Meet Alexander!
He has been a member of the hub for about 2 years, and found his way here so that he could be around other working people, network, and have a place where I could go and focus on his work. He likes that at the Hub, he is able to be around other people who want to be, “productive and smart and who are developing their own companies or working in their own areas in Hawai’i.”
To him working at the Hub gives him a place to go to work and be productive, but also be social and interact with and learn from other people.
“Everybody who I have met here has been awesome. I really like the other people that work at the Hub and I really like the environment that the Hub team has cultivated.”
He has worked on a lot of interesting projects, and loves to tell people’s stories. To get to know more about Alexander and to connect with him, visit his website: AlexanderDeedy.com.
Name: Alexander Deedy
Work: Freelance Journalism
3 Questions:
- What work do you do?
I am a Freelance journalist. I work for Alaska magazine as their assistant editor, and also as the digital content manager for Alaska Magazine and a sister publication, The MilePost’s website. The digital content work I just took over fairly recently, within the last month actually, and we’ve been building websites for both publications and we try to update and upgrade our digital presence. Then, I write pieces on all sorts of other topics for other publications. I write regularly for Hawaii Farm and Food Magazine, I have done some environmental writing in the past on various topics.
1(a) What are your favorite pieces to write?
I really like the long form pieces, so feature stories. Profiles are super fun- I got to write a piece recently about an endurance cyclist who is one of the top endurance cyclists in the world from Alaska. She spent a summer riding around all of the roads in the state. She was just such a super inspirational and driven lady who was really fun to talk to and so I love being able to get to know people and tell their stories.
1(b) How did you get started in writing?
I went to school for journalism. I started off by studying wildlife biology and realized that I wanted to get more into the storytelling kind of thing and be like a science writer, so I added journalism as a major.
2. Do you have a Passion Project?
I do have a passion project. I am a filmmaker on the side, and I started really pursuing that when I first moved to Hawai’i. I started with just creative writing at home and came into it as a screenwriter wanting to write screenplays. Luckily I was able to really connect with the film community here both through the Hawai’i Filmmakers’ Collective which is a nonprofit and Creative Lab Hawai’i which is a state sponsored program to teach developing creative entrepreneurs. That was just kind of my cool intro to filmmaking and I just fell in love with the craft, and I fell in love with the people who do it, you know? There’s just so many passionate, fun people who are independent filmmakers.
I wrote some short screenplays, I started jumping on sets and helping to make short films. In 2018 I wrote, directed and produced a short film, and now I am currently working on a feature screenplay just as a side passion project. I also volunteer at the Hawai’i Filmmakers’ Collective as well, and I am on the board. I am one of the executive team members who helps build up programs to teach various filmmaking skills to various independent filmmakers.
3. What do people not know about you?
When I was in college I got to go on an environmental reporting trip to India and spent almost a month in Maharashtra outside of the Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve. We put together a big multi media project as a team telling the story of the success of tiger conservation in India and how, because of their success, the population of the tigers was starting to grow out of the reserve and come in contact with the nearby communities. We had so much fun. We partnered with local university students who acted as our guides and translators and helped us put together the project. Ultimately it was a cool experience to see a different culture and travel to a different continent and also to practice environmental journalism.
