2023 Alumni Bios

Jacklyn (Ausk) Baumgartner

Animation, 2017

Jacklyn (Ausk) Baumgartner graduated from MSUM in May 2017. Her foot in the door was a Page Designer position with Forum Communications Company, where she earned second place for standing news front from the North Dakota Newspaper Association in 2019. In August 2019, she accepted a position at SCHEELS as a Graphic Artist, and was then promoted to Motion Designer in early 2020. She has worked on a variety of marketing projects in this role, including animation, video, digital design, and print design. Recently, she was proud of animation work she did for the SCHEELS FCS Championship commercial, SCHEELS Visa commercials, and an animated promo for the SCHEELS arcade in Reno, Nevada. She also enjoys a wide variety of hobby work!

Jacklyn's Portfolio

Luke Carlson

Illustration Major, Film and GCOM minors, 2016

Luke Carlson graduated from MSUM with a BFA in Illustration in December, 2016. Prior to graduation, he began a Web Designer internship with Swanson Health Products. In 2017 he accepted a full-time role as a Motion Graphic Designer at SCHEELS, and was later promoted to Creative Project Manager in 2020. During his time at SCHEELS, Luke’s team has transformed from a small but scrappy unit of employees who made HR videos into a full-fledged internal media production agency; creating thousands of videos, hundreds of radio ads, and virtually countless photos for a fast-growing and employee-owned retail company. Alongside his career at SCHEELS, Luke also does occasional freelance work and teaches Animation & Motion Graphics as an adjunct professor at MSUM. In his spare time, he enjoys brewing with friends, travel, photography, drawing, designing, reading, wine tasting, disc golfing, motorcycling, e-biking, or generally any adventure on two wheels.

Kristen Kjellberg

Graphic Communications, 2020

Kristen Kjellberg graduated in 2022 with a degree in Graphic Communications. She currently works at Abovo, a local marketing company located in Downtown Fargo. She works as a Multimedia Designer and gets to participate in a range of jobs there from web design and development, 3d modeling and animation, to account management.

Simone LeClaire

Film Production, Film History & Criticism, 2013

Simone LeClaire is a queer woman director and editor whose work spans genres from parabolic feminist fairy tales to grunge comedies. She obtained Film Production and Film History & Criticism degrees from MSUM in 2013 and is currently a 2023-25 Jerome Hill Artist Fellow. Simone’s seven narrative shorts have screened at over 30 festivals around the midwest and world, including the Indianapolis LGBT Festival, the Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Fest, and Festival de films féministes de Montréal. Their latest film Bathroom Break received awards for writing, acting, and comedy on its festival circuit before being distributed by Tello Films in February 2022. Simone is currently in production of her debut narrative feature Pat and Glo Save the World and in post-production of her debut documentary feature Sunflower Man. Simone has edited three narrative features, including the hit queer romcom Merry & Gay (2022) and is currently editing two additional documentary features. Locally to Minneapolis, they have been interviewed on Film in Minnesota and Where To From Here, and invited to teach their approach to life-affirming filmmaking at Moonplay Cinema, Film North, and various educational institutions. In addition to filmmaking she loves writing, singing, and daydreaming, and tries her hand at improv, drawing, cello, sailing, French, and other whims that occur to her. Simone’s creative lineage also includes countless childhood movies made with her sister in northern Minnesota.

YOUTUBE CHANNEL of SHORTS Recommended viewing: Bathroom Break and To Ana

Chelsea Martin

Graphic Design, 2016

Chelsea graduated MSUM in 2016 with a BFA in Graphic Design. She started working at Target as a contract designer in 2017, designing web & app experiences for Target owned brands. In 2018, she was hired as a Target-employed Digital Designer on the Apparel & Accessories Category Content team. She was promoted to Sr. Digital Designer in 2021 and now focuses on Women's Apparel & Accessories Special Projects. In her current role she works closely with Art Directors, Copywriters and Associate Creative Directors to create engaging and thoughtful content for Target.com and app guests. She leads a group of designers, plays a major role in concepting for photoshoots and has had the opportunity Art Director on photo sets. Outside of her current role, she also works as a designer on the Target Finds team and has volunteered her skills for pro-bono work. In her spare time, she is busy helping her husband with his dog training business, starting new crochet projects and planning her garden.

Chelsea's portfolio

Kyle Odefey

Film, 2021

Kyle Odefey is a award-winning editor and all-around content storyteller. A 2021 graduate of the MSUM Film Production program, Odefey’s portfolio expands across creative, social, broadcast, and 3D animation. While at MSUM, Kyle was a Dragon Mentor for the Film/Animation Learning Community, a manager at the MSUM Film Office, and Vice President of the MSUM Cinethusiasts organization. His short films “Hotline” and “Dormscape” were awarded for Best Editing and Best Experimental Short, respectively, at the 2019 South Dakota Film Festival. Other shorts, such as “These Voyages Unknown”, “Six Hours, Indefinitely”, and “Door Jam” were screened across festivals in New York, Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota. Odefey moved to the United Kingdom in September 2021 to complete a Master’s degree in Film Production at the University of Lincoln. He now works for Synthesia, the world’s leading generative AI video platform, as a Video Editor in London.

Kyle's portfolio

Emily (Zaharia) Skoglund

Graphic Design, 2017

Emily Skoglund graduated from MSUM with a BFA in graphic design in December 2017. Before graduation, she obtained an internship with the Fargo Microsoft campus which eventually led to full-time employment with the UX team. She is currently a User Experience Designer II at Microsoft. She works on UI/UX for Dynamics 365 Finance. In her role, she works with product managers, other designers, and engineers to improve financial professionals' experiences in the product. She enjoys working through complex problems to make experiences better for customers. Outside of work, Emily enjoys traveling and spending time with family and friends.

Luke Steichen

Film, 2020

Luke Steichen is the Lead Video Director and Co-Owner of Chezy, a video marketing startup based in Fargo, ND. In the Spring of 2020, Luke graduated from Minnesota State University Moorhead with a BA in Film Production. In the fall of 2021, after working through a video marketing internship and multimedia role at the Fargo-Moorhead Convention & Visitors Bureau, he accepted a position at Advertise Edge (Chezy's parent company). From there, Luke helped launch and develop Chezy. Since graduation, Luke became an award winning video director, has filmed on over 100 different video shoots, edited hundreds of videos, and became a co-owner. Luke loves all things video, but loves the people side of his job even more. The client relationships, the problem solving, the interesting experiences, and the continuous learning and development. 

Chezy Demo Reel

Sidney Thompson

Film and Animation, 2021

Sidney Thompson graduated from MSUM in 2021 with a BA in Animation, Film Production and a minor in Film Studies. As a filmmaker and animator, they have had their work screened in various venues around the U.S, Asia, and Europe and accumulated a few awards. Since graduation, they have spent time working in a video production house and produced videos for clients around southeastern Minnesota. Currently, they split their time working as  Communications and Media Specialist in Rochester, MN, and as a scriptwriter/editor for Psych2Go - a psychology education website. Outside of work, they enjoy diving headfirst into numerous passion projects.

Sidney's portfolio

Danny Tusa

Graphic Communications, 2018

Born in Indianapolis, MN in 1993 to Jim and Lori Tusa, Danny Tusa is their youngest son behind his older brother, Nate. Starting in media and design at a very young age, Danny enjoyed making Saturday Night Live style skits with his friends which are still housed on VHS tapes in an old bureau at his parents’ place. Danny also enjoys developing 3D models for video game modifications, which is a hobby he began during his high school years.Danny graduated from Minnesota State University Moorhead in December of 2018 with a B.A. in Graphic Communications where his capstone project surrounded  developing 3D models, animations and print publications for one of his all time favorite video games. He is also the owner, emcee and disk jockey of his family entertainment business, Shooting Star Sound and Lights. Today, Danny can be found in West Fargo as the Multimedia Developer for Multitechnical Publication Services, a company which designs Operation and Service Manuals and Kit Instructions for clients in the Fargo Moorhead area including Bobcat, Amity and Camoplast. During his time at Multitech, Danny has had the pleasure of exploring the field of Graphic Communications through technical animations, video and audio editing, and his love of programming through unique educational animations, web development, and creating adobe app plugins.

Henry Von Ohlen

Animation, 2020

Henry Von Ohlen is a Content Creator at Lightning Media Co, an online marketing company based in Fargo, ND. In the Spring of 2020, he graduated from MSUM with a BA in Animation. After graduating, he began working as an editing intern for a local YouTube personality called “Blitz.” After finishing his internship, Henry became a full-time employee at Blitz’s company, Lightning Media Co. Since then, Henry has edited more daily videos and sponsored integrations than he can count, as well as created a short animated video which has more than 1.6 million views on YouTube. Early last year, Henry became a full-time Content Creator and began his own YouTube channel, called “Interndotgif.” He now has over 160,000 subscribers and more than 20 million total views.

Portfolio Links:
Interndotgif channel
Animation on Blitz channel

• 10:00 - 11:30 General Session
• 11:30 - 11:45 Lunch Break
• 11:45 - 12:30 Breakout sessions