For LeVar Pickens it didn’t take long before he knew what he wanted to be when he grew up. At the young age of 8, his late uncle gave him a camera to play with. Having no initial idea of what to do he just began shooting things. It was this moment that introduced him to the art of storytelling through photographs and videos. Shortly after, a mentor put him in front of a computer and he began to learn the basics of editing.

 

LeVar learned all aspects of video production including scripting, shooting, storyboarding, lighting techniques, editing and audio in an afterschool program.

He also traveled the country with the organization for years filming different events and television episodes and found himself nominated for an Emmy at age 16. He won his first Emmy Award at age 16 as a student, his second at 18 as a student and his third nomination at 20 as an associate producer.

 

After devoting over 8 years to freelance work, He now works as a video production specialist at CI Design where he hone his skills in Art Direction, Editing, Filming and Handling data assets.

 

Awards

Emmy, Outstanding Achievement in Children’s Series, 2003 (Gumbo TV)

Emmy nomination, 2004 (Gumbo Teen TV)

Black Excellence Award, 2005 (Louvenia Johnson Scholarship)

Emmy Nomination, 2006 (Strive Media)