Meet Kaydren Nuno

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Kaydren Nuno a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Kaydren , looking forward to learning from your journey. You’ve got an amazing story and before we dive into that, let’s start with an important building block. Where do you get your work ethic from?

I do believe I have a very strong work ethic. I love to work and get the job done and do it well. I started working at the young age of 15 due to my father pushing me into getting a job. He taught me that if you want anything in life you have to work for it and you have to work well. I remember I had just gotten my first car, but to drive it I needed a job to pay for insurance and gas. So, that’s what I did. I got a job making $6.75 an hour at my local grocery store. To be honest, it was a job way outside my comfort zone. I had lots of anxiety as a teen but I made sure to put my best effort and work as hard as possible and it did pay off. I was appreciated and well-liked and I did enjoy helping customers and my coworkers. With strong work ethic, I feel comes great opportunity. I do have to give props to my parents for pushing it on me. I grew up seeing my mom work long hard hours but she always made sure we were well fed and happy. I appreciated that more as I got older that she sacrificed so much of her time just so I could get that new toy I wanted. My dad always told me if you want something in life you have to get it yourself, and nothing will be handed to you. Which as I got older, I graduated college and now a freelancer in my field, I know this is 100% true. Everyday I push harder for my next job or try to learn new skills to become more knowledgeable in my field. The drive to make clients happy, to get another call back, to make someone smile, drives my work ethic even higher. Although most importantly, it makes me feel better. Knowing I gave my all and did my job well gives me a sense of achievement and it is the best feeling. So, I definitely do think my parents pushed the work ethic on me at a young age. I am very grateful they did, as a woman in a male dominated industry work ethic is very important in securing that next role.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

My name is Kaydren Nuno, I am 27 years old and I was born in Bethlehem, PA. Although I was born in Bethlehem, I grew up in the neighboring town Easton, Pennsylvania. A small town where if you grew up there most folks knew you. I did love living there and I enjoyed catching frogs by the creek and riding my bike around the neighborhood. I went camping with my family often and I was close to my school, had my childhood friends. Then, at the age of 12 I moved down to Cape Coral, FL. Which is a drastic change. I am not gonna lie I did not really like it. The people were different, the weather was hot and there really wasn’t much to do for a kid like me. I lived in Florida for 10 years, then moving to Orlando for College at Full Sail University when I was 18. I did meet awesome people in Florida that remain my very best friends to this day. So, for that I am grateful. I did also extremely enjoy my time in college in Orlando. I was meeting people who had similar interests as me for the first time in years and also not feeling as judged. Living my teen years in Cape Coral/North Fort Myers I was judged for the way I look, the activities I enjoyed like playing video games. Thankfully that all changed at Full Sail. There, I was able to collaborate with awesome people and start to really dive into my career. I went to Full Sail to study Filmmaking. As a little girl, I always loved shooting on my parent’s polaroid camera. I’d love to take pictures of my dog and my family. When I got a bit older it turned to digital cameras. I loved to film my nephew, who is a year younger than me, doing skate videos, playing with our action figures, and dance videos. I would eventually learn to edit them together and I genuinely enjoyed it. Being behind the camera was amazing, I got to see things from a different perspective. In middle school, starting my school career in Florida, there was a TV Production class as an elective. I thought to myself, why not! I ended up getting into that class and I really enjoyed it. It was the class that does the news station every morning before the school days started. We were able to be Anchors and behind the camera from what I can recall. I loved being behind the camera, not so much the anchor. In that class, I also learned digital editing for photos and learned much of the computer process of it. I also really liked my teacher he til this day is my favorite teacher Mr. Jeter. Fast forward I got into an Arts High School with my portfolio from middle school and I also joined TV Production there. There was much more video editing and editing/shooting music videos for the school news. I did not enjoy that teacher too much so eventually I left the class and joined a photography class. There is where I learned photography and photo editing which I still also dabble in from time to time and I also enjoy. I am very much into video games as in high school life can be hard. Hormones and bullies. I spent more time playing video games, accessing these beautifully crafted worlds as my escape from my day to day. I love RPG and open world games that allow you to create relationships and dive deeper into these worlds and stories. My favorite game is Mass Effect 2, this game actually inspired me to go to Full Sail University. I wanted to make a movie about this world as I loved it so much I had to buy 3 different discs because I wore out that game so much. This hasn’t become a reality yet but maybe one day! With that being said, I graduated from Full Sail University in 2017 with a BFA in Film. During my time at Full Sail, I got into a work study program at the Venue they have on campus. They have a contract with WWE and I was able to work WWE NXT matches and learn from the folks that put it together. That is where I really got the eye for Live Events. I actually enjoy and love it more than filmmaking. I learned how to operate ENG Cameras, how to TD (Technical Director) a bit, I also learn Jib Camera Operating, focusing lights in a lift. I really enjoyed the work I was doing and could see myself doing this as a career. I was doing freelance jobs throughout college, working parades, little story club events, at churches, I even worked an event for Wrestlemania. I was enjoying it but the wages and lack of work I was getting was not enough to hold me up down in Florida. So, with 4 other of my friends from Full Sail we all decided to move to New Jersey and start our careers in New York. I grew up going to New York often with my parents. I loved the city there was always so much to do so I had no problem making this decision. I was working at Target at the time for a year after school and transferred up to the Jersey City Target. While working at Target I was trying to find a job in live events and I did find one! I found a full-time job but I had a trial period. So, during that trial period I was working 2 jobs, one with this AV company Monday through Friday and the other at Target on the weekends. Eventually I did not need Target anymore as I got hired and started my full-time job at the AV company. I learned so much from working there and I had really awesome and talented coworkers. I got to work some cool shows, some not so cool shows but, in the end I really enjoyed my time there and all the knowledge that was shared with me. Eventually after 4 years of full time and surviving the pandemic, I decided to become a Freelancer Camera Operator and Video Technician. I was extremely nervous that I wouldn’t be able to find jobs or that no one would hire me. I was so used to having a full time job that taking that jump was terrifying. I can now say it was the best leap I have ever done. I met so many great people along that way of my full time career that they were there on the other side waiting to catch me. I immediately was getting jobs and proving that I was a great operator and worker. I started out doing stagehand jobs except for the few companies that knew me as an operator already. I primarily focus in PTZ camera operations but still do standard camera operating as well. I have a list of different jobs I do now. I also do Playback Operating, LED Set up/installation, TDing, and general Video Technician work. I am now learning how to video engineer with a few companies and so far I am enjoying it. I love my job so much I’m always in a different venue and I get to work in all the great ones all over NYC such as, Radio City, Carnegie Hall, MSG, Barclays, Spring Studios, Citi Field and so so many more. Sometimes I get to travel for work to! A goal of mine would be to travel more for work. My favorite show I have done to date is the US Open, I did it for the first time last year and now just got a call back to do it again! I am the TD in the Press Room and the team there is amazing. I’m not sure what the future holds for me but I am excited to see it and I am always learning new skills. I think my dream show would be working MTV’s VMA’s or the Grammy’s as I always loved those shows growing up. Working in Live Events is amazing, I love putting on a show for people to enjoy and remember. Making memories for folks and at the end of the day seeing all the hard work the team and I do is a great feeling of accomplishment. Seeing the final product of the event, whether it’s a sports game or a concert that you helped put together is so satisfying. The relationships you make along the way also go a long way and you meet some pretty great people that I can see in my life outside of work. If anyone is thinking about working in Live Events, whether it’s in audio or video, carpentry, lighting, do it! It is such a great industry and you will not regret it. With that being said I can gladly say that I am living my goals and dreams now and I am forever grateful for that.

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

The three areas that have helped me so much in my journey would be confidence, being tech savvy, and my kindness. Confidence has played a key role in my career. I am not going to lie, I did struggle so much with it when I was younger. I am just now getting better at feeling my best self. Growing up with anxiety you tend to doubt yourself very often. I realized that this was an issue that would take a while to work on. As I became more confident in myself and my work I noticed a shift of attitude in coworkers and people. People trust you more if you are confident and they also tend to not question you and your work. I noticed at the beginning of my journey people did not really trust me to get the work done or to do a good job. If you are struggling with confidence it may be a long road but there is a light at the end. I’d say to trust in yourself and think to yourself “the worst they could say is no”. I know with anxiety around being confident you may seem like the world will end if you do something wrong or say the wrong thing, but that’s not true. People get over things fast and I often ask myself if this particular problem will matter in 5 years or even the next week. Even just standing up for yourself takes confidence and telling yourself over and over that you got this is a great way to improve your confidence. Caring and loving yourself is key for a stronger and better you. How you get there is a long road but being kind to yourself is a key step.
Being tech savvy has also helped me so much in my journey. I have always been the one to fix the tech problems for my family and friends. I leaned into this growing up. My brother would show me how to burn CD’s and download music on the internet. He also showed me how to use the internet, whether for games or MySpace. This, I believe, inspired me to keep wanting to learn about tech, which led me to cameras. My whole career is tech based and without this skill I’d definetly suffer in doing it well. I am still constantly learning about tech as it is always improving and changing. I think it a very good skill to learn, even if you are on the creative side of things as they both coincide. I would improve this skill by just learning all what you can, whether online or in person. The internet is a wonderful thing and websites like YouTube have so much knowledge to offer. I learn so many things from YouTube now and it is a great way to keep up to date on the latest tech. Do your research!
Now for the final quality of mine, kindness. It has been a critical quality of mine in my career. There’s a saying that goes “you can be the best at what you do but if you’re a rude person you won’t get hired”. This is true, I know and seen people that are the worst to work with and so rude that people have dropped them from their callback lists. Working in Live Events, hours can be very very long and you do not want to work 12-16 hour days with someone you cannot stand. I’d rather pick up slack for a person who may not know as much but is a joy to be around. Being kind is very easy, even just a hello good morning or a check in on someone can make them smile. This will leave a longer lasting impression on someone and they would be more inclined to work with you or hire you again. Improving this is easy, just treat others how you’d like to be treated. I promise you it makes such a huge impact on people.

If you knew you only had a decade of life left, how would you spend that decade?

As a queer woman in a white male dominated industry there are always challenges that I face. Even just doing my job can sometimes be difficult when you have someone in your ear doubting you, or hitting you with “are you sure?”. Yes, in fact I am sure. I have made it far in my career facing this challenge as it is the longest and hardest challenge I have faced. I don’t see it changing anytime soon but there has been some improvements, especially with working in the NYC Area. It’s extremely frustrating when you come up with an idea or say something that you know is correct and you have men doubt, dismiss or even “not hear you” until another man says the same thing. I have not gotten jobs due to the fact that I am a woman and some labor recruiters rather have “their boys” work with them. I try to not let this discourage me, even though sometimes it does really affect me and I have found myself crying to myself when I get home. You have to have thick skin and a strong mindset to deal with this and just keep pushing through. As long as you know yourself and you put in hard work, it makes it easier. There’s always going to people out there trying to discourage you.. Although it may hurt me, because I am human, I still have my successful career and am very proud of my work. That to me, makes the challenges worth it and I will always push forward with dignity and respect in myself.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://instagram.com/kaydrencam
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kaydrennuno/