Raheem Dawson was born during the 1980s in Los Angeles and therefore had no choice but to plan for a career in the entertainment industry.

After a childhood of writing (very long) short stories and creating riveting video projects for school (Indiana Dawson and The Untitled 12th Grade Superhero Western Project to name a couple), the time came to choose an institution of higher learning. Raheem envisioned going to school in a city that artists flock to for inspiration and vibrance. A creative and cultural mecca of sorts…

Instead, he ended up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. An unconventional choice no doubt, but a choice he would never regret.

After college, Raheem returned to Los Angeles—much more accustomed to cold weather, gigantic sandwiches and people referring to soda as “pop”—with a degree in Film Studies and Communication from the University of Pittsburgh.

A few months and a couple of service industry jobs later, Raheem landed his first job in TV at VH1 where reality TV shows were just beginning their quest for global domination. From there, he continued to work on a variety of documentary and reality TV projects, making his way up the ladder in the world of freelance TV production. During this time, Raheem was fortunate to learn the ins and outs of production from some very sharp minds and overall cool people.

In January 2011, Raheem effected a slight change of course in his career when he happily accepted an Associate Producer position in the On-Air Promo department with NBC Entertainment.  While he was familiar with the production processes utilized, Entertainment Marketing was a brand new world to him. Raheem enjoyed the challenge of immersing himself in this new world where he supported a team of writer-producers in the daily process of readying promos for broadcast and cut and produced spots of his own for air.

About a year later, Raheem ascended to the position of Production Manager which coincided with the department’s fresh focus on the digital/online landscape.  In this role, Raheem developed and expanded the pipeline for delivering on-air content to internal and external stakeholders in the digital world. A few years later, having grown into and out of the Production Manager position, Raheem was promoted to Senior Manager of Production.  The overall scope of this job was to oversee the post-production of promos and other on-air content specifically designated for digital platforms. Raheem was responsible for maintaining and distributing digital assets both internally and externally and managed the workflow of an editor assigned to such requests.

In 2017, after about six years in TV Promo with NBC, Raheem made an internal move within the company to Universal Pictures Home Entertainment. As a Senior Creative Manager on the Marketing Team, Raheem currently manages the creation of AV assets that support the worldwide digital and physical releases of Universal Pictures titles.

In his free time, Raheem enjoys traveling (yes, like most other adult humans) and serves as an At-large Representative and Communications Committee co-chair on the board of his local Neighborhood Council.  However, “free time” has become more and more of an abstract concept since the birth of his son Zaír in May, 2017 and his daughter Yuna in May, 2019.

Resume.

Some Things I’ve Made.

In my current role, I manage the creation of Video Assets that support our releases. Fortunate to work on a wide array of titles and provide input to our internal creative team and outside vendors that shape the assets and overall campaigns.
We used an outside agency to create this fun :30 social and in-store spot for Croods 2: A New Age that promoted an exclusive gift with purchase available at Target.
We had some really great assets to piggyback off of from the Theatrical team for Queen & Slim. Here, we put a short video where a still graphic was to make an engaging social sell.
Boogie had a very bold and distinct look for their still social posts, so we cut a short video that could live inside a frame and included an “Own It” message there.
Even though it feels like a million years ago, including a sampling of my old NBC On-Air Promo work as it still serves as the foundation for my career in Entertainment Marketing.

An approved and finished :15 for the return of Fear Factor that never ran because the music ended up being too expensive 🙁
Here’s a cute :15 spot for a show that probably didn’t need my help getting it noticed for Emmy consideration.
This is a :30 for a funny little show called The Marriage Ref that not a lot of people watched. Though, the advice has come in very handy.
Outside of the office, I’m a husband and a dad to two pretty cool kids. Here’s a glimpse into that very important part of my life.

My son turned 3, so it seemed like a good time to do a retrospective on his life.

(And, yes…totally aware that I need to do something similar for my daughter before she learns how to use the internet.)
Super fortunate to have gone on such an epic Honeymoon to Morocco, Greece & Italy.

Driving (stick shift!) in Marrakesh was probably the most death-defying thing I’ve ever done in my life…and I loved it.
This is Morocco.