Hannah (Schulz) Sirois’ (GHS ’99) winding career road has brought her full circle, right back to Gorham, Maine, where she has capitalized on 11 years of experience in commercial advertising by launching her own company, Drop By Drop Entertainment. As the founder and Executive Producer, she takes pride in her business relationships and in helping to craft a client’s message through video, social media, podcasts and live events.
Sirois said, “I love listening to people’s stories and enjoy the challenge of taking a story or idea and transforming it into a unique, high quality TV show that will not only entertain but will teach the viewer something.” Personalized services at Drop to Drop include underwriting, content development and production.
Her credits include several local TV shows. Welcome to My Farm features author and blogger, Lisa Steele, from fresheggsdaily.com. This 30 minute show about chicken keeping, gardening and cooking airs on Channel 6 (NBC) on Sundays at 11:30 a.m. It can also be seen on fresheggsdaily.tv and on the Welcome To My Farm Amazon Fire channel.
Photo courtesy of Hannah SiroisSome of her shows were on The CW, a local broadcast station. While working at the station, she created Crustation Nation: We Are The Maine Red Claws TV show about the basketball team. She took pride in forming a close relationship with the local G-League basketball team and organization “off the court,” creating and producing the show for three seasons.
She also produced Their Stories, a documentary following restaurant owner, Laura Benedict, of The Red Barn in Augusta, Maine, as she visits with some of the most important people in her life. Laura shares the link between a veteran, a retired widow and a classroom of children at Saint Michael’s and reminds us all to teach this world to love, to do small acts of kindness and to lend an ear for listening.
Since forming Drop By Drop, Sirois said, “I have made a commitment to work with people that I know or trust to contribute their creative talents, 100%.” Sirois is currently partnering with two other GHS ’99 grads on a new program called Crafting An Industry about the growing Craft Beer phenomenon in Maine. Chris Sedenka, anchors the show, and Chris Loughran is the director of photography.
Sirois said, “We will visit the whole state and highlight not only the breweries, but the towns and businesses that supported them.” They enlisted help from another GHS ’99 graduate, Tiffany Caron, who coordinates the tours at Sebago Brewing, to help with the first episode which will premier statewide on NBC. The Gorham Times will keep you posted on the schedule for this new show.
Sirois has also teamed up Trish Moulton, another GHS grad and owner of The Dance Studio of Maine in Gorham. They are working on a video that will highlight the high degree of athleticism it takes to be a dancer. “Being a female athlete and an independent female business owner, I gladly took on this job. Trish and I have worked together before and we will be very proud to share this soon,” Sirois said.
All Drop By Drop Entertainment TV shows will be available statewide on NBC but also digitally on Roku, Amazon Fire, Apple TV and smartphones. The goal is to have Drop By Drop shows appear on other national broadcast TV channels, and only six months into the business, all signs are pointing to being national very soon.
Sirois describes her academic pursuits after graduation from GHS as “circuitous.” She attended Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, New York as a student athlete on their swim team, continuing the sport she pursued as a member of the USA swim team during high school. Realizing she did not know her academic direction right out of the gate from high school, Sirois took a year off and enrolled in a semester of the Outward Bound Leadership program followed by working on a house build for Habitat for Humanity in Georgia. She then attended the University of Texas before ultimately completing a degree at USM as a Business major with a certificate in Entrepreneurship.
Sirois said, “I was finally ready to come back to Maine and really appreciate the life it has to offer. I realized I had unlimited networking potential as soon as I returned.”
The first appointment she made after graduation was with a family friend, Doug Finck, at WPXT The CW, who offered her a job as an Account Executive. She told him she would commit to a year, which ultimately stretched into ten. She left the station in September 2018 to start her own company, after serving as the station manager and creative services producer.
Like all working women, Sirois feels the pressure of finding a good balance between family and work. She loves her career and wants to be a good role model for her two young children. “It can be hard to balance their day to day activities with a heavy workload. It can also be hard to not feel guilty when work pulls you away from them at times.” She added, “The minute I accepted that I can not be a supermom and allowed that amazing “Village” that everyone talks about to help, that was the moment I knew my kids and family would now be stronger for supporting my chosen career.”
When Sirois thinks about her high school career, she laughingly said, “I was a shy person and never thought I would become the outgoing person I am today.” She added, “I look back with fond memories of cross country and track and some wonderful coaches.” She recalls two teachers, Mr. Farrington and Mr. Willette, in whose classrooms she felt comfortable being herself and can remember being pushed to excel outside of the box.
Sirois and her husband Chad, who works at Maine Medical Center as a surgical tech specializing in Orthopedic Trauma surgery, met at USM. They have two children, seven-year-old daughter Finleigh, and four-year-old son Auguste. They live in Gorham near the Frasier Trails, or what they like to call the Adventure Path. They spend evenings taking walks or sharing time with family friends. Community is very important to them which is why they chose to live in Gorham. “We have settled into my home in town. I have a tribe of three close female friends who also graduated from Gorham High School. It is such an honor to be part of their lives and their children’s lives.”
Sirois’ parents are Lynn and Phil Kalloch and Bill Schulz. Her siblings are Ben Schulz, a Cheverus graduate and Andrew Kalloch and Jonathan Kalloch, GHS grads.
Sirois can be reached at hannahlsirois@gmail.com and her work can be seen at dropbydropentertainment.com.