We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful John Bennardo. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with John below.

John, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s start with education – we’d love to hear your thoughts about how we can better prepare students for a more fulfilling life and career.

This may come off as more of a rant, but the real problem with our educational system is the low pay for teachers. I’ve always said that teachers should get paid like politicians, while politicians should get paid like teachers. Why? Because teachers are doing the more important job. If you paid teachers more, there would be more people seeking those jobs, and only the truly qualified would earn those positions (and rise to the top), as opposed to what we have now, which is a school system seeking warm bodies just to have someone in a classroom. Educating our youth and preparing them to be positive factors for our future cannot be understated; we need good people to lead them, and we will get more of that if we pay educators what they deserve.

As for politicians and policy-makers – THEY are the ones who should be paid like teachers. If this were the case, only those truly interested in shaping policy would run for public office, ensuring we get people who are there for the right reasons. What we have instead are people who are there for all the perks, monetary incentives, and hubris that come with those positions. This has to change.

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

I am a creative at heart. I was a writer as a youngster and my love for movies eventually got me into the film business. I had my own video camera and was always either filming something creative, or shooting an event for someone. It led to a video-production business, which I still run today. As I was building the business, my steady income came as a high school English teacher first, then a college professor teaching film and video classes.

I’m most proud to have followed my passions and pursued (and completed) large projects. I have produced, directed and edited two short documentaries as well as one award-winning feature documentary about $2 bills. I have created a mobile puzzle app. I have written two books – one a companion book to my $2 bill documentary, and another a humor fiction novel satirizing cancel culture. As I continue to run my business, I pursue other creative projects, including writing short-form comedy and other pieces, creating YouTube content, designing and executing new card & board games, or whatever else tickles my fancy.

My personal fingerprint is all over every project, whether my own or for clients. My business has been successful because I am authentic and I give every project a personal and professional touch.

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

I am a cancer survivor. That alone should answer this question, but there are more specifics. My cancer was osteogenic sarcoma, which was centered in my left knee. I’ve had three major knee replacement surgeries in 35 years. As someone who runs around with a video camera often, knee surgeries are not great for business. When you find yourself immobile for long stretches, or unable to complete certain video jobs because of the strain on your knee, you have to find a way to keep going without having your business suffer.

There is no specific story here, but the theme is the same. You have to find talented people who can help you, people who respect your brand and do work that represents you well. You also have to make good use of the time when you are in a recovery from a surgery or otherwise unable to physically do a job. I have had success on both fronts. I have found good people who can handle some of the physical needs of my profession, which helps my business stay strong. And I have used down time to continue creative pursuits that can be done without much physical exertion. My novel, video editing, game-creation, etc have all been part of this plan,

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

The goal is to both entertain others and self-satisfy my own creative engine. It’s always important to consider your audience, but you also have to be doing something you enjoy. That balance is key. I want to create projects that fulfill a creative desire but also work for an audience. When creating videos a client, I want the product to best represent them while being entertaining for their audience.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://johnbennardo.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/jbennardo222
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/jbennardo222