Welcome Brian Shaw

How would I describe myself in a nutshell? Well in so many words: husband, superdad, media & tech junkie, and quite the explorer. I’m also pretty fond of good food, good wine, and a good time - when my kiddos allow it.

I’ve travelled quite a bit in my lifetime; being born in Germany, growing up in England and in the USA. Three years sailing around the world with Royal Caribbean, and 11 years in South Africa, I’ve now settled in Northern Ireland and am loving it.

My interest in video and television began in high school, where I produced the daily morning show and fell in love with the digital storytelling process. Majoring in video production and media studies at Ohio University, allowed me take part in 2 very sought after internship programmes during and post studies - providing me with much on the ground experience.

With my desire to travel, early in my professional career I sought out a job to compliment my both my wanderlust and passion for video production. I joined Royal Caribbean in 2006 as their on-board Video Producer. Consequently, I met my wife onboard somewhere in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, and we’ve now be married 11 years.

Hanging up our sailors’ hats, we planted our feet firmly on solid ground and moved to Cape Town, South Africa (my wife is South African). Cape Town’s beauty and charm is something that just blew me away, and if you haven’t been, you must visit.

In South Africa, I continued to expand my skill-set and further my career. Amongst some contractual work, I held positions such as Post Production Manager at SABC 3’s Expresso Morning Show, Producer at Digi House Media, and finally Manager & Senior Producer at GetSmarter Online Education.

GetSmarter was my introduction into the online educational arena. It was there where I had to flex a muscle, one concentrated in pedagogy, which I’ve never had to do before.

As manager, and scaling my immediate department to 18 video producers and animators, not only did I have people management responsibilities on my plate, I was tasked to provide a product that was far ahead of our competition. This meant finding and creating new and engaging approaches to engage, retain, and entertain our students. Consequently in 2017, GetSmarter was acquired by one of the largests online education providers in the US, 2U Inc.

How the heck did I end up in majestic Northern Ireland? Now, South Africa was wonderful. Great friends, great family, great job. However, my parents moved to Northern Ireland 2 years ago and I fell in love with the country within days of my first visit. I also have two little rugrats and I’ve always wanted their Nana and Grandad in their lives, rather than a visit every year.

After many long talks and glasses of wine with my better half, the pursuit for a career on the Emerald Isle began.

Discovering MakeMatic probably was one of the biggest “the stars are aligning” moments I’ve ever experienced. Immediately I gelled with their purpose, model, and ethos. MakeMatic’s direction is ambitious, and along with their passion for providing best-in-class online educational content for teachers really impressed me.

I’ve seen what an impact further education can have on working professionals, the benefits and opportunities it presents, the lives it changes. Being a part of that is infectious and most definitely fulfilling.

This phenomenon called Online Education is a wonderful space to be in, as it’s relatively new, giving the people who work in it a place to create, innovate, and ultimately make a mark and set a precedent. MakeMatic offers this tenfold, and I think I’m going to enjoy this new adventure.