Meet the Participants
Arjumand Ali (he/him)
Arjumand has obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in Communication, Audio/Radio and Video Production from The State University of New York at Fredonia. He’s had experience editing as part of his coursework as well as personal projects. He has an interest in pursuing a career that includes both video and audio editing. With the help of the PPDI program he hopes to reach goals such as gaining confidence and proficiency with industry standard software, building a strong and diverse portfolio that showcases his best work, and enhancing his storytelling skills through editing. Arjumand also hopes that within this program he will be able to establish connections with others in the industry as well. Arjumand has had an interest in post production since high school, and is excited to be able to further work towards his goals thanks to the PPDI program.
Collin Bostock (he/him)
Collin Bostock is a junior in the television and film arts program at Buffalo State University. He is interested in video editing to progress more in his filmmaking ambitions. Collin is a musician, filmmaker and writer working towards creating as a living.
Isaac De Leon (he/him)
Isaac DeLeon is a 27-year-old media professional from Flushing, Queens. He earned a degree in Broadcast Journalism with a concentration in media production from SUNY Brockport, where he developed a passion for film. Since graduating, Isaac has gained diverse experience in the media industry across Western New York. His past roles include a news production assistant at WROC-TV in Rochester, videographer for SUNY Brockport’s Nursing Program, Associate Photographic/Video Technician at Calspan in Buffalo—capturing slow-motion footage for NHTSA car crash safety testing—and social media specialist for 95 Nutrition. Currently, Isaac works as the Video/Social Media Specialist for the Buffalo Police Department and co-owns a media company with his wife. Together, they shoot wedding videography and photography, provide social media management for businesses and organizations, and more. Isaac is eager to expand his color grading and sound editing skills and hopes to network with industry professionals to achieve his lifelong dream of working in film.
Karla Dobozin (she/her)
Karla Dobozin graduated from Buffalo State in May 2024 with a bachelor's in Media Production. She is passionate about video editing and documentary filmmaking. Karla has worked with local artists, producing documentaries about their lives and work. Skilled in Avid Media Composer and Adobe Premiere, she has experience producing, directing, and editing short documentaries. Karla is thankful for the opportunity to be a part of PPDI, where she can expand her network and deepen her knowledge in all aspects of documentary production.
Thomas Foote (he/him)
Thomas has been pursuing creative endeavors all of his life. At a young 62 years, he is now interested in video post production and has been studying digital music production. Thomas has worked as an optician for most of his career but is now a Cymbalsmith, Metal artist and sculptor. He also produces percussion arrangements for bagpipe bands across the nation. Thomas is finishing up on his bachelor’s degree at Buffalo State University. He is an individualized studies major with minors in design, digital music, production, and sculpture. He intends to continue his educational journey for the rest of this life.
Tallulah Gordon (they/them)
Tallulah Gordon (they/them) is a professional filmmaker, photographer, and musical artist from Buffalo, New York. They're interested in becoming well rounded in all aspects of production so that they can produce and edit their own films/music videos on a budget. This is also important to them so that when they do collaborate with others, they are familiar with the language to describe what they're looking to do.
Morgan Koziel (she/they)
Morgan is a senior in the Media Production Major and the Digital Music Production Minor at Buffalo State University. She's all about audio with a dream to become an audio engineer. Currently Morgan works at BTPM WNED as the Audio and Visual Operations Assistant under the company’s own audio engineer. She's worked sound on live televised events, weekly broadcasts live local high school sports, has edited underwriting, legal ID's, and podcasts that have aired on WBNY and WNED, and has recently been the foley director for a live radio play recording of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, which has also aired on WNED. Morgan was inspired to pursue audio as a career from the sound design in the 2008 video game Dead Space.
Kaitlyn Lowe (she/her)
Kaitlyn Lowe is an interdisciplinary artist with six years of experience in video post-production. She uses her skills as poet and photographer to inspire her work crafting documentary and experimental projects. Through PPDI, Kaitlyn hopes to strengthen her network and stand-out factor for industry jobs.
Daniel Mammoser (he/him)
Daniel is a Media Study Production student from SUNY Buffalo (UB) who is pursuing video editing. Daniel has grown up in Western New York his entire life and his family are huge fans of the Buffalo Bills and Sabres. He hopes to become more proficient in the AVID software suite and see how it compares to other media editing software. He would like to work post-production on professional films and shows, and he is also interested in live sports broadcasting and camera operation. He wants to meet with people in post-production houses to network with them, learn their career paths, and see what professional editing is like.
Jake Marciniak (they/them)
Jake Marciniak is a composer, sound mixer, audio editor, engineer and recording artist. They have a BA in Television and Film Arts from Buffalo State College and have composed scores and mixed audio for dozens of short films in the past 10 years. They are currently composing the original score and music editing for their first feature project, One Night Only, set to wrap post-production at the end of 2024. Jake hopes to use the experience and certifications earned in the PPDI program to find a career in audio editing, sound mixing, foley, or music editing in 2025.
Caleb Metherell (he/him)
Caleb Metherell is a Civil Engineering student with many years of experience using various post-production software. At a young age, he became fascinated by visual effects and wanted to know how the movie magic was done. At the age of 16, Caleb picked up After Effects, and by 17 understood the steps within the VFX post-production process, including creating CGI and compositing. At this time, he has directed photography for one short film and worked on CGI and compositing for multiple others, as well as BTS photography. He hopes to branch out and be able to pursue media and filmmaking as a viable career, and learn more about sound design in this program.
Zachary Ogren (he/him)
Zach graduated from Buffalo State in May 2024 with a bachelor’s degree in English, and having taken several Digital Music Production classes. He is interested in audio editing, and ultimately hoping to primarily work in music production, but also generally in audio editing across various mediums. Zach someday wishes to create ways to make producing film, music, and other artforms more physically, creatively, and financially accessible to various communities in order for them to tell their own stories and create artistic community. In his free time, Zach enjoys spending time in nature, reading both fiction and non-fiction, writing poetry, and has recently started writing songs (mostly in punk, folk, and indie genres) and also producing rap songs for friends.
Danielle Roberts (she/her)
Danielle is a Senior majoring in Media Production with a Minor in Dance at Buffalo State University. Danielle is born and raised in Manhattan, New York. Danielle’s experiences in post-production have been her working on projects during her classes and she hopes to do more after graduation in May 2025. Danielle is hoping to pursue video and audio editing in film and music videos. Danielle would like to utilize her minor in as many ways as possible. Danielle is a dancer, so she hopes to be working behind the camera with editing and dancing in front of the camera. What Danielle hopes to learn in PPDI and her career aspirations, is that she is interested in animation and hopes to learn more about that and work with Pixar, Disney, Warner Bros, Lionsgate, Netflix, etc. She would like to learn more about hot keys and tools for editing. Danielle is happy to be a part of the PPDI program and hopes it takes her and gives her that boost of a career waiting for her after college.
Anna Smith (she/her)
Anna is a senior at Buffalo State University and is from Rochester, NY. Anna is an aspiring video editor and is always excited to learn new things to better her skills and to connect with others in the post production field. That’s why she’s so happy to be a part of PPDI! Also her favorite color is yellow and she’s a dog lover! :)
Megan Swaine (she/her)
Megan is in her senior year and set to graduate in December as a Media Production Major. She hopes to one day get a career in the post production field as an editor. In her experience at Buffalo State, she found a love for video and audio editing, mainly video. In the PPDI program Megan is hoping to learn more about sound and video editing and become more comfortable and confident to go into the field. Megan is eager yet also scared to graduate, she's hoping this program will ease her anxieties about going into the real world of the media production field. Outside of this Megan spends her time binge watching tv shows or going to concerts, and knowing about all things pop culture.
Cameron Taylor (he/him)
Cameron is a Media Production senior at Buffalo State and is equally interested in both audio and video editing. He has experience in producing and mixing music, as well as editing various videos and short films. He hopes to gain a better understanding of the post production field from the opportunities at PPDI, and get involved with as much audio and video editing as possible using Avid and Protools. He hopes to have a career that allows him to transition smoothly between any audio and video editing opportunities that sound exciting.
Soe Wai Htun (he/him)
Soe Wai Htun moved to the U.S. in 2021 due to the military coup in Burma (a.k.a. Myanmar). He is currently working as an electrician helper and driving for Uber. Back in Burma, he was a Street Artist Manager and contributed by creating posters for the Burma Spring Revolution. Soe Wai is deeply interested in making short films and video editing. He discovered the PPDI program through Film Neighbor Network's Facebook page and hopes to create and work more in the film industry.
Khadara Wright (she/her)
Khadara is a senior majoring in media production at Buffalo State University expected to graduate May 2025. Khadara is currently a member at Buffalo State University’s radio station and is hoping to pursue a career in either audio or video editing. During the PPDI program the main focus is to grow and develop in knowledge on any and every possible aspect.