Making History

Our doors opened for business in 2001, but Making History was born in spirit years earlier. Founder Joe Terry, a nationally known and respected television talk show director, was seeking a unique and memorable way to celebrate his sister's 25th wedding anniversary. He scoured a box of home movies and photos, intending to create an anniversary scrapbook; the project blossomed into a short video featuring three of the couple's favorite songs from their courtship years. The six minute production was not only a surprise, it was a huge hit at the anniversary party. Family and friends were overjoyed to see (and hear) treasured moments from a quarter century ago. Everyone wanted a copy of the videotape. Best of all, Joe's sister was impressed beyond words. That was the start of Making History.

Joe always had a yearning to permanently preserve his family history. “It probably grew from my roots in Beckley, West Virginia,” Joe recalls. “My dad was a coal miner; we didn't have material riches, but our family life was like the gold standard. We were rich in tradition, storytellers and spirit.” Joe's heritage – he was one of six siblings – inspired him to honor and carry on the history – the unique stories that defined his family. And Making History became the vehicle to make those dreams real.

Now more than ever, we all understand the importance and power of memory. It is the mission of Making History to preserve and document the memories of today for the benefit of tomorrow. As Joe puts it, “We need to heal the wounds that we see and feel in society today. The wounds of a loss of shared history. We're moving so fast that we forget where we came from – the soul connections.”

“We need to collect these personalities and stories for posterity before it's too late. History is dying every day.”

JOE TERRY
Founder, President
Joe is a nationally known television director, currently in his seventh season as director of the country's highest rated syndicated talk show. His resume includes a 25-year career in local and network news, syndicated and talk TV and documentary productions in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Philadelphia. Joe Terry has received several Emmy award nominations for his work in news and syndicated talk TV. Before his years in Chicago, Joe spent six years directing The Maury Povich Show, and more than 12 years with CBS television stations in New York, Los Angeles and Philadelphia.

CAROL MARTIN
Founder, Senior Vice President
Carol is a television news journalist with a 30-year career in the nation's top television markets.

Since 2002 she has worked as on-air anchor/producer for "Insight", a video news magazine for Johnson and Johnson, Inc., the healthcare company. For 20 years, from 1975 to 1995, she anchored two daily newscasts for WCBS-TV, the CBS flagship station in the number one TV market. She won two Emmy awards and hundreds of community service awards during her career at WCBS. Before joining the New York station, Carol was a reporter-producer for WJLA-TV in Washington, D.C., and a writer-editor for the The Detroit Free Press. Since 1996, she has worked in syndicated television ( The People's Court ); on cable; and as a voice-over artist for corporate clients such as Bayer, Intel and Humana Health Care.

LISSA DRUSS CHRISTMAN
Projects Manager
Lissa brings impressive credentials as a television news and sports producer to Making History. She is the recipient of several Emmy awards for her work at WBBM-TV, the CBS-owned station in Chicago, where she spent 12 years as senior sports producer. Lissa is a dynamic production resource, bringing special expertise in Avid editing, state of the art production skills and dynamic presence for sales and marketing.

SEAN SULLIVAN
Business Development
Graduating from the prestigious Karl Eller Center for the study of the Private Market Economy in 1995, Sean taught business in Prague, Czech Republic to former large state-run enterprises. In addition, Sean worked for a prominent U.S. Congressman during legislative drafting for the NAFTA agreement. Combining 10 years financial, accounting and strategy development experience, Sean founded Fourth Chance, L.L.C., a business consultancy that worked extensively with Capital and National City Bank on emerging business model development.

Jane is the senior project manager for the Making History family. Her skills are unlimited; her specialty is project management, budget forcasting, problem solving and production/editing of videos. Jane is a graduate of Luther College in Decorah IA.

After successful tenures at ESPN, CBS-Chicago, and The Oprah Winfrey Show, Maria is now sharing her expertise with Making History. Maria is responsible for writing, producing, and working with our editors and the clients to make sure each project is picture perfect.

After over 6 years of editing for news, commercials, and corporate videos Andres shares his expertise with Making History as our senior editor. Andres is also experienced as a director of many televised documentaries. His experiences range from Venezuelan, European to North American clients. Andres is well versed in all Avid editing systems, After Effects, and Graphic Designing.

Martha Jackson is currently finishing her senior year as a Radio/TV/Film major at Northwestern University. She edits a sketch comedy show and has also worked on post-production for documentary, experimental, and animated films. Her plans for "the real world" after graduation are uncertain, but she hopes to continue working with either comedy or animation.

Our other team members represent the best in writing, producing and camera work. They are available across the country to implement our Making History projects.