Jayson Albright is an award-winning creative strategist and multimedia producer known for the humor and heart he pours into his work. Connection-driven and adept at finding the right narrative direction for a project, “Jay” bridges fluid thinking with polished execution—bringing together strategy, design, writing, and production across social, stage, print, digital, and broadcast.
Jay’s career includes entertainment and broadcast production alongside nonprofit and community-based leadership. Over the years, he has led creative direction and brand storytelling for audience-centered organizations, produced campaigns and event-driven experiences, and delivered content that holds up across platforms and segments. Regularly trusted to represent organizations directly, Jay’s easygoing charm and natural comfort on camera and in the room have also made him a go-to front-facing presence. Whether working solo or alongside a team, he brings clarity to the process and delivers finished work that’s on-brand and built to hold up in the real world.
He takes the work seriously, but not himself—bringing joy, curiosity, and care to both the work and the people he makes it with. Always with a smile, powered by Pure Imagination.
Jay is currently working on multiple projects under his Your Pal, Jay brand and open to partnering with new collaborators and organizations. Reach out by email to start the conversation!
“Thank you for stopping by! I’ve not spent a lot of time here on my own site as I generally choose to pour my efforts into the projects I’m working on. Below is a quick collection to give you a taste (in addition to the fridge above), and I’ve broken down one of my all-time favorite collaborations because it was such a joy to work on.”
Quick Video Hits
This video sampler was cobbled together a while back; I believe the most recent clip included is circa 2017. Many of the clips are Telly Award-winning spots of mine, and one is the winner a Froggy Award–a coveted, though not widely recognized, industry award from The WB Network. The cool thing about that last one is I was one of the first (if not the first) to win the award from a small-to-midsized market, as generally they were awarded to markets like Los Angeles or St. Louis. Most of the clips included here were produced by me, while a few were promotional vids produced by others for projects I was helming or featured in.
Recent Commercial Spot
The owner of Coney McKane’s very specifically wanted a “90s sitcom opening credits sequence” for their new spot, ending with a “seat waiting for you” final tableau. I quickly whipped up the theme song to go along with the classic shots of staff we needed to pull it off. The spot has been released online (with a vertical edit) and is currently airing locally. The establishment is well known for the friendly faces that work there so they’ve all been getting some wonderful feedback on their commercial!
You’ll definitely want to unmute this one!
Social Examples
I have been intentionally absent in my own personal social media output for years now, with my focus turned primarily towards elevating the content of organizations and projects I take part in. The following have been chosen to show off different styles within a specific framework while at Children’s Museum of Illinois. You’ll see quite a bit of my additional work within these posts, including some fun motion graphics AND the scribbled museum logo I based off an actual drawing found at the museum’s Young at Art section. You can see the different iterations I ended up producing from it… shoutout to the young artist, T.J.
I’ve also tossed in a promotion for a production of Ken Ludwig’s Baskerville to show a much simpler social execution, not counting the poster art featured at the end (that took some doing). A personal highlight of the entire lot is the Hard Hat video–one of many starring the loveably gruff character I created. Hard Hat was a voice I could slip into very easily, and I always enjoyed seeing where his videos would go as they were sometimes informational, sometimes promotional, and always a bit silly.
Long Form Video
A couple of long form narratives, also from my museum days. I directed, wrote, lensed, and edited them both. The Noon Year presentation is a full 30 minute countdown to a noontime celebration produced during the pandemic. It was an absolute monster of an undertaking and a joy to work on. Big shout out to our featured performers, Micheal and Zach of The Awesome Squad, and all the participating children’s museums across Illinois and Indiana who sent in vids for inclusion. An especially huge thanks to the Children’s Discovery Museum for coordinating the streaming of the show. I don’t recall the exact tune-in numbers but know they were huge!
Another pandemic-era fave was the run of Game of Cups promos produced for the Decatur Area Arts Council. These were all pun-heavy spots I wrote and produced AND is an example of my event crafting– I created Game of Cups after executive director Jerry Johnson brought up the idea to do a “socially cautious” event held prior to full isolation. Many of the red Solo cup based games were rebranded favorites (think beer pong) but I built several games from scratch as well as introducing “curveball” mechanics to some of the established games. The whole thing was a rousing success and full versions of the games were held post-pandemic to acclaim as well. To his credit, Jerry actually came up with the moniker for the games after much over-thinking by both of us. I am currently developing a standalone version of the game to be enjoyed by a larger audience.
Spotlight: Color Me Badd
I had a lot of fun during my time with Color Me Badd. Prior to their splintering, Mark, Bryan, and Kevin were working towards a return to releasing original music, and I was fortunate enough to be along for the ride. Creatively, this was an insanely fertile period; heck, Mark and I were touching base darn-near daily for a stretch, so much was happening. I cannot express enough how much I appreciate him, Kev, and Bryan welcoming me into their bubble to the extent they did.
I was given the opportunity to creatively flex in so many ways working with them: I crafted a revised version of their classic logo, built and maintained their website of the time, produced EPK materials, press releases, publicity photos, etc. I managed their social media output and fan interactions, initiated promotions and contests, and acted in a road manager capacity for certain events and performances. I was also in the process of documenting their comeback, including recording sessions in Nashville’s Music Row– footage that will sadly never see the light of day. Additionally, I produced artwork for singles that never got released– a shame cuz the tracks were shaping up to be so so good–and one that did. “Skywalkin'” was the first new Color Me Badd music released since 1998, and was dropped as a limited time charity single after a horrific storm tore through Oklahoma City, their collective hometown. Here’s hoping it might see a re-release at some point as it’s a fantastic tune.
When their split occurred, I worked with Bryan for a spell as he focused on his solo career. I produced all of the aforementioned Color Me Bad elements for him as well (logo, website, etc), though the real fun started when he mentioned wanting to do something he had always wanted to but never did… record Christmas music. The LP “Songs for the Season” began to take shape immediately, with Bryan writing a song (“Home Again Christmas”) specifically for the project ultimately produced by the great Hamza Lee. Bryan was also planning to record an a cappella tune I had written, tentatively titled “Every Day Holiday” though that changed once I pitched him on an entirely different idea. Let me explain.
Bryan had a show scheduled in Cali, and on the way there I started thinking about a demo he had shared with me, one slated initially for CMB but nothing had ever come of it. Because of the way my brain works, I started playing with the lyrics and, once we had touched down, I pitched him what I had come up with, explaining, “You know, if you change all the lyrics, you’ve got a song about elves.” His immediate delight with the idea led to a request to hear it via demo, so that night I recorded one. It was during this proof-of-concept phase that I added a rap into the mix that previously had not been part of the track…
The new “elf song” demo was a hit, and with Bryan having written the original melody for the tune he was much more comfortable focusing our limited time in the studio on that track. That said, when it came time to record the rap, Bryan turned to me and said with a laugh, “Jay. You know you’re the only one who can perform this part.” And that, dear reader, is how I ended up on the track as the one and only high-pitched playa, Elf Elf Cool J.
As amazing as it woulda been to hear his vocals on “Every Day Holiday,” this was absolutely the right call, and “Elf Anthem” ended up not only kicking off the LP (and ending it, with a remix), it kicked off an entire blitz around the LP’s release!
When we announced the LP we also announced a contest. Six lucky fans would be drawn into an exclusive “Elf Anthem” themed alternate cover for the LP featuring a toon’d version of Bryan, the fans, and a host of elves that would be featured in daily posts leading up to the cover’s reveal. It was a whole lotta drawing for me but WOW this was a fun time, creating the advent calendar posts and cover itself. The fans were thoroughly enjoying the promotion, and we heard such lovely things about how much they were enjoying the music.
Although we had loads more planned, ultimately my work with Bryan ended when he decided to focus on his health and entered rehab–a good thing. Since then, Bryan has released some new music, and so has Mark as Color Me Badd (he’s still actively touring, too). I’m so happy to see these two doing what they do and will always be rooting for these fellas!
Christmastime in Soy City was originally written for an all-original musical, “A Merry Ol’ Radio Holiday Show.” Developed by myself and members of The Kablooey Group, I wrote the book for the production as well as the majority of the songs, along with our music director Doug Nicholson. This particular track was produced as a fundraiser for the Decatur Area Arts Council, and is quite different from the stage version, as seen in the video.
What a joy to write–this is a love letter to our home town. In-show, the tune kicks off an hourlong radio program along the lines of the old Prairie Home Companion; a portion of the show written to be a fully produceable program in it’s own right. In fact, we actually presented this part of the show live on a local radio station, two years in a row on our opening nights.
Full of shameless plugging and mugging, the song was a highlight of every performance and, in addition to the recorded version, was resurrected to center an additional fundraiser for the Arts Council years later. Braun Sheets produced the recorded version, and it features additional horns arranged by Neal Smith. Cover art is mine and believe me, that image means something in my neck of the woods!
Here’s a lovely piece on the musical itself, produced by Limitless Decatur and Now Decatur. What a treat to present this show at the historic Lincoln Theatre!