Kelsey Marie Muchnok (b. Annapolis, Maryland)
Kelsey Marie Muchnok has been working in film since 2012. Her focus has been in documentary film, promoting non-profits and bringing awareness to the issues they seek to address. She received her Undergraduate degrees at Chatham University, concentrating in Psychology and Film & Digital Technology.
Her undergraduate thesis, “Beat of a Memory”, explores the importance that music has to people suffering from dementia and other memory impairing diseases. Her focused projects are on a documentary entitled Aplastic Anemia: Your Fight is My Fight is a call to action piece to bring awareness to the bone marrow disease as well to bring focus on the importance on blood donating and bone marrow registering.
Anonymous, a short documentary centered around a woman dubbed ‘Gwen’ who shares her story on getting a life long STD and the importance on women’s health and the struggles surrounding the stigma of living with a life-long STD.
POWER: Second road to recovery, a documentary focused on POWER (Pennsylvania Organization of Women in Early Recovery) a Pittsburgh- based non-profit dedicated to helping women in drug and alcohol addiction.
She currently works part-time as a Multimedia Designer at Opticom Consulting, in Pittsburgh. In this position, she has applied her skills working in social media and outreach coordination as well as her video editing and production skills.
In addition to her media arts and social media skills, she has a working knowledge of data analytics and Project Management systems. She has 7 years of experience working in media and communications. While studying for her Bachelor’s, she worked for several organizations at Chatham University, as a broadcast studio assistant and as an art gallery assistant for a freelance photography project called Documentary Works.
She has worked as a multimedia designer and freelance videographer for several Pittsburgh non-profits, such as POWER (Pennsylvania’s Organization for Women in Early Recovery) and Global Links. During the past two years, she has also been working on several independent projects, continuing to apply her skills in digital technology with tools such as Final Cut Pro X, Photoshop, Lightbox, and Acrobat.
Artist Statement
I focus on documentary filmmaking to promote nonprofits. The documentary films have a call-to-action platform that brings awareness to the issues that nonprofits seek to address. I want my films’ viewers to walk away with a longing to change the world. I hope my films would motivate my viewers to challenge their way of thinking and to view reality from another person’s perspective.
Each subject I film becomes personal to me. Nonprofits are groups of individuals who have dedicated themselves to change someone’s life for the better. Whenever I help bring awareness to an issue that a non-profit is dedicated to change, I feel as if I am helping unload some burden off someone’s shoulders. Change doesn’t happen in a day and it takes more than one person to achieve it.
I have a Master’s degree in Media Communications and two Bachelor’s degrees in Psychology and Media Arts from Chatham University. I also have 7 years of related experience working in media and communications. While studying for my degrees, I worked for several organizations at Chatham University, as a broadcast studio assistant and as an art gallery assistant for a freelance photography project called Documentary Works. I have also worked with for the Carnegie Museum of Art and Natural History as a program coordinator for children as I worked for my degree.
I have worked with several Pittsburgh non-profits, such as POWER (Pennsylvania’s Organization of Women in Early Recovery) and Global Links, both as a multimedia designer and with freelance projects.