Storytelling That Stands Out

In 2013, Johnny Gagnon Jr., while still a student at USM, was assigned to be the project manager and videographer for a student project that required a team of students to create a marketing campaign and a brand design for a local apple orchard. The project was a total success and made Johnny realize how valuable these services were. Johnny was about to graduate and had no jobs lined up, so with a small business loan and a hunch, Johnny founded Tomekin Media that spring.

For almost ten years now Johnny and Tomekin Media have helped businesses and organizations share their stories through video, photography, and graphic design.

Founder, Johnny Gagnon Jr. was raised by a family of storytellers along the Kennebunk River, in  Kennebunk, Maine. A river, with deep ancestral roots for Johnny. He was extremely fortunate to grow up around both of his great-grandparents, Leslie and Val Ranco. They were both Penobscot Indians born of modest means, and they demonstrated to Johnny, the importance of hard work and dedication. Over the years they instilled in him a great appreciation of his heritage, and the essential need for good storytelling in the world. As Johnny got older, that foundation spawned a passion for the arts, especially that of film. His first job was at a movie theater, and as a teenager you could find him with his cousin’s camcorder directing utterly unknowable classics, like The Other Pocket and Murder at Fish Bait Tackle

Unsure on how to make those dreams into reality at first, Johnny chose to major in Psychology at the University of Southern Maine. After college he found himself traveling the world. Working for an airline, which gave him the privilege of learning from other cultures and seeing some of Earth’s most treasured lands. All the while, he continued to harness his craft of storytelling, primarily through the medium of writing both creative stories and journaling his worldly adventures and the all the enchanting people he met along the way.

Johnny returned to Maine in 2011 and once again attended the University of Southern Maine. This time with a renewed purpose and focus. He majored in Media Studies / Communication and a minor in creative writing. He graduated in the spring of 2013, the same semester he founded Tomekin Media. Immediately booking his first client, Garbage to Garden. A new company in their own right at the time, they were exactly the type of innovative, community oriented business who’s stories Johnny wanted to tell. That fall Johnny and Tomekin Media were subcontracted to work on their first feature film, Child of Grace. Fulfilling a lifetime dream of Johnny.

For ten years Johnny has run Tomekin Media. Building a team of collaborators. Improving his skills, and investing in top of the line gear. Telling stories and filming a number of different projects, small and large, local, and beyond.