But this is something you're like, "Oh, yeah, we developed this thing." I'm like, "Oh, this is a powerful tool, man. This thing is, like- I know ... so cool." And you're like, "Oh, yeah, we, we built that." Yeah. So how'd you build this? What the heck? Yeah. I mean, it was something we actually tried years ago and the technology just wasn't there yet.
Okay. It took too long. It, it would take, it would be three minutes behind your conversation just because- Ooh. Yeah ... that's how long it took for AI to transcribe and interpret, the speaking points. But now it's, it's pretty quick and you can also set how quickly it, feeds you things.
And, and then the score at the end was just the way where after... I was on a couple podcasts and I'm like, "Man, I wish I knew how I did immediately, without needing to go around and show people the podcast and ask them, and, to have key moments and other parts of it highlighted.
Exactly. So yeah, just kind of, it evolved over time and, and with the technology and what the technology allowed. But- So what's next? I think it's the AI side of things. We're always gonna pivot and be [00:11:00] malleable toward where the market goes as far as the production team.
We think that's why we branched off and started a new business solely around this AI software, because people are gonna look for other efficiencies to either use their existing studios or that need this type of hardware- Yeah, good point. ... And software at the same time. Yeah. So we think that, I mean, our, our vision, our goal was always to have studios all over the US, whether it was a place we physically built or it was in an existing space, that we could help people, we could be a right hand person for them, you know, extension to them, to help them just create more content.
It's basically giving them what we've had for 10 years now out in the open. Yeah. So do you have clients outside of Pittsburgh? We had we have one and had one in Boca Raton, Florida, had someone out there. Keith is flying out to Houston, Texas to build two studios out there for an oil and gas podcast company.
Wow. And we have a few others- Yeah ... that are gonna be out out of the state soon, so. We wanna help you sell them. Yeah. We would love, [00:12:00] love you guys to help us. We wanna help you sell them. We need to get Keith a cowboy hat- Yeah ... 'cause he'll fit in just fine. Well, we'll get a T-shirt. Yeah, yeah. You'll get a T-shirt for the studio you make.
~We'll get a... Yeah, no. No, we'll need something more than T-shirts. But I, I mean, I'm just thinking of all the people who have their anchors in podcasts now, right? Exactly right, yeah. And what are they using, and how are they able to adapt the conversation in a dynamic way? Sometimes I'm surprised, and now you've seen people who do podcasts, and they're getting together.~
~Yep. So, I follow what's her name, Brene Brown, Adam Grant, and Simon Sinek. Yeah. They're all getting together now. Yep. And they've been doing their own thing forever. It's, it's like an uber podcast then. Or they're doing- Yeah ... the uber thing. Thing, yeah. Right? Gotcha. And so I've been watching a few of them, and I'm wondering how are they laying all this out?~
~Like how are they- Yeah ... laying the conversation out? So a lot of them, I mean, I, they, the talk shows are now being called podcasts, or they're on the cast and everything. It's kind of funny how- Yeah, whatever cast ... people are just changing lingo. Yeah. Exactly, yeah. So the talk shows are still happening.~
These conversations are happening. And they'll sometimes show behind the scenes of what's going on, and it's- Tons of cameras being set up with somebody on a switcher that's switching the cameras, and someone's thinking about audio. They've got a crew going, and why can't they use those guys elsewhere in their crew of doing something else- Right
and let the cameras do the switching, let the audio being taken care of- Exactly ... let all that groundwork happen during the production for them, that they could use their skill sets maybe somewhere else, with their team. That's what we think this value comes to play, where now you're just making it more efficient, that people now can just think about their ideas instead of thinking- Yeah
about the logistics of how the production should go. You're just bringing high quality to the people, like you said- Yeah ... media for the masses in, in that regard- Yeah ... which is just, like I said, it's so exciting to be able to have these capabilities. It's "Ah." Yeah. "Finally, we can tell clean stories." And it's, it's- Do, do you think that there's a shift [00:13:00] with pe- more people watching than more people reading?
Oh, that definitely. Yeah. I mean, that's, that's- Does that happen? ... a shift that's happened th- years ago. I remember well, a lot of the pr- Am I, are you telling me that's old news? A lot of the productions- That's okay ... a lot of the productions we've been doing over the years have been companies taking their training manuals and turning them into videos, 'cause nobody's reading train- training manuals.
That I know for sure. Yeah. Definitely. So yeah, we see that everywhere. I forget who I was talking to. Somebody else was just saying this recently, that nobody reads their newsletters or anything anymore, and it's all video. They'd rather a 30-second, one- Exactly. Yeah ... a 60-second video- Right. Yeah ... give me the rundown.
~Keep it moving. so it also too, it's been interesting. We've had a bit of shifts, too, of what Keith and I do in the business. Yeah. And he's really gravitated towards code writing himself, and he does it throughout all the days and evenings and mornings and-~
~whatever times. All of his spare moments. Get a text at 3:00 AM. Any spare moments, yeah. Yeah, whatever moments he would be,, messing with the technology and everything. And we actually have a patent now , for the technology that we have as well. Awesome. Might be working on a couple more as, at the same time.~
All right. Very cool. So, but it's just enabled us to think differently about how content's going to be consumed or even produced, everyone's either watching it or they're listening to it. I find myself putting on a show on YouTube, just listening to the conversation and doing my thing throughout the day, you know, but not really watching what's going on.
But still going back and forth to seeing- And listening and, yeah ... who's on, what's going on. Absolutely. You know, kind of checking back in, checking out. So I wanna switch gears just a little bit, 'cause I think I wanna make sure that we cover this, 'cause I think this is super important. Yeah. And we've been talking about a, our studio being built [00:14:00] and Stud.io you built for people, and, and these are an investment, without a doubt.
And it's not always accessible to everyone out there. What is accessible is you have some amazing space in the old Paramount building where the new Stud.io Me HQ is.~ It used to be over in East Liberty Garfield part of town. You guys moved over. It's so funny, when I would tell people about Stud.io Me, they're like, "Oh, the place in East Liberty."~
~I'm like, "Formerly." Yes. "They're over here now in the, in the Paramount building." But what I think is amazing is you have some studio space available that's very affordable, so you can come in and shoot your own content which I think is just so cool that you have this because it's a tremendous resource for Pittsburgh. Y- whether you're in tech, what, business, whatever it is, the ability for someone to come in and create quality content at an affordable price is pretty important, and have friendly people there and good coffee- Yeah.~
~who show up, 'cause you got good coffee there. Snacks. And snacks. Yeah. All kinds of soft drinks. Yeah. We, that, that's always been a main staple. Obviously, the studio was derived off of renting spaces- With the snacks ... to the public. With the snacks, yeah. Yeah. With snacks. Yeah, so we got a much larger space.~
~We probably, our space is probably three times the size of our last space, and we were in East Liberty for almost nine and a half years- Right ... so that's why people would know- ... us being there. Right. In fact, we had visitors yesterday that- Right there ... , they did a walk in and they said- Are you guys the same guys that own the one in East Liberty?~
~I'm like, "Oh, that was, that was us. We just moved." It was tough because we, we merged two businesses. We rebranded. We got a new logo. We changed our name slightly. We got a new place to live, new colors and everything. Wow. So like- It was a big year ... we totally did a facelift and moved on, and we kinda lifted ourselves from that and moved, 'cause we needed the space.~
~That's great~
~With a public space over there people can use. But I always like to call the studios different flavors or themes. Yeah. And some of our clients see that the same. So they might have a deep emotional conversation. They'll go to one of our darker studios, or if they want a more peppy- Oh~
~conversation, they'll go to one of the brighter studios. Oh, that's interesting. So we've seen people move around because they have that flexibility and that freedom to. Hmm. So- We should be thinking about that. Yeah. I think you guys need to install some mood lighting for us. Yeah. Yeah. We need some- Yeah~
Like I said- I love that ... what makes a, a great podcaster though? Come on, everyone's, everyone's a podcast. Honestly, I would say- What's a great- ... I think au- authenticity is a big one because that's, I mean- I think podcasts are, part of the reason they're so successful nowadays is that it, it is just an authentic conversation.
Talk shows used to be very staged, very scripted, and very fake. I, I remember even the days when they switched from standard definition to HD, and they still had the old standard definition makeup, and you could see everybody Interesting. See how thick they put the makeup on people before, before talk shows.
So I think people n- they're just hungry for authenticity, and podcasts are great because for the most part they are unedited, they're raw. They're just people having conversations, and I think that's what everybody's,, looking for. So I would say , if you wanna [00:15:00] do a podcast, consistency because a lot of people- That's the biggest
they'll just do three, and then they kind of give up. Yeah. And it's like- That's the biggest thing I tell everybody- Yeah. But it's always the biggest ... is like you gotta be in it for the long haul. Right. It's not like you do it once and three months later you come back and do another episode. No, you gotta line it up.
Yeah. Well, you know what's also cool in this conversation is that Jonathan and I love what we do. Mm. If that doesn't emanate... I mean, definitely- Yeah ... from him, but from me as well, right? 100%. And you know, you guys seem just happy and stoked to do that work, and that's sort of the magic, isn't it?
~That's always been the vision. It's kinda funny that when we started the studios, he had his video business that he was growing, and I was always in the design world as either a creative director or managing kind of like the creative team. And the vision was always just to get us completely focused on the thing that we started building.~
~So the studio, for nine years, was always a passive thing on the side that ran itself, that we had the full team, we had the, the systems in place, and we always branched off and did our own things on either side of the business, but never came together. So that's why we did the merger, was every couple of years there's always this natural crossing of paths that has been happening with us.~
~Yeah, so yeah, what pushed you over the edge to, to merge? What, Parrish Digital with, with Studio Me? Yeah. What was the story behind that? It was just- It was- Yeah ... it was the right time. I mean, w- th- this is, that was what we wanted to do in the first place, but- Okay ... they are two sort of different audiences, and we were just waiting to that point where the overlap was great enough to kind of pressure them together.~
You know, the timing was right in, in the market, and we wanted to scale both sides of the business and knew we could do that better- It's great ... together. I think it's fantastic. It was a natural... You could see it. The writing was on the wall, and every year something had changed with the studios, the technology.
It was always a writing on the wall situation where even the folks that work at our studio or on any of our teams, they'll say, "Hey, isn't it time for... Maybe we should do this." I'm like, "We were just talking about it." Okay. So, everyone's mentality is the same a little bit, almost like a hive mind a little way.
Nice. That they're all thinking that. So when it [00:16:00] came to- What did we do in the merger? One of our guys stood u- stood up. He goes, "So what's going on next?" He's "I can feel it. What's happening?" Yeah. And we're like, "We literally are talking about this now." And then today we celebrated one of our, our guys' 10 years with us.
That's amazing. And yeah, he was our, he was our- That is... How cool is that? He was our f- one of our first studio managers, and now he works as a producer f- on the production side. But, , he... , what he said he loved about... 'Cause we were all reflecting on the, the last decade, and he said what he loves the most about our business is that he feels like we always get to the point where, you know, you...
where Joe and I start feeling stagnation, and we're ready , to just do the next thing. 'Cause,, one thing I think everybody hates is just when things are stagnant all the time. And so- ... we're always thinking about that, and we're always thinking about what can we do next to, to get us over that next, , phase of business.
~Keep starting that. Or even our personal lives, we can't stand not s- stopping. Okay. So I'm either pacing in my kitchen- Where are you going with this? Well, it's like I'm either pacing in my kitchen and my wife's telling me to sit down- ... or he's texting me about something we should do next, or something's happening, or I gotta change this.~
~Let's dig up the backyard and do something new. So that's a natural... we're always naturally thinking- That's good. Perfect ... about changing. That's perfect. So yeah, we're always- The world's gym. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. So we're always thinking about what's next. That's really perfect. Well, it goes to show you, , when you go to the gym-~
~you don't know who you're gonna meet sometimes. Yeah. And it could be something that completely changes your life, which is- No, but I mean, it's great ... so cool they were open to it. Yeah. They were some- But it's also, it's- So there was some receptivity that occurred, and then obviously something- Well, it's hard to have-~
~synchronous ... it's hard to find business partners. It's hard to have a- Oh my God, it is harder than being married. Yeah. So We used to joke about that ... we joke about it- That's so good. I love it ... that we're bound by contract that we have together. Like the studio is our baby. Our kids are at the studio.~
~That studio is our house. Yeah. You know, but yeah, we're, we're, we're opposites in a lot of ways, and then we're the same, and we're exactly where we need to be. And if there's any disagreement- Amazing ... we always know that we're talking about the bigger picture. It's awesome. So if it's something he says that is stupid, and I say something that's idiotic, we know it's-~
~going towards the greater good. So, Yeah. You don't personalize. Yeah. So yeah, there's nothing- You don't personalize it ... we divide church and state. I'm, I'm godfather to one of his kids. So we have a- Nice Ah, that's tight ... we have a big and little brother relationship a little bit going on.~
~Yeah. It was li- and also just a great partnership, so. It's awesome. Wow. It's, it's strange how we're complete opposites in some ways, but then we gel together in some, so it just works. And the opposites I think work, work together too. You know, like- Joe's got a lot of structure where I don't.~
~Yeah. You know, things like that. And sometimes it's better not to have the structure and sometimes it's better- Yeah. Yeah ... to have the structure. Oh, absolutely. You know, to... So- Absolutely ... there's all kinds of examples. I like to be in front of people, he doesn't. Right. So, I go out and talk to people.~
~I hate being on the podcast. Oh, really? I didn't notice~
that. So it, it's just- So- It makes it easier. So before we wrap it up, what's the feedback that you have for Jonathan and I? Yeah. Feedback? What do you mean by feedback? So good. Yeah, like how could we be better- I thought you guys knocked it out of the park. I, I think- Well, thank you ... that's why we built the coaches. You don't need our feedback. You need- The coach is on right now, basically. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But, I mean, the coaches aren't giving [00:17:00] us feed- Yeah ... really feedback.
They're giving us some ideas. You have some good quotes here though, which I love. Yeah. I put, I wanna bring some of these quotes into our conversation. That, that Oprah quote is my quote. Is that your quote? That's not Oprah's quote. "Authenticity is the most important thing." I say that all the time. I think Oprah said that too.
I don't think Oprah says that. I'm, I'm going with Oprah on that one. But I digress. But this has been an amazing conversation. It's just, like I said, it's just a joy for me to get you guys in the studio so we could just talk to you about it, because I'm very proud of the work that you guys have done for us.
Yeah. So you've done- Huge ... an amazing job here. And, like I said, you've upped our game now at the Tech Council. We can tell better stories now, Audrey. It's great. Thank you. You've really helped us. It's a great space. Yeah, it's- This is no BS. Thank you. Well, thanks for- You've really helped us ... believing in us, that, we could build this for you.
Yeah. It's great. Good stuff all the way around. And so thanks for being in the Huntington Bank Studios. And you'll come back again and see all the other changes I've done or things that I might have potentially broken. But that's okay, but- Well, no, thanks again ... oh, my goodness. Appreciate it. Yeah. Good stuff.
Audrey, until the next one. Until next time. Yeah. We just love- Thank you ... having these conversations as much as we can. And once again, it's been Jonathan Kersting. And Audrey Russo. And we are from the [00:18:00] Pittsburgh Tech Council, where we love telling people's stories, and I cannot wait to see you on the next one, everybody.