We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Keren Nedivi a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Keren thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Often outsiders look at a successful business and think it became a success overnight. Even media and especially movies love to gloss over nitty, gritty details that went into that middle phase of your business – after you started but before you got to where you are today. In our experience, overnight success is usually the result of years of hard work laying the foundation for success, but unfortunately, it’s exactly this part of the story that most of the media ignores. Can you talk to us about your scaling up story – what are some of the nitty, gritty details folks should know about?

When I first started filming weddings, I treated it only as a side job. I was a new mom and didn’t want to give up on my filmmaking dreams. I graduated NYU film school and didn’t feel a job as a wedding videographer would live up to my expectations I had for myself.

But, the job was perfect for a new mom. One day film shoots and edit while the baby is sleeping. But, I never took it seriously. I just waited till someone miraculously found me or searched job offers on Craigslist. The first weddings I filmed I made very little money.

And this went on for quite a while, but during Covid when I had a little time to think. I decided I need to take my business a little more seriously if I want to see anything happen. I took a women’s business class and that connection to other women gave me confidence. I took steps to be open to new opportunities, reaching out and creating connections to other vendors in my field. After years in my field, I built upon my experience and referrals from planners and photograhers to launch an actual career.

I later invested in a business class specifically for wedding videographers that really boosted my confidence to see the value of my work and be able to raise my prices. Only when I really believed in myself could I scale up my business and charge what I think I was worth.

This year I am doing a wedding with the same wedding planner from the first year in my business and this moment shows me how far I have come.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I have worked as a wedding videographer for over 13 years. My business is called Wovenlight Films. I rebranded 5 years ago to be able to have a business that focuses mainly on weddings. 13 years ago I didn’t really know what I was doing. There wasn’t a lot of education and community in that field, so I learned a lot from my mistakes.

I always compared myself to others and felt I wasn’t doing good enough. Only recently, I feel appreciated for my unique perspective. It took me a while to understand what I provide to my wedding couples.

I feel passionate about authenticity and capturing real moments. The ability to observe and find the sweet moments is what I do best. I bring my creative perspective to make it feel magical and cinematic. But, it isn’t perfect. And that imperfection is what makes it feel real and timeless. I am a deep empath and even though it has been hard at times for me to work in a very social field, I have stayed true to myself and feel that finally I am being appreciated for my work and my experience.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

When I first started filming weddings, my kids were little and I would take any job that came my way even if it was for very little money. One wedding I filmed, I had barely any gear and only used one camera. I filmed the wedding ceremony handheld and forgot to turn on the microphone on my camera. For half of the ceremony, there was no audio captured. I realized this 10 minutes into the ceremony and my heart dropped. There are no second takes in weddings. I felt like such an amateur.

I have learned from painful moments like that in the beginning of my career. Now, I always have multiple cameras, multiple sources of audio, sometimes an extra videographer and a lot more sympathy for myself. We all are trying to do our best and sometimes mess up.

For that wedding, I contacted the officiant and recorded him saying the part that I missed and created a film with excerpts from other parts of the wedding day to fill in the gaps I didn’t have. I created something beautiful out of a disaster.

We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.

My business started as a side hustle. But, when Covid hit, I had time to rethink how I looked at this job and tried to turn it into a full time career.

There wasn’t any weddings happening, but luckily a wedding planner had an idea to create micro weddings for couples that want to get married. The weddings took place in a beautiful location and the cost included the planner, venue, florals, officiant, and photographer.

Since I had nothing else going on, I approached the planner and asked her if she can include video as well. I had to offer my services at a much lower price, but I was gaining experience, working with other vendors and building relationships, and now I had content to share on social media during a dry spell.

In the end, that work helped boost my career and the same planner and photographer referred me to many other weddings and my business started blooming.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.wovenlightfilms.com
• Instagram: @wovenlightfilms
• Yelp: Wovenlight Films