Meet Davey Thatcher (they | them) | Founder & Director of Photography

We had the good fortune of connecting with Davey Thatcher (they | them) and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Davey, can you talk to us a bit about the social impact of your business?
Together Creative was founded on principles of ethical media production and digital storytelling. Today, more and more people are purchasing products that align with their values. A growing number of consumers care about how their clothes are made, the way in which their produce is grown, and the impact their consumption will have on the environment. At its core, these decisions are about being in the right relationship with others and our fragile ecosystems. I should know. I count myself as one of these conscientious consumers. I believe this same intention around ethical consumption should also apply to media. When we think about all the stories we engage with each day across a multitude of platforms, we rarely think about the production process behind them and how they were made. This is especially important for content focused on communities or individuals with marginalized identities, which historically have been extractive and non-consensual.

At Together Creative, our primary focus is creating content for social impact campaigns. We work both in the private and nonprofit sectors, supporting progressive causes by telling the right stories at the right time and reaching the people that matter most. Part of what makes us so successful is our engagement model and how we work with clients and the communities at the center of their business or work. Our products live at the intersection of storytelling, data, and equity. They are an act of community collaboration and creative generation. They are constructive, not extractive. Our process is intentional, emergent, and accountable.

This is important to me because I am a profoundly relational human. I find joy in connecting with others in ways that nurture trust, care, and authenticity. As someone who identifies as queer and nonbinary, I think a lot about how we can create more inclusive spaces, stories, and products. This really drives a lot of my creative process and informs how I think about storytelling. Media is a powerful tool. At its best, it helps us reimagine what is possible for a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive world. At its worst, it’s a tool for maintaining the status quo and reinforcing harmful stereotypes.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
In a previous life, I worked in the nonprofit sector both domestically and abroad on programs related to human rights. While I valued my work in those spaces, there was always something off—a misalignment of sorts. I found myself drawn to the moments of relationship-building and storytelling. I was always volunteering to take photos for annual reports or support storytelling initiatives that were usually outside of the scope of work. After an incredibly hard year abroad, working on some intense programming, I realized I needed to make a change. I was deep in burnout. Small tasks at work started to feel overwhelming. I had trouble focusing and wasn’t sleeping well. Emotionally, the well was dry, and there was little in my current job to generate what I needed to stay healthy.

So, I went back to school, first for photography and then for media production. At the time, the schools I attended weren’t focused on social impact at all. Instead, they focused more on traditional commercial production and journalism. So, I had to get creative with my education. I came up with my own degree plan focused on multimedia advocacy. I worked to find and develop relationships with professors and mentors who could help me explore emergent ideas around media and social impact. I started to push boundaries with my creative projects and assignments. This required recruiting faculty champions for my ideas who could help me secure the permissions to bend the rules to produce some of my projects.

One of the skills I developed during this time was the ability to convey and pitch a creative concept effectively. Much of my work has been focused on pushing creative or storytelling boundaries, which can be challenging. It can take a lot of work to get clients to invest in a new idea or concept, especially with video production, which can be highly cost-intensive. To support this engagement and investment process, I learned to develop tools like listening sessions, vision boards, and consensus roundtables. At their core, though, these tools and processes succeed only through relationship-building rooted in transparency, accountability, and care.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Sites: Denver Art Museum, Meow Wolf, MCA, Roller Skating at Trax, Music at the Skylark Lounge, Tattered Cover on Colfax, Concert at Levitt Pavillion at Ruby Hill Park,

Food and Drinks:
Yuan Wonton food truck, Middlestate Coffee, Zomo Asian + American Eatery (order the curry and the deconstructed bahn mi bites!), Pizza on the rooftop of Joy Hill, Jelly for brunch (start with a full order of the donut hole bites)

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I’d like to dedicate this shoutout to my business partner and dear friend Anna Ghublikian. They hold the same rebellious creative streak as I do and without their brilliance we might just be adrift.

Website: www.togethercreative.media

Instagram: togethercreative.media

Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/davey-thatcher

Other: www.emergentmediacollective.com

Image Credits
Amana Ackerman