For some creatives, accidentally stumbling across our talents often makes for the best success stories. But for director and cinematographer Jarred McGriff, he always knew he had a knack for visual storytelling, he just didn’t know where his gift would lead him.

As someone who had only discovered video production in high school, there was no way to predict McGriff’s talents would allow him to get tapped to work on major brand campaigns for TikTok, Crown Royal, Live Nation, McDonald’s and more. However, his upbringing — which surrounded him with creativity and technology — made for the perfect foundation for what would later become his life-long passion. According to him, it was his high school video class that ultimately helped him determine video production was something he was “going to do for the rest of [his] life.”

From there on, McGriff has elevated into roles as BET’s senior video editor where he puts his storytelling abilities to work on viral series like BET’s Rate the Bars and #FindingBET (which has garnered over 30 million views across multiple platforms). He’s now in a position to create narratives for the culture using his own unique perspective.

McGriff spoke to AfroTech about how he got his creative start in the entertainment industry, where he fits into the digital content renaissance and how his talents are opening doors for other Black creators.

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Editorial note: Portions of this interview have been edited and condensed for clarity.

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