Meet Our Team
Josh Hester, Principal & Executive Producer
Josh is a Regional Emmy®-winning video producer with 20+ years of experience creating compelling corporate films, television commercials, and online marketing video for companies and causes. He holds a BA in Film & Video Production from Columbia College Chicago, and an MA in Communication from the University of Illinois.
Chris Costello, Producer
Chris is a Regional Emmy®-winning video producer. His production experience includes corporate film, television commercials, online marketing video, and a number of independent projects and films (ask him about Rally). He holds a BA in Visual Communication from the University of Illinois and is an FAA commercially-licensed drone pilot. Chris joined Storyteller in 2015.
Kevin Christensen, Producer
Kevin is a Regional Emmy®-nominated video producer from Fullerton, California with over 15 years of experience creating documentary films, travel and tourism videos, and corporate videos. Before joining Storyteller in 2020, he produced nature, history, and tourism videos for our nation’s National Parks. Kevin came of age on the island nation of Papua New Guinea, so please forgive him if he doesn’t quite get your 90’s pop culture references.
Payton McCabe, Associate Producer
Payton is a graduate of The Los Angeles Film School where she earned a BS in Digital Filmmaking (with honors). Her work has earned two Silver Telly Awards, one Gold Telly Award, one Gold Communicator Award, and one Regional Emmy® nomination since joining Storyteller in 2019. Payton loves hiking, dancing, music, and taking care of her bearded dragon, Remi. Yes, she is a Mother of Dragons™ (and an FAA commercially-licensed drone pilot).
Jared Treece, Production Assistant
Jared is a graduate of SIU’s College of Arts and Media where he earned a BA in Cinema with a minor in Photography. He also served as staff photojournalist/multimedia journalist and Photo Desk Editor at the Daily Egyptian, SIU’s student-run news organization. His work with Storyteller has earned four Silver Telly Awards, one Gold Telly Award, two Gold Communicator Awards, and one Silver Communicator Award since he joined us in January of 2022.
Eli Ommen, Production Assistant
Eli is a graduate of Webster University in St. Louis where he earned a BA in Film, Television, and Video Production (with honors). When he was eleven, Eli found his grandfather’s Canon AE-1 film camera and started taking photographs. 10 years later, he made waves with his visual effects heavy short film, Planet IX. When he’s not on set with the Storyteller team, you might catch him running live arena graphics for the St. Louis Blues. Oh, and he’s also an Eagle Scout. Eli joined Storyteller in June of 2022.
Lydia Stuemke, Production Manager
Lydia first joined the Storyteller team in the fall of 2018 and we’re now thrilled to have her back to serve our clients as Production Manager. An accomplished video producer herself, Lydia’s uniquely cinematic and intimate wedding work is always in high demand. She is here to coach our clients throughout the production process with ease. She has three dogs— Wuppy, Jack, and Potato that she loves as much as her three children (and husband). Lydia doesn’t do coffee, but can’t survive the day without her fruity purple drink.
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Awards
Since March of 2013, The Storyteller Studios team creates compelling corporate films, online marketing video, television commercials, documentary film and more for companies and causes throughout the midwest and beyond.
