I'm Arel, and thanks for coming to my website!
A bit about me: After studying musical theatre for four years at a prestigious arts high school, I delved into academia at Florida Gulf Coast University to learn about communications and ways of gamifying classroom pedagogy. I worked on a ton of cool classes as a course assistant (like Civil Rights & Comics and The History of Television), developing content and quizzes for them. I graduated Magna Cum Laude and was a nominee for Student of the Year.
From there, I did the only thing that anyone who loves media and tech could dream of doing: I moved to New York City. I got into NYU’s Steinhardt School of Media, Culture, and Communication on a scholarship and focused on issues plaguing the video game industry, such as layoffs, gender inequality in the workforce, and digital rights management.
While in NYC, I started working for Beldolor Studios, a one-person tabletop roleplaying game miniature company that had just launched a wildly successful Kickstarter campaign. From there, we turned one successful campaign into five, and in the short span of two years found ourselves with a booth at the largest B2B board game expo in the United States, and front and center at the second-largest B2C board game expo in the US. Through these achievements, we collaborated with some of the biggest board game companies in the world, working on projects that brought in hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue.
Hello!
Working a trade show booth for GAMA EXPO, the largest B2B tabletop expo in the United States.
Soon after, I started working for Shipwrecked, a local entertainment and events space in Brooklyn. I started out as a shift manager, learning invaluable management and leadership skills, before being promoted to their social media & marketing manager. Through digital ads, SEO, and collaboration with other businesses, I helped Shipwrecked become a venue that hosted everything from children’s parties to fully catered and bartended events for adults.
I also improved and conceptualized special events at Shipwrecked, such as holiday parties and sensory-friendly nights. These events were met with widespread critical acclaim and media attention, with Shipwrecked's 2024 Halloween event being featured as the backdrop of an article on The New York Times. One of my final projects at the company was setting up a collaboration between Shipwrecked and Barstool Sports, helping host a tournament that would be viewed by millions of followers online.
Flyers and social media posts created for Shipwrecked events and holiday specials.
An article from The New York Times, interviewing actor Mark Proksch at Shipwrecked.
Media and content are a part of who I am, and always will be. Finding and connecting the ethos of a company to the people that keep it running brings me a sense of joy and accomplishment that I wouldn’t be able to find with any other field. Likewise, the tricky relationships between media, its creators, and the people who consume it will always be an academic love for me.
If any of this is of interest to you, I have great news: you’re on my website! You can contact me through the button below. I respond to emails and messages quickly because I love to talk to people! Thanks for reading all of this; as a bonus, here’s my favorite video that is less than five seconds long!
Working a retail booth at Detroit Comic Con, which reached 50K+ attendees in 2024.