About Root Branch Media Group
Making Media That Makes a Difference.
Root Branch Media Group founder and CEO, Vonnya Pettigrew named her company after her family’s property, located on Root Branch Road in South Carolina.
“When I established my business, I wanted it to name it after something with purpose and meaning.” Root Branch is my family’s legacy. Our mantra is that we make ‘meaningful media – media that makes a difference’.”
Since 2006 we have served the DMV, offering services in video production, creative development, motion graphics, branded content, storyboarding, casting, cinematography, photography, sound design, graphic, and web design. We are most notably known for our Film Academy, providing film and digital media arts instruction to youth in grades K – 12 in partnership with school districts and youth organizations throughout our region. Our mission is to give students (particularly students of color) the voice they deserve and the chance to use media in a meaningful way that rewrites the narrative of how they are seen in and depicted by the media.
Our CEO
Vonnya Pettigrew | CEO
Media Mogul Dr. Vonnya Pettigrew, HonD is the CEO, founder and visionary of the Root Branch empire consisting of: The RBMG Building, Root Branch Office Solutions, Root Branch Press Coffee & Co., 501(c)3 Root Branch Arts and Outreach Institute Inc., and Root Branch Media Group, an award-winning media production firm headquartered along Baltimore's beautiful waterfront in Canton Harbor.
Dr. Pettigrew has twenty seven years of professional media experience as a filmmaker, writer, TV producer, director, instructor and casting agent. She’s produced content for government agencies, corporations, universities and broadcast networks such as Discovery, TV One, and Baltimore’s Charm TV.
Dr. Pettigrew is a Philadelphia native. She earned her Bachelor’s of Arts degree in Communications from the University of Maryland College Park. She is currently an alum of the 2023 Baltimore Leadership Class, and an alumni of the Goldman Sachs 10KSB Program.
Dr. Pettigrew is a member of The CEO Club, the National Coalition of 100 Black Women, NABJ - National Association of Black Journalist, BABJ – Baltimore Association of Black Journalist, NAACP Baltimore - National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the Baltimore City Chamber of Commerce, NAWBO - National Association of Women Business Owners DC, a Distinguished Toastmaster and former White House Intern (1999 – President Clinton).
In 2023 she received an honorary doctorate degree in Business Philosophy from Trinity International University of Ambassadors (TIUA). Also in 2023 was named Top 100 Women in Maryland by the Daily Record and received the Women of Vision Award by the Women in Film and Video (WIFV) in Washington, DC. Other recipients of this distinguished award include Cicely Tyson, Ruby Dee, Gwen Ifill, Penny Marshall and Tipper Gore.
She’s been written about in publications including the Bloomberg Quarterly Report, the Baltimore Business Journal, The Daily Record, Baltimore Times, Baltimore Magazine, the AFRO Paper, Frederick News Post, the Prince George's Gazette and has been featured both nationally and globally on Voice of America.
Dr. Pettigrew has recently been appointed to the Board of Directors for the Red Cross of Central Maryland. She also currently sits on the EXCEL- Excellence in Entrepreneurial Learning advisory board - a collaborative initiative of Annie E. Casey Foundation and Coppin State University and the advisory council for Frostburg State University department of Communications.