If you’ve listened to our Live at Lake Effect series, you may have heard the name Visionary Studios mentioned during the credits. Visionary is a video production and advertising agency based in Saint Francis, Wis. and they’ve filmed and edited every episode of the series.
But shooting musical performances isn’t their primary work. They offer a range of brand development, advertising, and content creation services, including a series of videos for Visit Milwaukee highlighting people and places in the city.
Discovering photography
Visionary Studios founder Brad Roehl discovered a passion for photography when he was 10 years-old. His mother was gifted a camera, and he would take the it to the garden to take pictures of flowers and bees, and was hooked from the start.
"This was in a time where flip phones didn't really have cameras," he says. "So, getting a good quality photo wasn't something your phone could do, and so I was impressed with that."
While he was still in high school, Roehl started BR Films out of his parents’ basement with desks set up for editing and even employees. Much to his parents' chagrin, he opted to forgo college and see how far the business could take him.
"Traditional schooling wasn't going to work for me. Could I go to college and spend four years to do that? One hundred percent, but I had this really strong hunch that what I wanted to do I wasn't going to get out of college," Roehl recalls. "If I would've gone the other [traditional college] route, who knows where I'd be."
Beyond the basement
Rejecting the path set out for him by his parents, Roehl says they, lovingly, cut off financial support, and he moved to Milwaukee. "That changed everything. I met so many people, I learned about the world, I learned how to interact with people, when an opportunity is worth chasin,g when one's not worth chasing, I got burned a bunch," he says.
"[During] that period of my life ... I was one step away from this all blowing up and being a terrible decision or I was one step away from it becoming what it became. And I got just really lucky with the opportunities and connections that Imade in the city, so I have Milwaukee to thank for that. Milwaukee was, and is, still a very, very good place to start a business, I think," Roehl adds.
Visionary had picked up on work, but didn't have enough money to pay employees. So Roehl was looking for a business partner to help sustain the company, and Kieran Walter Sundaram came on board as a business partner.
"We kind of dove in headfirst into trying to make this work," Roehl says. "And one of the first things was that we should get an office."
In that first year out of the basement, the pair did a lot of work for free —hoping just to get Visionary's name out there. But, after a six-month period with no income, Roehl thought it might be time to call it quits. He says Sundaram insisted they stick it out for just one more month.
"And then on that last month, we got the break of all breaks and we had opportunity after opportunity come in — and it did a complete 180," Roehl says. "We went from no income to, like, 'We need to hire people.'"
Milwaukee connections
In 2022, the company filmed a music video for Grammy-nominated R&B singer — and Wauwatosa native — Grace Weber. That video led to a series of connections that helped turn things around for Visionary.
After the Weber video, Roehl says, "[Visit Milwaukee] reached out to Grace and said, 'Hey, we want to make a piece that highlights you and your story.'"
Upon Weber's insistence, Visit Milwaukee looped Visionary in. That project led to another: a parody of The Office, featuring the Bucks' Bobby Portis playing a new Visit Milwaukee Intern.
"The Visit Milwaukee team and Bobby did such a good job acting in it, and it came together so well," Roehl says.
The range of these experiences show the importance of taking every opportunity, even if they seem like they wouldn't build your business, according to Roehl.
"Every single thing that happens to you through life can have such a profound impact. That was one of those moments where thank goodness we did a good job and had our best foot forward [for the Grace Weber video], and so we try to do that for everybody," he explains.
Success at 24
At 24, Roehl's age has both advantages and disadvantages.
"You walk in a room and right away people don't take you seriously sometimes," he says. "And then there's other moments where you're in the room and people are eager for youth — they're eager for a new perspective."
But despite his youth, Roehl says he's found success by showing up to every project with authenticity, enthusiasm and a spirit of collaboration.
"I've found that showcasing that and being your true authentic self has been the number one thing that gets you over the age, or the perception of how old your company is or what has your company accomplished," he says.
For all the highs and lows, Roehl is proud of all he's accomplished with Visionary Studios — and grateful for work that he's passionate about. But he says he couldn't have done it alone.
"I'm proud of everything that everyone around me has done to help me get here, and I'm proud of all the things that I've done to help other people get to where they are," he says. "It's a butterfly effect of just following that thing that was satisfying to me."
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