CNBC Make It
10.12.23
What does it take to achieve the American Dream? For some, it means moving to Mexico City. CNBC Make It spoke to several Americans who have relocated in search of a better life. For locals, it’s complicated.
Producer, Narrator & Camera: Tasia Jensen
Cheddar + Curiosity Stream
03.17.22
The yellow taxi cab is the quintessential New York City ride. What started as a small fleet of cars nearly 100 years ago, has turned into a bustling system of thousands of yellow taxi cabs. But now the threat of ride-share apps and city scandal has left cab drivers in thousands of dollars of debt.
Watch 13 minute versions on Cheddar's YouTube page. You can also watch the full 24 minute episodes on CuriosityStream.
Produced, reported and edited by me. Shot scenes of the hunger strike and celebration.
CNBC Make It
12.21.23
Adalia Aborisade, 48, quit her teaching job in the U.S. and now lives in Mexico City making $38,000 a year. She runs her own business, "Picky Girl Travels the World," where she offers individualized financial coaching, relocation assistance and retreats. This is a Gen X episode of CNBC Make It's Millennial Money series, which profiles people across the globe and details how they earn, spend and save their money.
Producer & Camera: Tasia Jensen
CNBC Make It
07.15.23
Dan Defossey, originally from Long Island, New York, moved to Mexico over a decade ago as an employee for Apple. It wasn't long before he pivoted and co-founded Pinche Gringo BBQ, where customers are served a uniquely American food in the heart of Mexico City. Today, he is the CEO of a group of barbecue restaurants that brought in over $9 million in 2022.
Produced and shot by: Tasia Jensen
CNBC Make It
9.28.24
In 2010, Warby Parker disrupted the $150 billion global eyewear industry with a pair of $95 glasses.
Producer & Camera: Tasia Jensen
CNBC Make It
06.15.23
Gabriel Feitosa, 31, brought in $1.3 million in 2022 as a dog grooming artist. He is the owner of Gabriel Feitosa Grooming Salon based in San Diego, California. Originally hailing from São Paulo, Brazil, Gabriel is known for transforming dogs into everything from giraffes and leopards, to Pokémons and Lisa Frank-inspired animals.
Produced and shot by: Tasia Jensen
CNBC Make It
01.2.25
Shot and produced by me.
CNBC Make It
8.31.24
Despite being a child of Kenyan coffee farmers, it took a trip to America, an MBA at Harvard and a short stint in investment banking for Margaret Nyamumbo, 36, to realize she could build a profitable coffee business while giving back to the sort of farms that raised her. In 2023, her business Kahawa 1893 sold more than $3 million worth of coffee.
Producer & Camera: Tasia Jensen
CNBC Make It
11.11.22
After being charged with a felony at the age of 16 and incarcerated for nearly two years, Marquis Mckenzie Sr. was hopeless about his future career prospects. The 32-year-old now brings in about $150,000 a year as a business owner and community organizer in Orlando, Florida. This is an installment of CNBC Make It's Millennial Money series, which profiles people across the globe and details how they earn, spend and save their money.
Produced by: Tasia Jensen
Camera: John Luna
CNBC Make It
04.09.24
Liz Chick started making and selling art to get reprieve from her "windowless office" job. Now, she runs an art studio in Brooklyn and makes $5,500 per month.
Produced, Shot & Edited by: Tasia Jensen
CNBC Make It
8.10.24
Scott Goodfriend, 39, was working his dream job at Meta — until he was laid off just 8 months into the gig in February 2023. Instead of taking another corporate job, he decided to take his food tour side hustle full-time. Now he runs Ultimate Food Tours in New York City, bringing in $145,000 a year.
Producer & Camera: Tasia Jensen
Cheddar + Curiosity Stream
01.13.22
Many things come to mind when thinking about New York City, but how the city deals with its garbage is usually not one of them. New Yorkers produce over 14 million tons of trash each year — and a combination of city agencies and private companies work daily to haul away what New Yorkers don't want.
Watch 13 minute versions on Cheddar's YouTube page. You can also watch the full 24 minute episodes on CuriosityStream.
Producer, reporter and editor.
Millions of people thrive in the American West’s deserts today, but not every is thriving. You’ve probably heard of droughts and wildfires in California, of groundwater drying up in Arizona, and of entire communities, like those on the Navajo Nation, that have been left without running water. The region is finally coming to terms with decades of infrastructure projects, coupled with using more water than nature can provide, as the threat of climate change moves in. Cheddar explains why the American West is running out of water.
08.20.20
Dollar stores have conquered the United States, in an era where a “retail apocalypse” is slowly decimating brick and mortar retail shopping. The spread of these dollar stores is also deeply tied to issues of income inequality in the U.S. It’s argued that not only do these institutions benefit from poverty, but also that they perpetuate it. It has even led to some communities to limit the spread of dollar stores in their towns. So how did the dollar store conquer the U.S. - and what is their real impact?
Saigoneer
07.22.18
Bak kut teh is a traditional Teochew dish — pork ribs in a clear peppery broth — that's very popular in Singapore and Malaysia. For Nam Dinh native Joy Le Thi Vui, it was love at first bite when she first tried the hearty comfort food in Singapore. A few years ago, Joy decided to bring the dish to Vietnam with her bak kut teh restaurant in Saigon. This is her story.
Produced, shot and edited by me with additional reporting by Mervin Lee and translations by Khoi Pham.
Saigoneer
07.08.18
Chinese communities all over Vietnam celebrate Tết Đoan Ngọ every summer. It is the most important summer festival in the country's folk tradition. Every year, on the fifth day of the fifth month on the lunar calendar, revelers eat bánh ú, bánh gio or bánh bá trạng and take herbal baths to ward off sickness and remove impurities.
I produced, shot and edited this with additional reporting by Mervin Lee and translations by Khoi Pham.
02.24.22
Getting water from upstate reservoirs to the taps of over 8.5 million people in New York City is no easy feat. From purification, through thousands of miles of underground tunnels, this is how New York City gets its water.
Watch 13 minute versions on Cheddar's YouTube page. You can also watch the full 24 minute episodes on CuriosityStream.
Producer, reporter, editor.
09.20.19
These three young women began their day gathering fellow students from school on a Friday and marching to Foley Square to participate in the Global Climate Strike. They held two die-ins on the way there too, collapsing in the middle of sidewalks in protest of the climate crisis.
Produced, shot, reported and edited by me. Same day turnaround.
05.26.20
Visitation to National Park Service sites has seen a boom in recent years. For five years in a row, the park service has tallied over 300 million visitors per year. It’s an unprecedented spike, and the reason why this is happening now goes deeper than social media alone. While the threat of COVID-19 will likely change those numbers this year, the park service is still figuring out how to regain the balance between preservation and visitation. Cheddar explains the history of crowding in America’s national parks, and the impacts we are seeing from that today.
Saigoneer
09.23.18
There probably isn't anyone in Saigon who is as patient and meticulous as artist Tran Giang Nam, whose works are tiny sculptures that are often not even one centimeter long. Nam spends his days with tweezers, brushes and scalpels to turn copper wires and toothpicks into intricate models.
Produced, shot and edited by me with additional reporting and translations by Khoi Pham.
06.07.19
Protesters showed up at a Brooklyn library to condemn the Drag Queen Story Hour and were met by supporters.
Produced, shot and edited by me. Same day turnaround.
04.20.21
Gardens of indoor plants adorn windowsills across the globe. Cacti and succulents have especially seen a bump in popularity - as they are often smaller and harder to kill. As a result, there is also an increased global appetite for rare, endangered species of cacti and succulents. Many fear that one day, we won’t see many unique cacti in the wild anymore.
Producer, reporter, editor and voice over.
The Daily Beast
05.21.19
On May 21, 2019 a crowd gathered in Foley Square in New York City to protest the new anti-abortion laws passed in states like Alabama, Missouri, and Georgia.
Shot and edited by me. Same day turnaround.
06.30.19
Marchers gathered just south of the Stonewall Inn on June 30, 2019 for the first ever Queer Liberation March, and protest the massive World Pride Parade taking place just hours later on the same day. The idea was to reclaim Pride and channel the anger and spontaneity of the Stonewall Riots, whose 50th anniversary was marked this year.
Produced, shot and edited by me. Same day turnaround.
09.08.19
“At Anthony Rubio's doggy dress-up show, the Boston Terriers, Chihuahuas, and various mutts were dressed to the nines in gilded capes and bedazzled leashes, all modeled with aplomb.”
Produced and shot by me with and additional reporting and editing by Brooke Howard. Same day turnaround.
October 2017
Philip Mortillaro is the founder and owner of Greenwich Locksmiths, located at 56 Seventh Ave. in New York City. The tiny shop has been operated by Mortillaro for nearly 40 years after he purchased the building for $20,000. In 2016, Chase Manhattan offered Mortillaro $2 million for the property. He turned it down.
Produced and shot alongside Sindy Nanclares, edited by me.
June 2014
Nepal SEEDS (Social Educational Environmental Development Services) is a non-profit organization based in Kathmandu, Nepal. This is what they are doing to improve education in rural Nepal.
Shot and edited by myself and Hunter Levis.
05.31.19
I interviewed Dr. Pasang Sherpa via Skype to hear her take on the Mount Everest traffic jams and cut it together with archival footage.
Reported and produced by me.
04.02.19
I interviewed Professor Jason Silva via Skype about his research concerning far-right terrorism in the U.S. just days before the Department of Homeland Security disbanded its Domestic Terror Intelligence Unit.
Reported, produced and edited by me.
The Daily Beast
08.13.19
I interviewed defense attorney Andrew Laufer about conditions inside the Metropolitan Correctional Center following the suicide of Jeffrey Epstein.
Shot, reported, produced and edited by me.
