Owner, Bear in Mind Strategies, LLC
“Increasingly, both locally and globally, women working together are able to improve the world around them. So, yes, I think the “W” does make the difference, which is good for all of us.”
In video production, Andrea Bear is a titan of industry. She climbed the ranks to executive producer at news stations in Atlanta and Chicago, where in 1985, she was awarded a Chicago Emmy nomination for capturing the devastation of Ethiopia’s famine crisis. Bear has since capitalized on her 30-plus years of communication expertise to establish her very own video production firm, Bear in Mind Strategies, LLC. The firm offers a host of solution-oriented, engaging videos to help local organizations effectively share their missions. While Bear assists organizations like the Virginia Symphony Orchestra, Hurrah Players, World Affairs Council and The Mariner’s Museum during work hours, she is also fully engaged in their efforts off the clock. She takes pride in both telling others’ stories and inserting herself into them as a character eager to help realize their next chapter.
What prompted your interest in the communications field?
In 1969, I was at a summer camp during the first moon landing and I ‘broadcasted’ the news from a small black and white TV at the front of the gym to the other campers. I think that inspired me to go into journalism.
Explain the power of video storytelling.
[It is] engaging, emotional, educational and empathetic. Through video, viewers can connect personally and authentically with the subject; it can humanize a company or brand.
Why should Coastal Virginia continue to embrace the arts?
The arts enrich the community as a whole, and our hearts and souls and individuals.
Grace Silipigni
Grace Silipigni is an elementary school Spanish immersion teacher based in Virginia Beach and a regular contributor to Coastal Virginia Magazine, covering a wide range of topics such as health and wellness, education and learning, food and drink, happenings and events, travel and getaways and more.
