by Eric J. Wallace
Brenner Vasquez looked ahead to 2020 and thought, “This is going the be my year.” He’d founded D.C. area video production company, 8 Media Group, three years before, and the investment was finally paying off.
Then the pandemic swept across the world, “and it was like, we need to just do whatever we can to survive.” The company tightened its belt, doubled-down on ad contracts in the healthcare space, and weathered the storm. But the stress and increased workload from layoffs ultimately sparked a breakup with his business partner in 2023. Vasquez opted to move back to his hometown of Virginia Beach to be closer to family and regroup.
“I’d just become a father and honestly had no idea what to do next,” he said. Weeks of soul-searching and scrolling through job posts on sites like LinkedIn commenced. “I couldn’t decide if I should try to reboot the business and start over or look for a job,” shared Vasquez, who is now 44. Then the introspection turned thematic.
“I started thinking about the projects that I’d truly loved working on and felt the most passionate about,” Vasquez continued. The gigs with companies, government agencies, and nonprofit organizations—which included social media and ad campaigns for standouts like the Association of American Medical Colleges, United Nations Foundation, and Autism Society of America—all centered around positive, impact-driven missions.
“Those brand stories really resonated with me,” said Vasquez. “I realized they were the ones that I not only wanted to tell, but that I was the best at telling.”
A business name materialized amid the epiphany: Scend Studio. The former’s variant spelling derives from the Latin word scandere (to climb or go up) and means to rise or heave upward under the influence of a wavelike natural force. The verb implied symbolic action and was a nod to the oceanfront locale. It also complimented the theme of Pharrel Williams’ Something in the Water festival—which seeks to combat divisiveness through a massive celebration of local community and culture.
“I looked around at the incredible talent and potential that we have here and saw a lot of opportunity,” said Vasquez. Bigger companies, nonprofits, and municipal groups often outsourced services to firms in major creative hubs like L.A. or New York. The strategy siphoned funds from the local economic ecosystem and brought wildly inflated prices. The lack of local connection sometimes yielded campaigns that felt generic or divorced from place. Mid-sized businesses and content creators, meanwhile, might sacrifice quality and results to save money.
Scend Studios is all geared up for photoshoots and podcasting.
“I wanted to use the knowledge and expertise I’d developed over the years to help affect a rising tide that benefits everyone,” said Vasquez. “My goal was—and remains—to shine a light on the amazing entrepreneurs, artists, companies, and nonprofits of our region, tell their stories, and help elevate their profile to the level where it should be.”
Vasquez reached out to a fleet of about 20 go-to freelancers and launched Scend in June 2024. Former clients like 1,000 Dreams Fund followed him to the new company, and it was off to the races. Contracts with local businesses like Alloy Personal Training—which focuses on healthy lifestyle promotion for adults over 40—and municipal groups like the city of Virginia Beach were quick to follow. Then came a huge shot in the arm: Co-work space and innovation incubator, Assembly Norfolk, partnered with Vasquez to launch a physical studio in its building on Granby Street. The space opened about six months ago. It offers prograde space for everything from headshots, to social media reels, TV commercials, and podcasts.
“That was such a dream-come-true moment,” Vasquez said. “It’s given us a home and really upscaled the scope of what we can do and the impact that we can have for our clients and community.”
Vasquez points to work with Social Supply VA as a case in point. The collective showcases musical and creative talent around Hampton Roads through events and immersive social media experiences at guest spaces like the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art. Scend’s approach to video production, sound engineering, and content strategy radically boosted online engagement—and attracted more than 100,000 followers and 6 million organic views on YouTube alone. The attention has catapulted the group and some featured artists into lowkey stardom virtually overnight. It’s also bolstered brand awareness for partner venues and inspired potential clients to connect about services.
“I’ve had people that we featured call me and say that it was life-changing for them and their career,” said Vasquez. Venues have also reported big bumps in metrics like attendance or sales. Looking to the future, “those are the kind of win-win-win impacts I want to be affecting, where we’re all helping one another and enriching the local culture and community in the process.”
