Interview with Student Entrepreneur, The Great Erin the Miller
Nowhere in the world or in history will you find anyone like Erin (the) Miller. Erin is student entrepreneur at Syracuse University, majoring in Advertising at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, and co-founder of film company, Out There Productions.
#StartUNY by supporting OTP’s crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo
At 21 years old, her brain residing a modest five feet and four inches from the ground, Erin’s mind and imagination span places most will never ever go nor Hubble Space scope ever see.
She’s a filmmaker: specializing in the most “Out There” (hence, the name of her company) productions while conveying necessary messages for clients and non-profits she has worked with thus far. (Miller was the principal filmmaker involved with StartFast 2015.)
I had the pleasure of shooting a docu/mocku-mentary with Erin about a year ago that will go down as perhaps the second most epic 30 hours of my life (see the full, self-effacing video here).
Graduating in roughly 120 days (and counting them all down), she plans on taking her craft literally on the road to shoot and produce ad vids all across the country. Right now, she’s Indiegogo-ing the project to raise the necessary funds to get her show on the road.
I grabbed [damn good] coffee at Cafe Kubal on campus with Erin (also referred to as my daughter, it’s an ongoing joke) today to get the “entrepreneurial journey” [queue “Don’t Stop Believin”] story.
Cunningham: Give us your elevator pitch.
Miller: Out There Productions is a video production company that creates shareable, viral explainer videos for small businesses and startups. We create awesome content to get great ideas out there.
Cunningham: Who is the “we” of your company.
Miller: Alright so there’s:
- me: co-founder and CAPCOM [capsule commander, all of their job descriptions are NASA terms, because they like space]: I call all the shots and basically supervise everything;
- Johnny Rosa, co-founder and FLIGHT: he’s in charge of getting the production company on the road; and
- Losa Amara Meru, co-founder and GC [ground control]: she’s in charge of all production. And we’re all Newhouse ‘16.
Cunningham: What kind of shampoo do you use?
Miller: I use um [pauses] Suave, all natural, I think it’s made with almonds – I really love almonds. And hey – did you know all shampoo has conditioner in it? That’s why I only use shampoo [very eco-friendly here]. Like an entire bottle of shampoo lasts me like the whole semester. #ShortHairPerks
[Erin has amazing hair, by the way.]
Cunningham: What has been your major motivation for becoming an entrepreneur straight out outta [Compton] college?
Miller: I mean I am from California and I’m also a gansta so…
My main motivation is I like to build things from scratch and have the ability to combine my passions with others’ passions and working with people who are as motivated and skilled as me. We combine growth and learning, and this is a great way to embody that.
[Erin is the incarnation of enthusiasm, for the record.]
Cunningham: [Pressed for time, I cut to the chase…] What’s the Indiegogo thing all about?
Miller: So far we’ve planned, captured, and produced video for seven different companies and we want to do way more.
We have raised over $1,500 over the past 5 days through an Indiegogo.com campaign. Our organization’s Facebook page has 272 “likes,” and our posts reached an audience of 1,301 users last week.
Basically we are trying to get money to expand the business, take it on the road, and jack those stats up.
After over-caffeinating, tweeting out a celebrity sighting of the Great Sean Kirst, and making good use of the tech at Newhouse, I left Erin with the promise of publishing this on UVC.org in hopes that the great people of UVC’s incredible network with “help a sista out.”
Help a sista out.
To support Out There Productions on Indiegogo, click here.
To find out more about “Out There Productions” go to www.otpros.co and follow them on YouTube, Twitter & Instagram @otpros, and also Facebook. Email: erin@otpros.co.
