Suzi Pond describes herself as a “once geeky Gen X kid with lots of time and a mid-’80s Macintosh to master.” She spent years working in journalism at the Portland Press Herald, as well as in documentary and nonprofit fundraising. In 2014, she pulled those threads together and started a video production company in Freeport, Maine, naming it for the redbird, “a cross-cultural symbol of hope and resilience,” writes Maine Magazine.
More than a decade later, Redbird Media Group has become one of Maine’s go-to storytellers for organizations and companies working to support the local community. The company amplifies the work of mission-driven groups through video and audio, and it does so as a certified B Corporation and a women-owned Maine business. The throughline is simple: Redbird tells the stories of people doing good work, and tries to run itself the same way. “At Redbird, being a force for good is always front, center, and top of mind. For us, this means lifting people and organizations, amplifying what they do, and, ultimately, creating impact to drive change,” Pond described. She added, “It’s a responsibility that we take seriously. We want to empower people and effect positive social and environmental change.”
Pond traces the idea back to a single encounter. She became interested in the B Corp movement after meeting Margo Walsh, founder of MaineWorks, nearly a decade ago. The B Corp framework, which evaluates a company’s impact on workers, the community, and the environment alongside its financial health, gave that instinct structure. Redbird became a certified B Corp in 2022. That certification is not a logo of convenience. B Lab, the nonprofit behind the credential, scored Redbird at 118.2 on its impact assessment, against a median of 50.9 for ordinary businesses that complete the same evaluation.
Photo Courtesy Redbird Media Group
For a Mainer who has lived in the state since 2003, the work is all about local impact. In its 2024 impact reporting, the company said that 89% of its revenue came from Maine-based customers. The company has also run on 100% renewable energy since 2024, which drives a local environmental impact. “Community solar is a great way to access clean, sustainable energy and support local landowners who receive financial benefits through hosting. The ownership model of community solar that ReVision offers made the switch from fossil fuels to renewable energy an easy and seamless business decision to make,” Pond reflected. Perhaps most importantly, every customer said Redbird’s work helped further their mission, while Redbird paid every employee a living wage.
The business case is in the results its clients get. More than three-quarters of Redbird’s films, according to that same impact reporting, have been used in fundraising campaigns. Maine Magazine reported in 2022 that those films had helped Maine nonprofits raise more than $4.5 million. For a small organization trying to make a case to donors, a three-minute film that captures why the work matters can do what a brochure cannot.
Redbird’s client roster reads like a map of Maine’s sustainable economy. The company has produced films for ReVision Energy, the employee-owned solar installer and fellow B Corp, which actually helped Redbird adopt solar power. One campaign centered on the idea that electricians will save the world. “Did you know that the U.S. will need more than 1 million new electricians by 2030, and that for every new electrician we train in the next decade, two electricians are expected to retire or change careers,” a group of children said in the video. “We have the solutions to fix the climate crisis, but we just don’t have the electricians to do it. It’s time you reconsider how you talk to kids about the trades.”
Photo Courtesy ReVision Energy
Redbird also worked with ecomaine to promote refill stores and local food waste recycling programs. Matt Grondin, former ecomaine Director of Communications & Public Affairs, reflected, “The videos helped to increase public awareness about the great work being done in Maine to sustainably manage waste and improve our environment and strengthened our ties with communities and community members, growing the number and strength of ecomaine’s ambassadors.” Meanwhile, the message of environmental restoration was front and center in Redbird’s work with the Atlantic Salmon Federation. Maranda Nemeth, former Maine Headwaters Project Manager, commented, “Redbird’s final film helped stakeholders to actually see endangered Atlantic salmon that are in the rivers in Maine and gives viewers the chance to immerse into the rivers and projects we work on.”
The recognition has followed the work. In 2022, Maine Magazine named Pond a “Mainer of the Year” in its business category. In 2025, Redbird’s short film “Good Relatives,” made for the Trust for Public Land, debuted at the Mountainfilm Festival in Telluride, Colorado. Directed by Pond, the film follows Indigenous archaeologist Dr. Bonnie Newsom of the Penobscot Nation as she reconnects with ancestral art forms, set against the Trust for Public Land’s effort to return nearly 30,000 acres to the Penobscot Nation.
The company is also deliberate about where it stands. Redbird acknowledges that it works on the land of the Wabanaki Confederacy and lists a deep bench of Maine artists, photographers, writers, cinematographers, and sound engineers among its collaborators, treating freelance creative work as part of the local economy it serves.
Photo Courtesy Redbird Media Group
Perhaps the clearest illustration of why this work matters came in 2025, when Redbird collaborated with the nonprofit Maine Youth Thriving on a series of youth-led public service announcements about mental health. The campaign grew out of a youth advisory group and was filmed at the Freeport library, with teenagers speaking directly to the camera about the struggles their peers face. The team created the campaign in memory of Theo Ferrara, a Freeport teenager whose loss moved the community, and it carried a message the teens themselves shaped. As one young participant offered, “Kindness is everywhere. It’s just a matter of finding it … and being it.”
Photo Courtesy Redbird Media Group
That is the kind of project that shows financial success and community investment go hand in hand. Pond describes the chance to give back to the state and its people, alongside other kindred spirits, as an honor. A decade in, Redbird has shown that a small Maine company can build a durable business by helping its neighbors tell the truth about the good they are trying to do.
