Today we’d like to introduce you to Courtney Kent.

Courtney, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.

As a kid, my friends and I loved playing around with my parent’s video camera. We would make skits, music videos, and all different types of movies. But it wasn’t until I was around eight or nine years old when my dad brought home a new Mac with iMovie that everything really changed. That was the moment my interest became my passion, and I have since turned that passion into a career.

 

At age sixteen, I began volunteering at my local public access station. Soon after, they hired me as a part-time editor, which I held for ten years. After graduating college, I branched out into corporate work and freelancing. After a few years of doing that, my career came full circle when I became Creative Director at the public access center where I got my start.

All the while, friends and family hired me to cover their weddings (my first at age twelve by the way!) and that gave me the confidence to dream of starting my own video production business one day. Finally, in 2016, I formally launched Courtney Kent Productions.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you? My biggest challenge was actually launching my business. I was still working full time and occasional freelance gigs in order to pay off student loans and prepare for the start-up costs of my new business venture. My other obstacle was finding the amount of time that is necessary to devote to starting up a new business. The first few months were challenging with many late nights and early mornings, but it was definitely worth it in the end! In retrospect, many of my jobs over the years were organizations in their infancy. I always enjoyed being part of the planning process and building something from the ground up. Those experiences definitely helped me when I decided to start planning my own business.

We’d love to hear more about your business. Courtney Kent Productions is an award-winning wedding videography company specializing in timeless, cinematic films of your wedding day. I am known for my organic approach to filming and letting moments happen naturally. I work as invisibly as possible in order to avoid staging and capture my couples just being themselves. I also specialize in storytelling through editing and I want my couples to feel that their video represents them and their relationship. My hope is that the people who couldn’t attend the wedding feel as if they were there and the people who did attend feel like they are right back in that moment. At the end of the day, I just want every couple to be happy. There is no better reward than a happy bride and groom, which is why I am extremely proud to have received the Best of North Shore “Reader’s Choice Award (Wedding Edition)” and Wedding Wire’s “Couples Choice Award” in my first year of business. It means a lot to be recognized by my clients.