Laney Kraus-Taddeo is a 2019 UNI graduate and a strong example of what UNI students have achieved following graduation.
Shortly after graduating, Kraus-Taddeo began her work for former Vice President Kamala Harris. She worked with Harris in several roles, including associate producer for her 2019 campaign and a producer on both the 2020 Biden-Harris campaign and senior producer on the 2024 Harris-Walz campaign. Additionally, she worked on the Presidential Inaugural Committee following Biden’s win in 2020 and worked to build the DNC’s GIPHY page, many of which have over four billion views now.
Kraus-Taddeo graduated from UNI with a degree in digital media production and strongly believes that UNI was the key to her success. “I was able to set a really good work ethic early on my freshman year, and learned through the media department, with Joe Marchesani, who I worked for at the time, how to log footage from the UNI volleyball team,” states Kraus-Taddeo.
She goes on to talk about how working in the media department allowed her to gain stamina in the logging and editing she did that she now uses every day working in her various roles including politics, the music industry and making social video content for artists like JLO, the Jonas Brothers and Katy Perry. “I was able to do a lot of the work I learned in school in my career,” Kraus-Taddeo adds.
In her time at UNI, Kraus-Taddeo built several strong relationships with her professors, many of whom she still talks to today. “I have a rolodex of relationships with my professors. I still talk to them now. Professor Phil Hopper, professor Chris Martin, professor David O’Shields, professor Eric Braley, just so many of them have been so influential still.” she emphasizes. She goes on to say how they continue to cheer her on and she gets to update them on all the things she has been able to do post-graduation.
Following her time working for the Harris campaign, Kraus-Taddeo joined the entrepreneurial industry, starting her own company Act Write Here. “It’s a company that will connect actors with writers for virtual table reads,” states Kraus-Taddeo. She goes on to talk about how it is a way for writers to hear works performed, exercise their creative muscle and connect actors who aren’t part of the main media markets in places like LA, New York or Chicago. Kraus-Taddeo hopes that her new business will have an impact on art, creating the space which allows writers and storytellers to have a place to develop their work safely and collaboratively.
Outside of her work for her company, Kraus-Taddeo works on a variety of freelance projects. Her freelance work has allowed her to experience some incredible opportunities and travel all over the world. “A lot of the freelance work [comes] from communities and members that I’ve met along my way in politics, along my way in the creative space, [and] have been able to springboard me into some really incredible opportunities,” she states.
Kraus-Taddeo is a prime example of what it means to have a go-getter attitude after graduation. “So many of these opportunities were self-made,” Kraus-Taddeo states. “I didn’t apply in a job listing for anything in politics. I sent an email and I was like “Hey, I saw some of your organizers at an event, and I made a video, and you should hire me.” While Kraus-Taddeo has held a variety of positions, each one of her roles, both in college and after graduating, has allowed her to acquire the knowledge and skills needed to continue to see success.
