About Redbird

Check out our updated 2021 Impact Report.

After 15 years working in journalism, documentary and nonprofit fundraising, Suzi started Redbird Media Group in 2014.  Since then, she’s gratefully collaborated with local artists in the film and video industries.

In late 2019, Suzi and Christian crossed paths on a Redbird project for Maine Community Foundation. When Suzi thanked Christian for lending a hand on set, their conversation quickly settled into talking gear, storytelling and travels.

Those initial sparks of friendship ignited a creative partnership. In early 2020, Suzi invited Christian to traverse the icy Maine rivers to capture Atlantic salmon preservation. There’s nothing like passing expensive gear over open water while wearing waders to build trust! Christian joined Redbird full-time in 2021.

Founder / Principal

Suzi Pond

Suzi founded Redbird Media group in 2014 as a way to weave together her experiences in journalism, documentary and nonprofit fundraising. She’s a graduate of Salt Institute for Documentary Studies and her audio storytelling has been heard on NPR. She is still the kid who rents documentaries for fun.

Suzi is an awarding-winning digital journalist and producer who believes in the power of stories to empower and inspire.

Her early love of crafting narrative non-fiction combined with hours spent in the darkroom eventually led her to pursue digital storytelling just as the medium started to emerge in the late 90s.

To this end, she created a major called Hypertext Writing at Skidmore College to explore telling stories using technology. Her early coding skills helped pave the way to journalism positions at Boston magazine, MaineToday.com and the Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram. 

In 2008, she studied audio storytelling at the SALT Institute for Documentary Studies. Her audio work has been featured on NPR’s All Things Considered.

After 10 years in journalism, Suzi became Chief Storyteller at United Way of Greater Portland where she created video and audio stories that engaged the community and helped fundraise for the organization.

In 2014, she founded Redbird Media Group to work with more organizations to amplify their good work using her unique expertise in journalism, documentary and fundraising.

She teaches audio documentary and storytelling workshops at the Quartz Mountain Institute and Maine Media Workshops. Her collaborative film, “Let’s Make a Deal” won First Place at the 2008 Portland Phoenix Film Festival.

She lives in Freeport with her Kiwi husband Gavin, their two boys, a black cat named Lola, four hens and one very loud rooster.

Director of Photography

Christian Kayiteshonga

Christian approaches storytelling with beauty and resonance in mind. He started early thanks to a camera from his Dad. Today, his hands feel empty without one.

Christian grew up in a post-genocide Rwandan landscape. Born in Zaire (now Democratic Republic of Congo), his parents returned to their homeland when Christian was four. They had lived as refugees for nearly 40 years. Among the tenuous peace and devastation of the mid-90s, they began to rebuild their lives and mourn their loved ones.

When Christian was eight, his father gave him a small 35-mm camera. His love was instantaneous and only deepened at the arrival, a week later, of the crisp black and white photographs.  Meanwhile, the country was embarking on an ambitious justice and reconciliation process in search of peace. It was during an annual Day of Remembrance ceremony that Christian first saw his father begin to cry as he listened to the stories bearing witness. It was this moment that solidified Christian’s resolve to continue his purpose of changing the world through storytelling.

While attending a boarding school founded by his Uncle and dedicated to housing orphans of the genocide, Christian was moved by the lack of health awareness among village children. At 17, Christian he founded SekaRwanda, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the distribution of hygiene kits and school supplies to village and rural children. The organization continues its work today.

A graduate of Full Sail Film Program in Florida, Christian’s studies in documentary filmmaking inspired him to keep following the craft. His documentary work includes time embedded with Rwandan President Kagame’s communications team as well as time spent working professionally in Dallas and New York City.

In 2019, Christian accepted RwandaBean Company’s invitation to help with visual storytelling at their South Portland Maine location. Later that year, Suzi walked in to capture the RwandaBean story. 

Christian is a current board member at Maine Film Association.

Sound Engineer

Alice Anderson

Alice studies waveforms and frequencies and is our audio magician behind the scenes. She’s also a integral part of Redbird’s podcasts. She brings the West Coast vibes.

Alice is a proud Oregonian who fell in love with Maine and has been here since 2008. Besides her work at Redbird, Alice spends time at Acadia Recording Company as an audio engineer and at WMPG’s Blunt Youth Radio. When she’s not staring at spectrograms she enjoys sewing, tending to her community garden plot, and beating people at cribbage.

We are grateful to collaborate with an amazing Maine-based community. 

Instructions for living a life:
Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it.

Mary Oliver, “Sometimes,” Red Bird