We recently connected with Leslie Harter-berg and have shared our conversation below.
Leslie, we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.
I’ve always been a creative who likes to make stuff and get weird. My first husband, Ryan, and I both shared this passion for spinning stories and producing vids and thus, birthed our first baby Harter Creative in 2014. When Ryan died in 2019 from a sudden, freak brain aneurysm and stroke my life essentially blew up. Kaboom.
I found myself in the “Worst of Times,” and discovered that strangely my little need to make stuff didn’t vanish along with him. But I didn’t get after it right away. In the early days, I was held up by my family and friends, surviving one day at a time and clinging to the words and stories from widows who had gone before me. Those who “got it,” who were frequent grief flyers, helped me keep on keeping on.
And so I wanted to pass on this sense of solidarity they had given me while still scratching my itch to create. And so I started Vids for Wids, a platform for other widows to share their stories from the front lines of grief. I guess, you could say my purpose came from a mix of the little set of gifts the good Lord gave me, my annoying need to constantly be creating, and the absolute worst moment of my life.
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?
I am the owner of Harter Creative, a video production company in Vancouver, WA, where we’ve produced commercials for brands for the last 10 years. I also am the founder of Vids for Wids, a non profit devoted to helping widows feel less alone by telling real stories from people who get it. And I am a writer, currently authoring my first book with Zondervan, which will be released in Fall 2025.
After the sudden death of my husband in 2019, I became a young widow, single mom, and solo business owner with a newfound passion to learn and share about grief and the hilarious mess of rebuilding. When I’m not chasing my children or on a TV commercial set, I’m connecting with other widows around the globe about life after loss.
Vids for Wids has an upcoming event on February 13th 2025 called Love Hurts in the Portland, Oregon/Vancouver, WA area and we’d love to extend the invite to other widows and widowers. Visit vidsforwids.com/events for more information!
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Since I was a kid, I have always been obsessed with stories. I didn’t just watch movies, I studied them, I ate them for breakfast, lunch and dinner. When friends spent the night, I forced them to play multiple parts and don costumes for one of my homemade VHS recording videos. This love led me to film school in College where I studied screenwriting and literally had movie watching as homework. (Ah, the good old days). Though I didn’t end up in the film industry, my knowledge of story structure, plot and characters has been hugely impactful to my career as a whole. I found instantly working in advertising how important it was to not just sell a product, but tell an engaging story where wants are conflicting with needs and characters are learning lessons. It’s also impacted the way I’ve told my own story as I’m currently writing my memoir.
My advice for anyone early in their journey is to start with what you love! Study and learn as much as you can about the topic that lights you up inside. I would also advise not to deem yourself a failure if you don’t end up exactly where you thought you would. If you start with what you love, you’ll see it leaking into everything you do.
Oops that’s just one quality! Ha three others I would say is grit and ‘getting scrappy.’ I tend to not give up once I put my mind to something. If the numbers aren’t adding up, but you’re still loving what you’re doing, don’t quit to soon! I find that most people who’ve had success in business are the ones who just keep getting up and going even when they have “down years.”
And, I am a huge advocate of getting scrappy! In the app world, they have the term MVP – Minimum Viable Product. What is this smallest iteration of your thing that still makes it your thing? Start there! For Vids for Wids, I didn’t have a huge budget to spend and knew I just wanted to make something for widows. So I started there. I gathered a volunteer crew and invited a few widows over and started rolling. It wasn’t polished or perfect, but it was a thing! And so far that thing has had an impact on a lot of people in dark places. So even when the numbers aren’t huge, I still know it’s worth it.
What was the most impactful thing your parents did for you?
My parents modeled generosity in the most relaxed of ways. Our home was always full of people and they never waited for it to look perfect before inviting people in. My mom would throw whatever she had in the fridge together for a meal if people dropped in. And over the course of my parents marriage, they had 43 different people and families live with them in times of need!
They showed me that you don’t need to wait to have everything together to offer generosity and love to others, and that is a huge reason why Vids for Wids exist.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://vidsforwids.com
- Instagram: vidsforwids
- Other: hartercreative.com
@hartercreative
Image Credits
Luke and Mallory photo (head shots)
Daniel Rheaume ( vids for wids shots)
Matthew Rich (bts black and white photo)
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
