Rachel Womack loves to tell a story with video. “I got hooked as a sophomore at Carroll College when I landed an internship with WISN-TV Channel 12 in Milwaukee – an ABC affiliate. A few weeks after I started in the spring of 1994, the Oswald shootout in Waukesha happened. I was answering phones at the assignment desk when photojournalist Bobby Vee (Bob Vermiglio) and reporter, Renee Riddle, returned with the footage - the newsroom fell silent while we all crowded around the screen to watch the video. Bobby had captured the crossfire between law enforcement and the Oswalds, who had just robbed another bank. At that moment I knew I wanted to be a photojournalist -- in the field, capturing life on videotape.”
After her internship, WISN-TV hired Rachel as a part-time video editor for the morning news shows. In the summer of 1996, her wish of becoming a photojournalist came true when she was hired full-time. In the years that followed, she worked for every network television station in Milwaukee and captured hundreds of local news stories. In 2010, she hung up her press credentials to form her own company, Today and Forever Videos. With the motto “Capture Today, Share Forever” she pursues her passion for creating quality videos for non-profit organizations. “Most nonprofits don’t have the marketing budgets to afford quality video productions. With my experience, I’m able to help these organizations create successful video marketing campaigns for fundraising and brand recognition.” Rachel said.
In 2013 she discovered Hartford Community Television, a cable TV local PEG access channel managed by the City of Hartford. It gave her the chance to once again cover community stories. Besides recording city meetings, Jack Ewing, the manager of the channel, gave Rachel the opportunity to cover any event happening in Hartford. “It’s really fun to be able to find a local story, cover it and have the video broadcast on TV,” she said.
Rachel took to listening closely during city council meetings for ideas and whenever something sounded interesting, she would follow up. That’s how Tree Climbing happened. “The Hartford Parks and Recreation Department was teaming up with Treetop Explorers for a tree climbing event. I had climbed trees as a kid, but I was stunned when I got there. This tree was ‘ginormous!’” She interviewed Curt from TreeTop Explorers as he set up the climbing ropes and then the kids arrived. “Their expressions when they looked up at this huge tree were priceless! I had a blast producing this video; it was a lot of fun,” she said.
Rachel enjoys weaving many perspectives together and likes to involve her subjects in the creative process. Her three-minute “Crosswalk PSA” was produced with the Hartford Joint School District and Police Department. When she entered the piece in the Best of the Midwest Media Fest, Rachel wrote, “Using the Cupid Shuffle as inspiration, I rewrote the lyrics to create the "Crosswalk Shuffle" and had Hartford students record the song. Hartford police officers, crossing guards, school officials and students created the beautifully choreographed "Crosswalk Shuffle" resulting in a very memorable message.”
In 2018, Rachel teamed up with Jennifer Hood to produce Coerced: The Sex Trafficking Epidemic, a 41-minute documentary that won a top-level Excellence award in the 2019 Best of the Midwest Media Fest. Rachel wrote, “Sex trafficking is happening in our own backyards. This documentary relays the perspective of law enforcement, advocates, and the victims…We are hoping to open up the conversation and encourage people to start looking out for the signs.”
Besides the City of Hartford and various non-profit organizations, Rachel has produced pieces for the City of West Bend’s PEG access channel including one on the opening of the beautiful Museum of Wisconsin Art and a promo for the annual family-friendly geocaching treasure hunt, Cache Bash, sponsored by the West Bend Chamber of Commerce.
Twenty-five years after she first got hooked on covering stories on the local beat, Rachel is still doing what she loves and Wisconsin’s PEG channels are the richer for it. Rachel said, “Working with nonprofits is so rewarding, I’ve been blessed to be able to share their stories through videography.” Her focus on local subjects is no accident. “People value current and accurate information about news and events that affect them,” said Rachel, “while it’s easy to find national and big city news on network television, the local stories are often overlooked. By having access to local PEG media outlets, we’re able to share these stories with their communities and that’s so important.”
