Stephen Turner sees the University of Georgia through a unique lens.

As an instructional video production specialist, he’s showing and telling people about the impact the School of Social Work makes in Georgia and beyond.

“It’s super fulfilling to know that everything you’re writing, shooting and editing is going to help somebody, whether that’s someone who is working in social work or a student who has that passion and wants to help people,” he said. “I’m not out there doing it myself, but I’m hopefully creating content for them to go out and do good in the world.”

Turner’s interest in video production began in high school, making short videos with his friends. He decided to study it and earned his bachelor’s degree from the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication in 2013.

“I found what my niche is,” he said.

Out of college, he turned to television production, working for Turner Studios and NBA TV. Looking for a more regular work schedule, he then took a position with the Zaxby’s corporate office doing video production for its internal communications team. A friend sent Turner the job description for his current position, and he’s been with the School of Social Work for two years.

His position began with grant funding to create training videos that bridge the gap between students and professionals working in the child welfare field. Turner built a video training library for Zaxby’s, so that fit his skill set perfectly.

That quickly expanded to content creation for the school as a whole. Now, he also creates videos for the school’s social media, makes recruitment videos to encourage more applications and handles the audiovisual needs at the school’s events.

“It’s all about elevating the profile of the school,” he said. “To know that you’re creating content that going to be helpful in the future and have an impact on someone’s life in Georgia or even the nation is very fulfilling,” he said.

The School of Social Work recently celebrated its 60th anniversary, and Turner had a hand in all of the media for the events, including video interviews with all five of the school’s current and past deans. He’s also working on projects about the school’s in-the-field student practicum and another one centering on virtual reality assessments.

“The end goal is to make social work more approachable,” he said.

Each project begins by understanding the goal and the audience. A formal training video for the Division of Family and Children Services will look and feel completely different from a fast, energetic recruitment video aiming to get someone to continue their social work education.

From there, Turner settles on the concept and lays out the details in a video brief. His days are never really the same — some may be spent on a shoot while others might be spent at his computer editing, which has captured his attention over the last couple of years.

“It’s interesting to take something and know you can make five different stories out of it and create five different emotions,” he said.

His love of this kind of work extends beyond UGA. He’s a huge hockey fan and produces content for the Athens Rock Lobsters and Akins Ford Arena. He also produces several podcasts. But most of his time away from the office is spent with his family, including his two young children.

At work and in his outside projects, storytelling is at the center of all he does.

“The most important part of my job is being able to get stories out there to people who might not understand what it’s like for everyone else. It’s highlighting how people unlike yourself live,” he said. “It’s amazing to have my eyes opened in that way and take that and spin it into story form. My goal is to shed that light for other people, too.”