Aloha! I’m Steph, short for Stephanie Michelle Lokelani Cullen. Yes, those are two middle names. It’s tradition in our Hawaiian culture! I am a Kānaka Maoli (Native Hawaiian) and direct descendant of King Kamehameha, living in Boise, Idaho. Despite not having an ocean anywhere near me, I have been in Boise for 19-years and through that time have made incredible friends and connections both in the independent film community and the professional business community.

I first fell in love with filmmaking when I was a kid living in Hawai’i. As the oldest of four, I would force my siblings to act out scenes from my favorite TV show, Pippi Longstocking. They’d oblige, because they had to. I’d write the content and direct them, while they would act out the characters, with me playing Pippi, of course. During that same time, in the early 80’s my dad rented the movie E.T. on Betamax and the rest is history. That movie changed my life! It showed me how magical storytelling could be and that anyone could do it with a pack of Reese's Pieces and friends who have your back. Every weekend, Dad would rent movies and we transitioned from Beta to VHS, to DVD, and once I moved out to Blu-Ray, watching all genres of film throughout the years.

In 1993, my Dad took my sister and I to watch Jurassic Park in the movie theatre. It was the scene where the t-rex is pulling the tire off the jeep that made me realize I want to make people feel the way I’m feeling right in this moment. It was excitement filled with anxiety filled with wonder and awe. I looked around the theatre at the people surrounding me, their eyes wide, mouths agape, and thought, “someday, I’m going to make a movie that prompts this reaction.”

While I don’t create movies with dinosaurs, YET, I do create content that makes people feel something. I’ve had multiple people tell me that not only did a video I created for a nonprofit event make them cry, it made them want to give more to that organization to support their efforts in improving our community through their impactful work! I’d call that a successful reaction. And maybe someday, one of my clients will want a dinosaur in their storytelling content.

After leaving home and spending time in various jobs including flipping burgers at Zoo Boise at the age of 28 - it was the recession and the best thing I could find that would even pay minimum wage - I knew I wanted more. I found myself at HP as a data entry specialist. I got to play with spreadsheets all day. About four years into that, I applied for and got a job creating video content for the customer support organization. It was my love of film and weekends spent creating short-form videos with my friends that got me the job. My skills probably helped too. 

While working full time at HP, I attended Full Sail University, where within 32-months I achieved my Bachelor of Science in Digital Cinematography in 2017. It was during my last couple of courses that I formed my first LLC, #OMGFemaleFilmmakers, and kept that production company side-hustle going until January of 2022, when I decided to take a leap and leave my corporate job giving up seven years of cushy benefits to work for myself full time.

That leap has not been easy and there have been a lot of lessons learned along the way, but through these experiences I’ve been able to grow from #OMGFemaleFilmmakers to add OMG Studios Boise, my physical studio space in Garden City, in December of 2022. As I worked my way through my Master of Arts in Communication with an emphasis on New Media and Marketing from Southern New Hampshire University (graduate of 2023), I realized that I needed an umbrella company to hold both my different production companies and my new communication skills. So was born, OMG Media Outlet, an outlet for creative, ethical, and impactful collaborative content creation.

I love creating and sharing stories with people and our community - video is the perfect medium for that.