In January 2026, I filmed the book launch party for The Culting of America by Daniella Mestyanek Young, a cult survivor and scholar with more than one hundred thousand followers on TikTok and other social media platforms. I had also filmed and photographed her recording the audiobook a few months ago.

She hired me to create social media reels and promotional content to showcase her behind-the-scenes work. I knew that it would be an interesting project to illuminate this author’s personality through a documentary-style approach in videography and photography.

As a cult scholar, she offers such an interesting perspective on life and group dynamics, and it was fun to capture her words from her book on film as she read them for an audiobook that will be listened to by thousands, and perhaps someday, millions of people. It felt like capturing a historic moment, and it was definitely an important moment in her career.

At her book launch party, the community that supports her work came together for an inspiring evening. This was a very special and unique crowd, as you can see in the video below. I had a lot of fun filming and editing the content for it.

Here are the reels I created for her book launch party and also for the audiobook recording that happened in the studio in November 2025:

Daniella also hired me to take some promotional photos for her while she was in the recording studio. Here are the photos that capture the feeling in that moment:

I’m Yuri, and I’m a videographer originally from Ukraine. I am based in the DC area. Hire me to film and photograph your events!