Alumni and Friends Making an Impact

For Erica Reist Bass ’15, the road to her first Emmy is similar to the patient stories she tells — winding and totally unexpected.

During her four years at the University of Dayton, and for a few years after graduation, Bass thought her calling lay in a different profession than video production, even though it had long been something she enjoyed.

“I was worried that if I made my hobby into a profession, I wouldn’t love it the same way,” said Bass. “Would that change everything for me?”

By the time the pandemic was underway in 2020, Bass was facing a fork in the road. Encouragement from family and friends had her thinking that maybe video production could be her full-time career. She had been picking up freelance video work for two years but choosing a new path would mean moving on from the career she’d prepared for at UD.

“I was feeling the pressure that, because I had a degree in something, I thought I needed to do that,” said Bass.

But when the door opened for change, Bass was ready. Those freelance jobs helped her build a portfolio of work that earned her a job at Michigan Medicine as a video producer. Bass works with a small team of video producers and takes the lead on creating videos about cancer patients and the journeys they face. Before every story, Bass gets to know the patient to put together a list of questions for them to answer on camera. She takes those answers to shape and edit the story that’s shared with the public.

“Everything is done with the patient and their story in mind,” said Bass. “I transform their spoken narrative into video format, keeping it true to them and their health journey.”

The first patient story she told was Michael’s. Just days before competing in a triathlon, he learned he had colon cancer.

“He had this moment during the race when things stood still, and he actually processed that he had cancer,” said Bass. “He crossed the finish line, then started fighting his cancer with the same determination. He’s now cancer free.”

A few months later, her co-workers submitted the video she created with Michael for a regional Emmy Award. And, perhaps only to her own surprise, she received a nomination.

Then, she won.

“I’m so thankful for those who never batted an eye and said I could do this. I had the best support in the world,” said Bass.

Even with her first Emmy win, and a few more stories under her belt, Bass isn’t afraid to admit that she’s still learning. She’s excited to keep telling patient stories and hopes that other Flyers learn from her own story.

“It’s OK not to have everything planned out,” said Bass. “It’s OK to change your mind. Be gentle with yourself and know that it’s OK to try something. If it doesn’t work out, it doesn’t work out.”

And even though she’s now in a very different place than she expected as a student, Bass says what she learned at UD is still at the heart of what she’s doing.

“UD is a home for storytelling. We celebrated stories already written, and it’s where we shaped our stories without even realizing it.”