Vinson Valega is a Media Producer, Jazz Musician & Activist.
He is a full-time freelancer attracted to compelling ideas told through creative storytelling.
After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in Economics in 1987, he moved to New York and immediately fell in love with the city. In the 1990s, Vinson studied jazz performance at the Mannes College of Music (now part of the New School) and began his freelance music career. Around that time, he began booking live jazz ensembles for corporate and private events through his newly minted music agency, Just Jazz.
In 2003, his activism took off when he began blogging and making original jazz recordings accompanied by his liner notes focused on social change. Then in 2009, he turned his music label, Consilience Productions, into a 501(C)(3) Non-Profit Organization that uses music to increase civic engagement.
As his music career was proceeding, he simultaneously began working as a Project Manager on large-scale public art commissions by his wife, artist Sharon Louden. Then in 2014 after graduating from a video journalism program at the Columbia University School of Journalism, he founded Vinson Media Production, a video production company dedicated to telling important personal stories using moving images. In 2016 he added to his portfolio of creative skills by becoming a Squarespace specialist, designing beautiful mobile-friendly websites for creatives, non-profits, and small businesses.
Vinson now lives in Jackson Heights, Queens with Sharon.
