Jenna & Matt Giesow, VAST Media
SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT
STORY BY LALEY FREEMAN | PHOTOS BY VAST MEDIA
“Created to Create”
Pain and suffering are inevitable in this life, but what a person does with the hardships they face can change the trajectory of their life, their capacity for joy, and even the impact that they make on the lives of others. While Matt and Jenna Giesow, owners of VAST Media, have faced many struggles in their lifetime, they continue to work each and every day to make something beautiful out of the lives they were given.
VAST Media is Born
In 2018, Matt Giesow picked up a camera for the first time. This seemingly random interest quickly turned into an obsession as he dove head-first into learning everything he could about cameras, video, and any other media tools and techniques he could get his hands on.
As fate would have it, a close friend was putting his house on the market around the same time that Matt’s passion for production was growing. On a whim, Matt offered to produce a video of his friend’s home using his newly self-taught skills. “We grew up in the era of MTV Cribs, and, originally, that’s the direction we wanted to go with everything,” Jenna laughed. At the time, Matt was just having fun with a friend and his new hobby; the Giesows could never have predicted where it would lead.
After the video of their friend’s home was released to the public, one of Tulsa’s largest brokerages reached out. “How many can you handle?”
In that moment, VAST Media was born.
Rewind: The Journey
To fully understand who Matt and Jenna are today, it’s helpful to take a deep dive into the experiences that have shaped them. While they are highly successful media professionals, they are also humans who, like many, fought to get to where they are today.
Jenna’s Story
Growing up in a single-parent home as an only child played an integral piece in molding Jenna into who she is today. “I did not come from money, business, or much opportunity, other than the ability to create my own opportunities with the tools that been placed before me today,” she reflected. “Our first home and the only real home I ever lived in with both of my parents was just off of Archer in Tulsa. I often drive by it today as it is a few minutes down the road from our office downtown. I'm reminded of how different life was growing up in the 90s for me compared to how it is today. After moving from Archer, my parents divorced, and it was just my mom and me until I was 16, when she remarried. My mom worked and sacrificed so much so that we could have better opportunities and rewrite our future.”
Jenna told us that she learned a lot about independence, work ethic, being a solutionist, and making it happen from growing up with a single mom. In addition to owning a business, she is a first-generation college graduate and looks back on her entire college experience at Oklahoma State very fondly. She believes that her experience at OSU also played a major role in who she is today.
In June of 2019, she lost her father to suicide. “It was the hardest season of my life as I held my newborn baby in one hand and said goodbye to my father to suicide in the other hand. He battled a life of addiction and depression, and walking with him through this pain over the past 10 years of my own life helped shape me into the parent I am to my own baby today.”
In the midst of this major life change, VAST Media was still in its first year of business. “I remember needing to step away to go tend to funeral things for him and cleaning up things where he lived out of state. At that time, we were really growing and, by us leaving, that meant less availability and customer service for our clients, and we actually had some reach out and say, ‘I need this now, who do you recommend other than you?’ I remember in that moment feeling the tug between personal and business ... there's never an off-switch.”
While she knew that they needed to care for personal matters, VAST was growing at an exponential rate, and it became difficult to keep up. “During this season, I learned that business requires a significant mental sacrifice that not everyone has the capacity to surrender,” Jenna reflected.
“I’m grateful we were able to make it out of that season. There were many days where I felt like … there’s no way we can do this. Not with the year we’ve just had,” Jenna reflected. It’s no secret that VAST Media continued on and grew into so much more than the Giesows ever even imagined.
Matt’s Story
Though many have met and have had the pleasure of getting to know Matt Giesow, founder of VAST, many of us don’t know his story or what has led him to where he is today.
“I spent 20 years of his life playing football and was an all-state linebacker, as well as a D2 college football linebacker at Ferris State University in Michigan. Many know me as a charismatic and successful guy, but many aren't aware that I’ve faced several challenges in college, which led me to look at a 20+ year prison sentence,” said Matt.
“During my time in jail, I had an encounter with God and got saved and set free from drug addiction and a life that was on a path of destruction,” Matt said. “From there, my story began to unfold as I was then offered parole and ultimately another chance at life. That was now almost 15 years ago, and there are many people that have no idea that is a part of my story.”
“At one point, he was suicidal, looking at a 20+ year prison sentence and no chance of ever having a marriage, family, or life beyond that. Now, he's a proud husband, dad, and business owner who continues to grow and develop as a leader each and every day. The power of second chances is throughout every thread of Matt's story. If anyone is out there praying for their son or daughter to come home and let go of a life of addiction, Matt is a living, breathing testimony of life after addiction,” says Jenna.
Today, Matt attributes who he is as a person to his mom, dad, and brother. His family has helped shape and mold him into the person he was meant to be since day one, and they never gave up on him, even in his darkest moments.
A Change of Direction
Before founding VAST Media, Matt worked in sales expert roles at both Volkswagen and AT&T, followed by some time working in ministry as a Kids Pastor.
“Both jobs pushed me to develop communication and customer service skills which are great assets for running a service-oriented business,” Matt told us. “All of a sudden, a newfound love for video, which was a tool I was learning and an outlet for me creatively, collided with the sales and customer service side, and I had an idea. This would work perfectly in the real estate sector, and, if done correctly, you will have a loyal client for life.”
Jenna, on the other hand, earned her degree in secondary English education from Oklahoma State University. After spending a number of years as a classroom teacher, she made the decision to step out and accept a position as the executive assistant to a well-known leader. She later accepted a position as the Director of Marketing for another company. As she looks back, she recognizes the integral role that each and every one of these professional roles has played in who she is as a leader today.
“All of my experience has prepared me for my role here at VAST in the best way possible,” she said.
VAST Media has come a long way since Matt first picked up that camera in 2018. Over the years, he has continued to foster his desire to grow his knowledge in any way that he can.
“I call Matt the YouTube poster child. He taught himself everything he knows just out of a passion and hunger to learn more. We never went into this thing knowing what it would turn out to be. Matt started with just a desire to grow his knowledge in the world of production, and it's just grown from there,” Jenna told us.
The Real Estate Industry: Where Passion and People Collide
The Giesows launched their business after producing a fun real estate video for a friend; today, the real estate market remains a crucial component of their business model that they are passionate about serving. “Real estate is everything to our business,” Jenna said. “The real estate industry makes up for about 75% of our company's production, with the remaining 25% landing in commercial production with businesses and organizations.”
Through their business, they have not only been able to support themselves as a family but also have been able to employ others with growing families. Additionally, they have been able to support and grow the businesses of the real estate agents they serve. “A large part of what we do as a marketing company helps grow brands, make more money, crush goals, and stand out among the rest.”
At the end of the day, VAST Media is committed to excellence, fast service and turnaround, unmatched quality, knowledge of their craft, and a team that takes care of the entire process A-Z.
“We are not a one-person band; we are a fully staffed business always ready to assist someone with their specific marketing request. We are not limited to just photography, just videography, just graphic design, just content creation; we cover the entire umbrella of marketing services. Our team has some of the most passionate and skilled individuals in the industry when it comes to what we do and who we serve, and each person on our team helps us continue to stand out in this industry with what they bring to the table each day.”
Life Outside of Work
While owning a business can be all-consuming and difficult in many ways, the Giesows do their best to prioritize their family above all else. Together, they have a 3-year-old daughter, Charlee Kay, and three dogs.
“We are an active family and enjoy time together at home playing outside, working around our house, going to church, and time with friends and family. We enjoy boating on the lake, attending concerts, and most of all, college football season. We're big University of Michigan and Oklahoma State fans. If we didn't own VAST Media, we'd probably be sports reporters!”
To learn more about VAST Media, visit their website at www.vastmediaspace.com.
