Hello,
I'm Margaret Cavalier. I am a creative who is passionate about public media and storytelling. At the moment, I spend most of my days as an Associate Producer with Fred Rogers Productions in Pittsburgh. Here I help with their newest children’s show Donkey Hodie.
I spent five and a half years producing Ideastream Public Media’s award-winning children’s television show, NewsDepth. I was intimately involved with the full show production — from sourcing stories to scriptwriting and creating motion graphics. During my time with NewsDepth, I expanded our reach to multiple new web platforms and increased our user engagement. We more than doubled our online users and weekly student responses to the show’s writing prompt (averaging +750 student letters per episode).
I hold a Master’s degree in Public Media from Ohio University, where my studies focused on narrative nonfiction and documentary storytelling. I also earned a Bachelor's degree in Journalism from Kent State University and spent several years as a print journalist writing about education and small-town issues in Northeast Ohio.
I can't resist taking on new challenges and have taken on numerous media jobs from working on the sets of reality television shows to managing social media for a production house and editing vlogs for a South African entrepreneur. I'm always in pursuit of a story and often forget my cup of coffee in the microwave.
I hope we'll get to work together sometime soon. I'd love to hear your story.
Cheers!
skills
Video + Motion Graphics Production: Adobe Creative Suite | Canon DSLR + Sony HXR + similar
Writing: broadcast + web script | print + web journalism | narrative nonfiction
Digital Platform Use + Analytics: Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, MailChimp, PBS OTT, PBS LearningMedia, various CMS
Personal: team leadership | public speaking | project management | on-air hosting
EMPLOYMENT HISTORY
Fred Rogers Productions (2022 - present)
Associate Producer
Ideastream Public Media (2016 - 2022)
Coordinating Producer
WOUB Public Media (2015 - 16)
Public Media Graduate Assistant
Tribune Chronicle (2012 - 15)
Education Reporter
Production Assistant (2013 - 14)
NBC Universal, Animal Planet, WeTV, GSN
eDUCATION
Ohio University (2016)
M.A. in Public Media Arts
4.0 GPA narrative nonfiction focus
Kent State University (2012)
B.S. in Broadcast Journalism
3.74 GPA Magna Cum Laude with Dept. Honors
Industry Recognition
2022 Best Digital Project (Radio) from the Ohio Associated Press Media Editors for Poetic Reentry website and photography
2021 Emmy® nomination from the NATAS Lower Great Lakes Chapter for NewsDepth (category: Children/Youth/Teen Program/Special)
2020 Gold Award from the Parents’ Choice Foundation for NewsDepth (category: Children’s Television Series)
2020 Approved Award from the Parents’ Choice Foundation for Know Ohio series (category: Children’s Television Series)
2020 Emmy® Award from the NATAS Lower Great Lakes Chapter for NewsDepth (category: Informational/Instructional - Program/Series or Special)
2020 Honorable Mention from the Catholic Press Association Gabriel Awards for NewsDepth (category: Children’s Narrative Television)
2019 Gold Award from the Parents’ Choice Foundation for Spot on Science series (category: Children’s Television Series)
2019 Gold Award from the Parents’ Choice Foundation for NewsDepth (category: Children’s Television Series)
2019 Emmy® nomination from the NATAS Lower Great Lakes Chapter for NewsDepth (category: Children/Youth/Teen Program/Special)
2018 Emmy® Award from the NATAS Lower Great Lakes Chapter for NewsDepth (category: Informational/Instructional - Program/Series or Special)
2018 Emmy® Award from the NATAS Lower Great Lakes Chapter for Lost Holocaust Survivor Recordings Discovered at the University of Akron (category: Arts/Entertainment - News Single Story/Series/Feature)
2017 Emmy® Award from the NATAS Lower Great Lakes Chapter for NewsDepth (category: Children/Youth/Teen Program/Special)