How Matt Onorato ’18 & David Otis ’18 Founded Midrise Media By Will LinkMatt Onorato was a student team member in the Center for Career Services from October 2014 until he graduated from Marist in May 2018. Throughout college you are always told that when networking you should cast the widest net possible because you never know who could provide you with the next great career opportunity. However, I doubt that most people would think a college roommate would be such a valuable professional connection down the line. Matt Onorato ’18 and David Otis’18, who lived together for three years at Marist College, used the skills they developed to start their own digital media and production company called Midrise Media. Matt and David first met as freshmen at Marist through a mutual friend group. They were both Business majors with concentrations in Marketing. Matt also had a minor in digital media-video production. Matt and David first lived together during their sophomore year in Midrise Hall, which inspired them to name their side hustle Midrise Media. After graduating from Marist Matt landed a job working for an advertising agency in New York City, and David earned a full-time role as an account executive. Matt wanted to pursue work outside of his day job. “I have always helped friends and family with video production, website design, and advertising,” Matt said. “I was helping my cousin start her business, Holy Chic Fashion Boutique, and she convinced me to take my own business idea to the next level.” It was at this point that Matt approached David with the idea of creating their own production company and Midrise Media was born. The duo took on small clients initially before Midrise Media became a registered corporation in New York State. Matt said him and David rely on digital and traditional ways to obtain new projects. “Most of our client outreach is via Instagram DMs, Facebook paid social advertising, and word of mouth,” Matt said. Despite being a fairly new endeavor, Midrise Media already has worked with a number of prominent clients in the New York metropolitan area and Long Island including Insignia Steak House, Nick’s Hometown Grille, and the Smithtown Children’s Foundation. Matt and David have provided digital marketing and content production as well as website design to other businesses. They have also helped a client start and produce a podcast titled Help Me! I’m Middle Aged! Episodes of the podcast are available on multiple platforms including Spotify, YouTube and Apple Podcasts. Matt’s favorite project that he has completed for Midrise Media so far is the work him and David have done for Dan O’Neil of the O’Neil Real Estate Team of Smithtown. Midrise Media is the real estate office’s official video team for 2020. One challenge that Matt and David have experienced with Midrise Media is lead generation. There are many businesses and individuals who have a need for media production. The two have worked together to gain a competitive edge on other companies in the market by using the latest technology in their business. Matt and David recently used drones to capture video footage for example. Matt lives on Long Island and David lives in New Jersey, so remote work is also common for both of them. “The beauty of the digital era is that we can operate our business from our phones,” Matt said. “The flexibility to work wherever and whenever we want is also pretty cool.” Matt and David’s schedules can sometimes make it tricky to sustain Midrise Media, as both of them work full-time jobs in New York City. “Having our operations be restricted to nights and weekends makes it tougher to meet with clients and potential customers, but we are making it work,” David said. The latest Midrise Media hire is Connor Hardy ’18, another Marist graduate who was named Head of Finance. Connor will handle other aspects of the business such as filing taxes so that David and Matt can turn most of their attention to content production. For Matt and David, the ultimate goal would be to transition from working for Midrise Media on evenings and weekends to running the production company full time. “It would be great to hire a team of people to run various aspects of our business and expand into new markets,” Matt said.
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