Meet Jennifer Bertling

We recently connected with Jennifer Bertling and have shared our conversation below.

Jennifer, we’re thrilled to have you sharing your thoughts and lessons with our community. So, for folks who are at a stage in their life or career where they are trying to be more resilient, can you share where you get your resilience from?

I think a key factor in developing my resilience was the exposure I got to difficult and challenging – but manageable – experiences at a young age. My father is ex-military so I grew up in a typical military brat fashion and moved every few years. Then when I turned 15 my parents bought 135 acres of untouched property on Canada’s smallest province, Prince Edward Island to build a agritourism based off grid eco-farm. We moved from a bustling city suburb outside of Toronto to one of the most rural places in Canada to start a new life off grid where we depended on wind and solar panels to power our house and small farm. I would be attending my 3rd high school in 3 years and learning to live without modern amenities like a refrigerator and electric stove.

Getting ready for my senior years of high school now consisted of gathering wood, building a fire in our wood burning stove and making breakfast and travelling a kilometer to the nearest road to catch the school bus. We also had a menagerie of animals. Some were purposeful; providing us with wool, milk, eggs, meat, or security for our horses and some were just for fun but all were treated like family members. I was a vegetarian when we moved to the farm and the process of feeding and raising animals that would be sent to butcher and back to us in packages was incredibly difficult for me to process but my parents (who are the most compassionate and gentle people I’ve ever known) helped me see the humanity and kindness behind it, and the factory farming alternatives.

Being pushed so far out of my comfort zone during such a crucial time in my development was training for the rest of my life that I’m so grateful for.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

I started my film/TV career in factual content; docu-dramas and documentaries and dabbled in VR development and immersive storytelling. I loved telling honest stories with socially engaged filmmakers but I was becoming interested in moving into the narrative or scripted space. I was ready for a change and new creative challenges and made the move from Toronto, Canada to Los Angeles and soon after started a job producing entertainment (narrative) content for a kids toy company. While technically branded content, the purpose of the stories we tell is to entertain, to engage and to inspire quality principals and creativity through play.

I have grown so much as a producer in the last 5 years that I’ve been committed to branded content and thoroughly enjoy the fast paced nature and creative challenge that telling product driven stories presents.

I’ve always been more comfortable behind a camera but my rescue Chihuahua mix, Milly, is so used to my camera in her face and with my background in production and digital content creation I started partnering with pet brands filming dog product videos, called UGC (user generated content). It’s been really fun exploring the pet space more, discovering amazing brands that I truly love and spending more time with my dog.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

Being personable is up there for me in the production world and I believe it goes a long way. It wont get you anywhere if you’re not also hard working, resourceful and talented but if you can manage to be all of the above there’s not much that can stop you. Production work can yield a lot of hours so it really helps to like who you work with.

Infinite amounts of information are available at our fingertips now but you need to know how to seek it out, assess it through a critical lens then actually put it to use. My advice to get into the industry, and what I did when I was starting out, is talk to everyone you can. Most of us 10+ year industry people had a helping hand from someone at some point, so there’s a pay it forward feeling in the industry for newcomers. Get specific about what you want, and how your skills and talents best fit into a project, it makes it easier for people to offer you an opportunity if you’re clear about your interests and skill set.

Okay, so before we go we always love to ask if you are looking for folks to partner or collaborate with?

I’m always seeking brands in the dog/pet product space to collaborate with and would love to continue to grow my portfolio of ads, product driven UGC (user generated content) and work with my dog more!

I especially like working with BIPOC owned businesses, women owned businesses, small businesses and brands that prioritize sustainability. Creating fun, compelling and authentic videos highlighting brands with values that align with my own.

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