She’s buying back the block!
Dr. Vonya Pettigrew is a multi-hyphenate media professional and the CEO of Root Branch Media Group, the full-service media production company named after her family property located on Root Branch Road in South Carolina, The Baltimore Times reports. Pettigrew, a Philadelphia native, got her start in media after earning her bachelor’s degree from the University of Maryland College Park. From then, she dabbled as an intern in speech writing under President Clinton before completing school and interning for a political news show on Capitol Hill.
“[It] filmed out of Reuters newswire, and so I fell in love with television and film,” Pettigrew told reporters.
She parlayed her skills to become a self-taught scriptwriter, producing content for TV One and Discovery Channel. Now, Pettigrew has built a growing media empire, recently returning to her MD beginnings to purchase an entire block in Baltimore for her media hub. In doing so, Pettigrew has made history as the first Black woman to own a block on Baltimore’s waterfront in Canton Harbor.
Pettigrew was able to make the historical purchase through the Reinvestment Fund, an organization known for funding social impact initiatives. Now, her Root Branch Media Group’s entities will all be housed under one roof in what Pettigrew is calling “The Root Branch Multiverse.” At Pettigrew’s new RBMG Building Canton Harbor, there will be Root Branch Media Group, Root Branch Press Coffee & Co. brand, Root Branch Office Solutions, a property management company, and Root Branch Arts and Outreach Institute, a nonprofit aimed at providing support through education and training programs.
Already, Pettigrew has begun opening her space up to other small business owners in the community, training them through her Root Branch Marketplace Institute. This web series teaches them how to leverage media marketing and digital assets. Business owners appear on her monthly series and are shown how to utilize that video content on their own social media platforms and in annual reports for a nominal fee.
“We’re running it right now for a 10-month season where we air the show once a month. The [nine] Main Streets entity [in Baltimore] have committed to the entire season of the show. So, each month, we feature a different Main Street business in an episode. So, by also having the larger amount of support from the City [of Baltimore], or from different banks, or other businesses that buy ad time on the show, we’re also able to offset the costs for businesses that may need an additional supplement,” Pettigrew explained.
Her ultimate goal is to recreate these hubs in other major cities, acquiring properties and continuing to build media hubs in urban communities like her hometown of Philadelphia.
“I can literally wake up, have an idea [and] by Friday, it becomes a whole website, and then we are doing it…I can reduce some of these barriers and really make people’s dreams become a reality very quickly,” said Pettigrew.
For more information on Dr. Pettigrew and to get connected with her work, visit Root Branch Media Group.
Cover photo: Dr. Vonnya Pettigrew Makes History as First Black Woman to Own a Block in Canton, Maryland/Photo Credit: Root Branch Media Group/The Baltimore Times