Divonna Ratliff

Divonna gets to the heart of a story, and tells it with feeling. She started her career in informal science education, writing and producing star shows for the planetarium theater at the Oregon Museum Science and Industry.  Later she developed and managed exhibit projects at OMSI, most notably “Star Trek: Federation Science.” A highlight of her life was writing scripts for Captain Picard & Data and directing them on the set of the “Enterprise.”  This $1.2 million project was translated into 7 languages and travelled the world.  During her time at OMSI she wore many hats, learning new skills to fill in wherever there was a need for creative problem solving.  She was a researcher & writer, a photographer, a sound technician, and narrator.  Fun fact—for a time she was the voice the “Transparent Lady" as well as that of the museum’s answering machine. 

Through educational media, Divonna learned how to convey the essence of a message in the most concise and engaging way possible, to capture the attention of people with so many choices of focus.  Her work on an exhibit for young children, “Richard Scarry’s Busytown," led her to the Portland Children’s Museum as Exhibit Director. There she discovered a passion for communicating the stories of children’s learning to adults.  She travelled to Reggio Emilia, Italy, to learn their unique method of listening, observing, and documenting children’s learning, and applied it to the learning environment of the new Children’s Museum in Washington Park.

Since 2001, her chosen method of storytelling has been video. Starting as an editor at KPTV, she quickly became the Post-Production Manager for the weekly TV show, “Good Day Oregon Home & Garden,” hosted by David Schmitke.  She also edited promotional videos and commercials, applying her sense of story & her experience communicating complex topics to public audiences.  She was also a Floor Director & Sound Technician for the morning news show, Good Day Oregon.

She has been working as a freelance videographer and editor ever since.  She shoots, writes, edits & narrates stories for businesses & non-profits, wearing all the many hats of creative storytelling and problem-solving, just as she always has. She also applies her background in television news to shoot video for Crisis Media Training and Speaker Coaching. Her sensitive attention to the needs of her clients, and her clients’ clients, makes her a valued member of any team.