Staff
Our backgrounds are diverse: TV news, ad agency and corporate communications, to name just a few. Our specialties are distinctive yet often overlapping: writing, designing, producing, directing, shooting and more. We create videos, TV spots, radio commercials, print materials, display pieces and just about anything else our clients need to communicate with their target audiences. We design and build Web sites; write, direct and produce interactive video. But as a staff, we have a shared passion: tell good stories. Do it economically. Make it memorable and long-lasting. Create a story that makes us all proud because it’s well told and gets results. Our deep experience in every type of media will ensure that outcome.
We also share a commitment to creating a good quality of life for ourselves and others. Three-day shoots, community service, volunteerism or weekend softball: we’re serious about getting the job done and we’re serious about recharging our batteries, too. Sometimes we can do both. Client lunches, shoots and meetings at our place are filled with food, fresh air and laughter—all vital components of creativity and camaraderie. It’s exactly this atmosphere—combined with talent and experience—that lends itself to first-rate communication services and products for our clients.
That’s our story; now meet the people who will make your story come to life.
DIANA SOLE WALKO | CEO | dsole@motionmasters.com | 304.345.8800
As president and owner of MotionMasters, Diana is hands-on in every aspect of her company’s business. She has led film crews into remote villages in Africa—five times. She visited India with a Marshall University contingent and logged hours toward her M.B.A. In addition to running the company, she writes scripts, directs live action, casts talent, produces video, edits copy, advises on public relations and serves as project manager, executive producer or creative director for much of the work we do.
Her leadership has earned her accolades such as the State Journal’s Who’s Who in West Virginia Business award and the prestigious Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award. Junior Achievement presented her with a Laureate award and selected her for membership in its Business Hall of Fame. Her business acumen was lauded in the 2005 book, Jumpstart Your Awesome Film Production Company; and political candidates, corporations and non-profit organizations repeatedly seek her strategic communications consulting. But perhaps most important of all, she builds and keeps relationships with clients, many of whom have been with MotionMasters from the beginning. Founded on Groundhog Day (Feb. 2) in 1987, the company is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year (2012).
Diana is a veteran of the communications industry, serving as the CEO of MotionMasters since 1988, and prior to that as its vice president and executive producer. With more than 30 years in the communications industry, she has led innumerable public relations, advertising, marketing and political campaigns designed to educate, motivate and persuade. Under her direction, the company has evolved from a film and video firm serving West Virginia clients to an award-winning producer of educational media and documentaries that are distributed nationally.
In addition to leading MotionMasters, Diana is very active in the community. She is the immediate past president of the board of directors of Habitat for Humanity of Kanawha and Putnam, a group she has been actively involved with since 1990. In addition to her board responsibilities, she led the turnaround for the organization’s retail operation as director of the ReStore Advisory team. She also serves as secretary of the Charleston Area Alliance Board of Directors and was a key player in that organization’s formation in 2004. A Rotarian since 1990, she is a member of the Charleston Rotary Club’s Board of Directors, and chaired the group’s Community Service committee. She also serves on the Board of Directors of ALEF, the Appalachian Leadership and Education Foundation, to provide college scholarships to young men and women from Appalachia. She was a co-founder and co-chair of the Charleston Area Medical Center Foundation’s Children’s Fund Gala and is a member of Elizabeth Memorial United Methodist. Diana was the co-coordinator of Celebration Station, Charleston’s community playground built entirely by volunteer labor, and is a former vice-president of the Charleston Chamber of Commerce. A native of Weirton, W. Va., she holds two degrees from Marshall University — a B.A. in Journalism; and an M.B.A., the latter of which she completed in 2004.
CHRISTA HAMRA | Director of Marketing and Sales | chamra@motionmasters.com | 304.345.8808
Christa brings a wealth of media knowledge to every project she takes on. Christa’s degree in marketing from Marshall University prepared her well for her first stint with the State Journal as an account executive and, four years later, sales manager. She segued into television sales and earned her stripes in that medium as a top performer. Christa was drawn back to the print medium and spent the next six years of her career at the State Journal (again!), but this time as general sales manager. Now she is putting her knowledge and skill to good use for MotionMasters’ clients.
PAT LEGG | Business Manager (and Head Chef) | plegg@motionmasters.com | 304.345.8800
Pat is the textbook definition of a people-person. She’s happiest when the studio is full of clients; the conference room is booked for a meeting and when she’s busy with the thousands of details that come with being the business manager, production coordinator, bookkeeper and head chef. Her energy level is rivaled only by her cheerfulness. Or maybe by her fresh-from-the-oven homemade rolls. People know her by her sweet and helpful disposition on the phone—and her full-course country cookin’ meals.
She’s handled all aspects of putting together a shoot: from the crew to craft services to talent, wardrobe, props and makeup. Whether it’s obtaining a recently caught fish for a prop in a spot or finding the freshest sushi for a health-conscious client, Pat handles the details with precision, grace and a good disposition.
BRIAN PETERSON | Executive Producer | bpeterson@motionmasters.com | 304.345.8807
There’s no such thing as an ex-news director; there only are former news directors and Brian’s one of them. He’s covered news for radio and TV in markets ranging from Green Bay to Hawaii with stints in Philadelphia, Baltimore and Huntington, too. His talent for uncovering the seed of a story and nurturing it to full maturity serves our clients well. As a former newsman, Brian searches and digs to find the most compelling elements of a client’s message and then wraps the storyline around them to create a fascinating tale—one that will keep your target audience attentive and engaged.
With a master’s degree in journalism, his instinctive knack for newsgathering is also what keeps Brian eager to learn new material or find new ways to do things, including building this Web site from the ground up. “My curiosity is often piqued when we get a new client at a company or industry we haven’t covered before,” he says. (He even talks in news-talk.) “There are always challenges, but by the end of the project, those challenges have led to discoveries and accomplishments that allow us to achieve our clients’ goals.” Whether it’s writing a script, producing a shoot or constructing and maintaining a client’s Web site, Brian’s mantra is quality and value. Count on him to bring both to your project.
PK KHOURY | Copywriter | pk@motionmasters.com | 304.345.8804
Competitive—that’s the best way to describe pk. An experienced multimedia copywriter, pk realizes that every bit of copy she writes, whether for print, video or audio, has to compete for attention in a sea of images, words, sounds and themes. She knows that not only must the message be on target, it must also be accurate, compelling and memorable. She also knows the importance of timing and that each medium sets its own pace and cadence. As a former broadcaster, marketing director and ad agency chief copywriter in West Virginia, Virginia and Washington, D.C., pk has written and produced for all media. She brings a vast pool of experience and a competitive spirit to the projects and accounts assigned to her at MotionMasters.
When asked to identify the most challenging part of her job as a MotionMasters copywriter, pk replied, “Writing my own bio—in third person.”
DIANE DIMOFF | Producer | ddimoff@motionmasters.com | 304.345.8806
Name something in the video production business and Diane can do it: on-camera, voice-over, research, scriptwriting, producing, interviewing a subject or supervising an edit—she does it all at MotionMasters and she does it extremely well.
Many will remember Diane as a television news journalist at WSAZ. She’s still an investigative reporter of sorts, especially when she’s searching the dusty archives of the state capitol for rare photos. As producer for the MotionMasters documentary, “A Moving Monument: The West Virginia State Capitol,” she tracked down all the elements needed for the video to explain the story of West Virginia’s six statehouses. She also played a key role in fundraising for the video by writing grant proposals and coordinating underwriting requests to nearly 140 prospective donors. Her expertise in television commercials and long format productions includes historical topics, health care, academics and athletics. Quiet, resourceful and industrious, she’s a real dynamo when it comes to staying on schedule and in budget.
DOUG MORRIS | Production Manager | dmorris@motionmasters.com | 304.345.8800
Sometimes at night and from a distance, they looked like a construction crew on the Capitol grounds. Then a light would bounce off the lens of the camera and a nearby dog-walker would call out, “Am I going to be on TV?” But when the trees are in full leaf and the moon’s just right, conditions are perfect for shooting some of the most vivid scenes for “A Moving Monument.” As co-videographer for the 60-minute MotionMasters documentary that tells the story of the six statehouses that have served as West Virginia’s Capitol, Doug remembers it as his favorite project to date. “It was a pure production job—shooting and editing,” he says. “We were able to shoot some nice jib and dolly shots, too—a process that raises everyone’s game.”
Doug also likes to take his game to other continents. Beginning in 2004, he has been part of the MotionMasters crew on location in Africa to shoot, edit and present video of and for the Leon Sullivan Foundation Summit: a bi-annual conference of world leaders who come together to help carry on the work of the late African-American international humanitarian. The challenges are difficult and the conditions sometimes tense, depending upon the level of civil unrest, but Doug soldiers on and never complains. It’s exactly this calm demeanor and nose-to-the-grindstone work ethic that have made him a favorite of co-workers and clients for the more than 30 years he’s been in the business.
WESLEY POOLE | Videographer & Editor | wpoole@motionmasters.com | 304.345.8800
Wesley is a traveler. But not in the traditional sense. Wes does most of his scenic sightseeing through the lens of a video camera. When he experiences the beauty of his home state of West Virginia or when he marvels at the lush green landscapes of Africa, it’s to capture it in video for others to experience also. “MotionMasters takes people places,” he says. “I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to go to so many places and meet so many interesting people if I hadn’t been shooting for our clients.”
Wesley is an experienced videographer who puts his visual sensitivity to good use in telling stories. He’s also finely attuned to the aural sense of storytelling and often serves in a dual capacity on shoots: audio and video. Medical, coal industry, safety training—Wes has done it all—and sometimes doing it all entails hanging out of the door of a helicopter while shooting with a 25-pound video camera! Quiet, hard-working and creative, Wes says that, “…being a team player is as important as mastering my craft.” He demonstrates that he’s mastered both on a daily basis.
