Kelly Jones
Location
- Charlottesville, VA
Portfolio
- Editing
- Producing
- Recording
- Reporting
- Scripting
- Writing
- Teaching
About Kelly
I'm a freelance producer and editor based in Charlottesville, VA.
I'm a senior producer for American Prodigies, a series about how Black gymnasts went from the margins to the core of their sport.
I'm also the senior producer for Seizing Freedom. Seizing Freedom tells the story of how African Americans took their own freedom during the Civil War, determined what it would mean to them during Reconstruction, and tried to hold of the brick and mortar of Jim Crow that built up around them in the early 20th century. Our narrative episodes use hundreds of archives to tell stories first-hand. Our interview episodes bring the themes of those stories to the present, through conversations with historians, activists, and artists.
I also edit documentaries from UVA's Race, Religion, and Democracy Lab. At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, my daughter June and I produced, edited, and hosted an award-winning podcast called Social Distance Assistance. My freelance work has appeared on NPR and the BBC. I once won a Third Coast Short Docs prize for a three-minute story about poutine.
Someday, I'll restart my favorite project: a podcast called Do Over that's about the choices we make that determine who we are (and the regrets we might have about that).
Outside of audio, I've been an ethics professor, a gymnastics coach, and a kung fu student.
Kelly's Portfolio
Social Distance Assistance: Redefining Home
For the majority of Americans impacted by the coronavirus, the word home has come to mean something it didn't before, whether that's the office, classroom, daycare, therapist's office or all of the above. And, for the most part, we've adapted to this new concept of what homes are being used for.
But what about people who aren't able to be at home, or don't have a home to go to? Thankfully, there are many, many ways people are working to bring the comforts of home to the people who need them most.
Sel: Trois Façons (Salt: Three Ways)
No one has an appetite for perfection and swearing like a Québécois in search of poutine.
Do Over: Waffle House
Meet Tara, a college professor who gave up a career at Waffle House in order to serve students. We investigate what her life would have looked like if she'd climbed the batter ladder.
American Prodigies: Life Is Too Short To Be Bitter (Dianne Durham)
Dianne Durham could have represented the United States at the 1984 Olympics in LA, but she was injured during trials. A combination of racism and internal gymnastics coaching politics meant that she was unable to petition for a spot on the team. In this episode, we give the trailblazer the flowers she deserved – almost four decades overdue.
Experience
Skills
- Story Editing
- Sound Design
- Show Development
- Scrubbing and Audio Editing
- Scoring
- Research
- Reporting
- Producing
- Mentoring
- Interviewing
- Field Recording
- Field Producing
Equipment
- Hindenburg
- Pro Tools
- Hard Disc/Flash recorder
Previous Work
- Producer at CFRU 93.3 FM (2014)
- Producer at BackStory (2017)
- Soundscapes Producer at NPM/Creative (NPR) (2019)
- Show Development Producer/Editor (Freelance) at VPM (February 2021)
- Senior Producer at Seizing Freedom (VPM + Molten Heart) (April 2022)