Devon is a producer, video editor, and voice actor for McKinsey & Company in NYC. Notable series include the McKinsey on Consumer & Retail podcast, Author Talks, McKinsey on Books, and the McKinsey on Startups podcast.
Meet the authors of CEO Excellence: Scott Keller
Devon edited a profile on Scott Keller, McKinsey Senior partner and author of NY Times and Wallstreet Journal bestseller CEO-excellence.
Author Talks: Actor Terry Crews wants you to open up
Devon edited 100+ videos for the McKinsey Author Talks series. In this episode, The Brooklyn Nine-Nine actor and former NFL player, Terry Crews, tackles the issue of toxic masculinity and explores how “tough guys” can find strength in vulnerability.
A short tour of Wave from McKinsey
Devon produced, edited, and provided voice-over and 2D animation for a short video displaying McKinsey & Company’s wave tool, designed to help companies execute large-scale transformation programs.
Devon directed, produced, and edited the Voices of Freedom video series for the Louis Armstrong House Museum and Archives in collaboration YoungArts. Most recently, the series was included in the Voices of Hope festival at Carnegie Hall.
Voices of Freedom is an education series that explores the role of art as a vehicle for social change through the lens of Louis Armstrong. High School students and beyond are invited to create new works while learning about the process and techniques of world-class artists. The series features lessons by Marquis Hill, Daniel J Watts, Chanel DaSilva, India Carney, and Cornelius Tulloch.
Trumpeter Marquis Hill analyzes the art of the cadenza and how it relates to redlining in America.
Poet Daniel J. Watts breaks down his original poem “Fish Heads” and explains how poetic devices can be used to create a poem.
Choreographer Chanel DaSilva teaches us how to use gestures of protest and props while dancing to Louis Armstrong’s version of “Nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen.”
Devon wrote, directed, produced, and edited Galoot, a short experimental film and immersive month-long solo exhibition displayed at Baxter St at CCNY. Galoot explores the feeling of growing up on the autism spectrum and is informed by Devon’s childhood writing and drawings.
A story about the exhibition was featured on NY1 and the 1 in 54 Radio Show. Since then, the film was included in a sold-out screening at the 2021 Video Art and Experimental Film Festival in NYC, The Jardin Rouge Film Festival in Amsterdam, NL, the adult-swim and BFI-backed Oska Bright in Brighton, UK, and the 28h Annual Cucalorus Film Festival, and Aesthetica UK. In 2023, the project received the award for best experimental film from MoMI NYC where it was on display for one month.
This film was made possible through the Baxter St at CCNY | YoungArts residency program.
Director, Devon Leaver on the red carpet at MoMI in NYC.
Devon Leaver accepted her award for Best Experimental Film at the Museum of the Moving Image in April 2023.
Devon served as executive producer and voice actor for the character Evelyn Spach.
Lance (in a Neck Brace) premiered on day one of the 2020 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, and is now a Vimeo Staff Pick. A current finalist in the Cards Against Humanity short film festival, Lance (in a Neck Brace) is available to view with the purchase of the Movie Night Box Set, available in Target across the USA. Previous screenings include the Nantucket Film Festival, and Crested Butte Film Festival.
Synopsis: After a devastating breakup, Lance listens to instructional cassette tapes on how to heal his broken heart.
Lance (in a Neck Brace) is a stylized dark comedy written, directed, and produced by women, that explores the lengths we go to in order to avoid dealing with our emotions after a breakup.
With her creative partner, Chloé Aktas, Devon co-wrote & produced an interactive short film, Uncoupled, for Eko and Warner Music Group that premiered in November 2018. Click here to play now.
Uncoupled was a part of the Creator Incubator series and was featured in Uproxx, Business Markets Insider, and PR Newswire.
About Uncoupled: Zoe, on the heels of a breakup, goes to a “cuddle party” to try to find the solace of platonic human connections in a digitally overwhelming world.
Apex Ape is an experimental film, immersive exhibition, and original creature that explores the changing American image through the lens of local legend. Inspired by interviews with East End residents and video archives from LTV, Apex Ape examines societal decay through impressionistic cinematography and video art, treating our familiar landscape as a living organism. As viewers are confronted with the husks of our past, they may even catch sight of the illusive Ape, a cryptid-inspired manifestation of those left behind in a rapidly changing habitat.
Apex Ape was created as part of Guild Hall’s 2021 Community Artist-in-Residence program. The film was installed as a multi-channel video installation in the Guild Hall Minikes Garden, allowing the public to enter the film at any time throughout the evening.
Video by Joe Brondo
Devon produced, co-wrote/directed and edited Shave my Beard (release TBA) with her sister Brenna Leaver. This short, experimental film follows the journey of its titular character, a faceless cowboy creature named “Shave My Beard,” who wanders the plains of Texas in search of a home. The creature from Shave my Beard, designed and constructed by Brenna Leaver, won the Industrial Design Faculty Award from the Rhode Island School of Design.
Devon produced the documentary, Ascencion (2017), which premiered to a sold-out theater at the Lone Star Film Festival. The piece was also featured on NBC, PBS, and Telemundo.
Click here to visit the official Ascencion website.
Synopsis: In the winter of 1969, 13-year-old Ascencion Banuelos leaves his 13 siblings and his home in Lobatos, Mexico, risking his young life to cross the river into the U.S., where he believes all things are possible. The dangerous crossing is a story in itself, but what happens next is the real story.
Against all odds and defying the limitations placed on Mexicans, Ascencion will become one of the greatest horsemen of his time. His hope was to work with horses – magnificent creatures he had grown to love and understand – and to send money home to his parents and siblings. Through years of sacrifice, hard work, and proving himself to be extraordinary in a world of ordinary, Ascencion has gained world renown as a champion cutting horse competitor, earning nearly $2.5 million and is the first Mexican American to be inducted into the National Cutting Horse Assoc. Hall of Fame.
This experimental short was completed under the tutelage of fashion photographer and filmmaker Bruce Weber for the national TV series HBO Masterclass. It premiered at the Museum Of Contemporary Art in North Miami. This piece was written, directed, shot and edited by Devon Leaver, and stars Brenna Leaver.
Watch the awkward age now.
Devon wrote, directed and produced this NYU Advanced Thesis short film, Silent Wood. Starring Christian Scheider and featuring the original score of Forrest Gray.
Saving Caroline (2011) premiered at the Hamptons International Film Festival and won the Guild Hall Student Film Award. Devon wrote, directed, produced and musically scored the film, which eventually won her a spot at the NYU Tisch Kanbar Institute for Film and Television.
Devon was the production designer for several films such as Student Academy Awards finalist Mutt (2016) directed by Chloé Aktas, and The Girl in the Woods by Sebastian Sdaigui.