Joey Dello Russo
Q What do you do?
“I help companies build creative foundations, especially when they’re bringing content creation in-house for the first time. I design strategies, produce video, podcasts, write copy, and prototype campaigns to set the tone and voice for their brand. At my core, I produce educational nonfiction, but now I lead creative direction across all kinds of media to help businesses tell their story.”
Q What steps did you take to get to where you are now?
It began with a film and TV degree from NYU, but I didn’t go there to move to Hollywood. A documentary course changed the entire direction of my career, and I realized my education was short film-centric. So I thought, okay, where’s the utility in short film? Commercial production. I pivoted, interned, and focused on advertising, landing my first job at Wieden+Kennedy in Portland. My first boss didn’t hold back: “You don’t just become a director. To be creative, you need to be technical. Learn something. Learn editing.” She was right. YouTube had just launched, DSLRs were upending everything, and I trained under some of the greatest commercial editors, mastering the craft.
From there, I moved to Los Angeles to explore TV and build on my production foundation. I worked as a camera operator on an A&E crime show and as a post-production assistant at Viacom/MTV. But I hated LA—I wanted to be in San Francisco, where innovation was happening. I found work at Ustream, the first live video streaming platform, as an in-house video editor, and freelanced when the company folded. That’s when I realized I was the all-in-one filmmaker tech companies wanted. I honed my skills in motion graphics, editing, producing, shooting, directing, and pitching, working for Asana, Eventbrite, and Change.org, which eventually led me to MasterClass.
At MasterClass, I scaled the class format, grew the team from two to forty, and made the trailers profitable. I worked with iconic figures like Werner Herzog, crafting creative projects that blended technical precision with storytelling. From there, I joined Airbnb as a director, traveling globally to create films that introduced Airbnb to new markets. I collaborated with policy teams, designers, and local governments, crafting projects inspired by Chris Marker’s essay films. Then the pandemic hit, halting everything, and I pivoted to a startup focused on creating MasterClass-style content for the construction industry, producing long-format classes with tradespeople across the U.S.
When that venture ended, I moved to London to join a career coaching platform. With zero budget, I built a content strategy from the ground up—interviewing CEOs remotely, polishing audio with AI, and automating supplemental assets through an interactive Airtable system. I even collaborated with engineers to create an animated video generator within the app, scaling production without a large team. I managed copywriters and designers, developed proprietary content workflows, and helped the company grow from seed stage to industry competitor.
Q How do you stand out in your field?
At 5'7, I don't. But my work does. I hate influencers. I hate advertising revenue models. I hate anything uploaded for today—breaking news, viral trends, disposable content. My work stands the test of time.
I’ve spent most of my career crafting strategies from the lives and experiences of others. What I create is about legacies, wisdom, and hard-earned truths: what people wouldn’t do again, what they should have done, what they did do and learned from, and what others can learn from all that anecdotal education.
I make content that lasts. I don’t care what cameras, what budget, or even whether or not the brand is 'channnnngginnnngggg the worrrrlllldddddd'. If you give me the chance to capture what you know, I’ll translate it into something meaningful and useful for others.
What I create is nonfiction with utility—and it endures.
Q What’s your style?
I mean, there's two things. I love the Masterclass trailer, because in two minutes, the premise is we want to make you laugh, cry, and buy. And then I also love the Airbnb Unseen films, both on my website.
Q Out of all your slashies, which one do you wish you could do more often?
I am obsessed with building objects out of wood. After moving to Reno, Nevada, I converted my two-car garage into a fully functioning woodshop, and now it’s all I think about. I love film, I love money, I love business, I love networking, I love events, I love wine—but when I go to bed at night, what’s on my mind (and what I’m watching, probably against the advice of sleep scientists) are woodworking videos.
I’ve built a Donald Judd replica table for my house, a George Nakashima-inspired coffee nook, and even a Michael Heizer “Double Negative”-inspired Douglas fir dining table. I’m obsessed with carving out my own voice—literally—in my woodshop. It all started during the pandemic when I was holed up in Portland. I bought a couple of tools and started making cutting boards for loved ones. I’d spend a week on each piece, sitting with memories of the person I was making it for. They’d use it every day, send me pictures, and tell me, “This reminds me of you every day.” It’s the best feeling ever.
This obsession has become something bigger than just a hobby. I’m passionate about making things that will outlive me. Everything else I’ve created—films, campaigns, commercials—has been fleeting: quick deliverables, direct deposits, and onto the next. But the tables I’ve built? They’ll be passed down by my nieces and nephews long after I’m gone. That’s what I love most. It’s lasting. It’s meaningful. It’s the most rewarding thing I’ve ever done, and it’s all I think about.
When I’m not in the shop, I’m traveling. I’ve been to both poles and camped on six out of seven continents. My other obsession is figuring out where to camp in Australia without 10,000 things trying to kill me. So, yeah, between woodworking and adventures, that’s where my mind is most of the time.
Also, SEO / growth marketing tools.
Q If you could talk to an expert to gain more insight on something, what would it be about?
How do I find a job at a company from now until I retire? I have bounced around, I have said goodbye to three dream jobs. I'm adaptable, I'm resilient, I'm proactive, I'm composed, I'm expressive, I have a killer network, and yet there doesn't seem to be any long-term commitment for what I do and I want that. I need somebody to help me find that.
Q What kind of opportunities/projects are you looking for?
I’m looking for a head of content or executive creative director role at an early to mid-stage startup with a runway longer than two years. I thrive with autonomy, and I want to join a team with some structure in place but enough flexibility for me to reshape the brand, redefine the tone, and meaningfully influence the product.
While I haven’t worked in health tech yet, I’ve worked across nearly every other industry, and I’m confident I can adapt quickly—even if the field is full of acronyms and jargon. I’m passionate about building brands and products, managing teams of designers, writers, video professionals, and audio experts, and creating something useful.
I’ve seen a few opportunities come and go, and while I haven’t been able to connect with the right businesses yet, I remain incredibly passionate and determined to find the perfect fit.
Q Describe your ideal job/client/collaboration.
I’ve truthfully never had a “shitty job,” and I feel incredibly fortunate for that. A lot of it has been intention, some of it luck, and a lot of it timing—none of which seems to be aligning for me right now. That said, my most recent experiences have been incredibly positive, even though the last two companies closed their doors.
At MT Copeland, I built a physical network of talented creative crews across the country—from Bozeman to Seattle, Miami to Boston, and everywhere in between. I directed every shoot and served as the sole representative of the business on location. For many people, MT Copeland wasn’t a brand—it was me.
One of the things I’m most proud of is the sense of connection I created. Whether someone worked on a single shoot or multiple, they felt like part of the Copeland network. One colleague told me that working with me meant you were “in.” It didn’t matter how long or in what capacity—everyone felt included, and that was deeply meaningful to me.
With Bloom, it was very similar in terms of feeling. But what was different was Bloom successfully brought psychologists, career coaches, executives, filmmakers, designers all into the same room to design a product. It was actually unbelievable, you know, the range of people and backgrounds that successfully brought a product together. I love that. It's really all about combining completely different minds in an intimate setting to make something useful.
Q How should someone approach you about working together?
I always like to know the budget upfront—budgets drive creativity. No joke, what’s available is what sparks the ideas. It’s the constraints that lead to the best solutions. So when reaching out, who the client is and what the budget looks like—that’s all I need.
I’m also a big fan of phone calls. Feel free to cold call me anytime, and if I don’t pick up, please leave a voicemail. Why are people so afraid to leave voicemails? Of course, email works too, but the essentials are simple: who’s the client, and what’s the budget?
Q Who is a creative you admire?
Peter McCollough
West Folk Film
Wild Willys Woodshop
Q Oh! and… how do you stay creative?
Travel far, alone, Build tables, then hit the bar— Concerts fuel my mind.
This member profile was originally published in January 2025.