Alana Kakoyiannis

Oh, hi! So glad we found each other ❤️ I’m Alana. Don’t be daunted by the spelling of my last name it’s pronounced Kak-O-Yannis. I’ve been making videos for so long that I have boxes of super 8’s and mini-dv’s I can’t bring myself to part with. I grew up in Pennsylvania, lived in New York on and off for two decades and spent five years directing/producing in Europe while living in Cyprus. My films have screened at festivals big and small, and I’ve taught documentary film at the American University in Cairo and Hunter College, where I also got my MFA. I love my work, even when I hated my dream job as a Production Assistant for MTV in the early 00’s. Over the last 20 years, I’ve lived a lot of lives in TV, film and video and learned how to make media that meets our cultural and intellectual world in the moment. Currently, I’m the Executive Producer for Big Think where I drive the editorial video strategy for Freethink Media together with a team of high performing creatives. My day to day is filled managing operations, assignments and providing feedback on videos to ensure journalistic integrity, production value and maximize audience engagement. I’ve built video teams for CNBC Make It and was a core member of Business Insider video where I interviewed dozens of high profile thought leaders and directed long form documentaries that are distributed on iTunes and Prime Video. In the mid-2000’s, I worked with the United Nations Development Program to launch a community media center in the buffer zone of Nicosia. I approach content creation with an analytics informed mindset and thrive when exploring formats and topic areas that break new ground and spark meaningful conversation primarily on YouTube. I feel damn lucky to make videos for a living and acknowledge the role that the media plays shaping minds and take that responsibility seriously by aligning myself with news organizations and companies that value balanced views, credible sources, premium production and engaging content. I cannot do the work that I do without a thoughtful and dedicated team. Working collaboratively with a crew of creatives or threading the needle across a newsroom to optimize opportunities and reach is my unicorn space. Propping my people up, mentoring my direct reports in their career development (and personal lives) and making cool shit together keeps me whole. In my free time, I love to run, play tennis, hike (and run) in the woods and sometimes make art. I live with my hubs, who is also my best friend, and our two quirky and delightful children in South Orange, NJ.