Robert A. Costa Jr.
Entrepreneur, Speaker, Philanthropist, Do-Gooder
Risk Advisor ~ FBinsure
Founder & Executive Director ~Dodgeballin’ For Kids Foundation
“Having been a 3 year student in the Fall River Educational Television program, graduating in 2008; I can attest to the credibility of this organization. I have continuously worked with leadership at FRED-TV to this day, and will continue to. The skills, knowledge, and out of the box thinking one needs to make it in today’s entrepreneurial world are developed here. One of the issues in today’s society is that the education systems we put our children through, teach and preach just that … only education. For one reason or another they lack the ability to mentor and strengthen student’s skill sets beyond the high school level. How fortunate we are to have such an organization like this within our community.
When I was there I could remember using FRED-TV as a stepping stone to working with the outside world. They offered technology training with studio equipment, writing initiatives, and presentation skills for one day you will need to work with a business on a production. Performing real life projects, creating value that is tangible and is needed for an organization to excel, following contracts with clients, even learning the simple principles of being on time and staying organized to maximize efficiency were just some of the benefits from FRED-TV. When you’re in high school you don’t realize this, but when you graduate and move on you end up coming to the realization of where you actually learnt these skills. I guess the sales 101 question as a student is … not what am I going to get out of it, BUT and a huge BUT, what is the cost of NOT taking part in the FRED-TV program?
Currently I am a Risk Advisor for FBinsure, a large regional property, casualty and health insurance agency with nine locations throughout Southeastern Massachusetts. I work with medium and large market accounts to provide risk management services through a unique process that protects businesses through innovative strategies and insurance coverages. Also, I work extensively with non-profits throughout MA & RI, as I have founded a 501(c)3 The Dodgeballin’ For Kids, Foundation. Here we work with children’s organizations working to fill the social and financial void. Much of my work may be directly through my organization or on various boards and committees as an advisor. Having a balance in the corporate and philanthropic world proves to maximize the size of impact I can have on organizations, and in life.
I’ve always said: “The best thing in life is helping those around you, but more importantly watching them succeed.” I look forward to do doing more, doing it better, and making a bigger contribution.
Thank you for giving me the ability to do so FRED-TV!”
Alica Cabral
Segment Producer
“Tiny House Nation”
FYI Reality TV
Currently I am the Segment Producer on FYI’s reality series “Tiny House Nation”. Our show travels around the country documenting homeowners who are transitioning into tiny living (spaces under 500 sq. ft.). My job entails having conversations with the homeowners and finding out why they’ve decided to downsize their life and move into a smaller space. Then we generally come up with a theme for the episode and begin to build a storyline within the shows’ format so that its both unique to the folks we’re building for, but follows a basic structure. I write the first draft of that and then send it up to our Executive Producer who adds his notes and collaboratively we finalize something to roll with during the shoot. Our show has two amazing hosts, one who is a creative genius and builds custom projects for each of the homes and the other helps with the emotional part of the transition. Part of my job is to make sure our hosts have the correct information about each family and that ultimately we deliver on giving someone their dream tiny house and creating a great episode for the network, who is ultimately paying all of our bills 😉 Its a weird job because I feel like a lot of it is really just about communication – digging to get the real emotion behind people’s reason to do this and then directing them in a way that you’re going to get them to verbalize it on camera which is harder than it seems when you’re not dealing with actual actors. From pre-production to the edit Im very involved with every episode. There’s a lot of long days, but when you see someone finally get a house they’ve been dreaming of that is also totally low-impact on the world, its quite rewarding.
Sara Lapointe
Video Broadcasting Assistant
University of Massachusetts Amherst Media Relations
I am currently in my final year of college, and working as a Video Broadcasting Assistant for the Athletics Media Relations department at UMass Amherst. My responsibilities include producing and editing videos for the website, and the television show, UMass Sports Insider, which is broadcasted weekly on NESN. Along with these videos, I assist in directing the live broadcasts, queuing replays, updating graphics, as well as, operating the camera. I’m looking to build upon my experiences in the field of sports communications and sports broadcasting upon graduation.