Back to Blog Index

Meet the New SOM Community Team

No items found.

As Summer 2020 gets into full swing, we are so excited to welcome our Community Outreach Team!

Note from Joey: When School of Motion started, the goal was to create a place where anyone could come to learn the technical and creative skills needed to succeed in Motion Design. We knew that it would be important to create and run amazing classes, but we didn’t realize just how important it would be to cultivate a welcoming and vibrant community around those classes.

mkt1651-comminity team-article.jpg

Last year, Brittany Wardell joined our team and has supercharged the student experience here ever since. She’s helped to create a strong vision for what our community can be like in the future, and to help her make that vision a reality, we’ve recently brought on three heavy-hitters who we’d like to introduce.


The Team

community-outreach-brittany1.jpg

BRITTANY

Brittany, the woman who started it all! Brittany came to School of Motion after working in development for a nonprofit, handling Alumni Relations. She's also had some fun side jobs like being a Zumba instructor for three years or being a brand promoter for Dunkin’ Donuts. Every job Brittany has worked has been with companies with whom she's identified, whether it’s the mission or the culture. Brittany cares deeply about providing the best student experience possible, providing opportunities, and lifting the students and alumni up.

community-outreach-frank.jpg

FRANK

Cuban-born Motion Designer Frank Suarez has been with School of Motion since 2018 as a Teaching Assistant in many of the courses. He graduated Summa Cum Laude from Miami International University of Art and Design, earning a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts in Visual Effects and Motion Graphics. During the past decade, he has worked as a motion designer in-house for studios and as a freelancer. His clients have included VH1, History Channel, Oxygen, The Bible Project, Crossway. Frank has a passion for teaching and for connecting with others. He genuinely cares for students to receive the guidance that many of us could not get in the earlier days of motion design. He is “animado” (excited) to contribute full time to making School of Motion a great place for students to launch their motion graphics career.

community-outreach-ella.jpg

ELLA

Ella Matutis-Degal is SUPER excited to be a part of the team! She’s a well-rounded customer advocate with over 6 years of experience in customer support and customer success roles at fashion and ed-tech startups. As a recovering performer and singer who used to perform in front of large audiences, her purpose was to support and connect with people. Interestingly enough, she’s ecstatic to do the same, here, at School of Motion! She’s passionate about empowering others to be their best selves, helping them achieve their goals and have an overall positive learning experience!

community-outreach-kyle1.jpg

KYLE

Kyle Hamrick has been orbiting School of Motion for a few years as a student, multi-course TA and content contributor. He is extremely excited to now have the opportunity to put all his attention into collaborating with this talented team. After a decade of running his own small studio as an Emmy-winning motion designer & video editor, Kyle has lately been spending more time focusing on in-person and online teaching appearances, answering technical questions, and looking for ways to elevate the motion design community as a whole. He’s happy to have found a way to utilize these pursuits (and his love for After Effects puns) by engaging and working with the mograph community at School of Motion.

Why we are investing in our community

School of Motion is investing in this team so that we may provide our community with more opportunities to connect with one another. Each of these team members bring a unique combination of experience and passion to create new programs aligned with our initiatives that are fully focused on strengthening the motion design community as a whole. We are here to listen, to help and to learn.

Find More Places to Connect with Us

EXPLORE ALL COURSES

Dive into real-time 3D with our Unreal Engine beginner's course by Jonathan Winbush. Master importing assets, world-building, animation, and cinematic sequences to create stunning 3D renders in no time! Perfect for motion designers ready to level up.

Explore this Course

Unlock the secrets of character design in this dynamic course! Explore shape language, anatomy rules, and motifs to craft animation-ready characters. Gain drawing tips, hacks, and Procreate mastery (or any drawing app). Ideal for artists seeking to elevate their craft.

Explore this Course

Elevate your freelance motion design career with our guide to client success. Master a repeatable method for finding, contacting, and landing clients. Learn to identify prospects, nurture leads, and develop a thriving freelance philosophy amidst chaos.

Explore this Course

Rev up your editing skills with After Effects! Learn to use it for everyday needs and craft dynamic templates (Mogrts) for smarter teamwork. You'll master creating animated graphics, removing unwanted elements, tracking graphics, and making customizable templates.

Explore this Course

Stand out with Demo Reel Dash! Learn to spotlight your best work and market your unique brand of magic. By the end, you'll have a brand new demo reel and a custom campaign to showcase yourself to an audience aligned with your career goals.

Explore this Course

Illuminate your 3D skills with Lights, Camera, Render! Dive deep into advanced Cinema 4D techniques with David Ariew. Master core cinematography skills, gain valuable assets, and learn tools and best practices to create stunning work that wows clients.

Explore this Course

Master After Effects at your own pace with Jake Bartlett's beginner course. Perfect for video editors, you'll learn to create stylish animated graphics, remove unwanted elements, and track graphics into shots. By the end, you'll be equipped for everyday AE needs and more.

Explore this Course

Revolutionize your Premiere workflow with customizable AE templates! Master creating dynamic Motion Graphics Templates (Mogrts) in After Effects to speed up your team's work. By the end, you'll craft easily-customizable templates for seamless use in Premiere Pro.

Explore this Course
Your download is in your inbox!!!
Check your email (spam, too) for the download link!
Please check the spam folder if you don't see the message within a minute or two. Google likes to hide your downloads, sometimes.
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.

Not sure where to start?

If you’re a beginner, here are some great courses to help you get started:

After Effects Kickstart

Dive into the fundamentals of motion design with our most popular (and recently updated) After Effects course.

LEARN MORE

Photoshop + Illustrator Unleashed

Master the basics of Photoshop and Illustrator and gain invaluable insights in this introductory level course.

LEARN MORE

Design Kickstart

An introduction to the design principles behind all great work.

LEARN MORE

More Advanced?

If you’re a more advanced student looking to up your game, here are some great options:

Animation Bootcamp

Learn the art and principles of creating beautiful movements in Adobe After Effects.

LEARN MORE

Design Bootcamp

Learn to design for motion in this intermediate-level, project-based course.

LEARN MORE

Cinema 4D Basecamp

Learn Cinema 4D from the ground up in this exciting introductory C4D course.

LEARN MORE

Now is the time to learn the skills you need to advance in your motion design career: