About
48SPARKS™ helps businesses ignite success by effectively telling their stories in a way that’s compelling, affordable and impactful.
At 48SPARKS™ we weave on-location experience — on farms, in laboratories and at factories — with unique creativity to help define and deliver success for those we serve.
An independent, family-owned and operated business, 48SPARKS™ is focused on the intersection of great ideas, hard work and clear strategy to deliver more boom for the buck.
We are work horses.
Team
Cody E. Nowels
Director and Producer
Cody E. Nowels has experience as a cinematographer in both studio and on-location, shooting inside warehouses, factories and offices as well as outside in fields, forests and cities. Recent projects for Meristem Crop Performance and Frenchman Valley Produce have involved compelling interviews, along with capturing farm and ranch ag production activity on the ground and with aerial cinematography.
Cody has also worked for the Olympic Broadcasting Service (OBS) to cover the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro (2016) and Tokyo (2020), where he prepared footage for media outlets around the world. Cody grew up in rural Ohio and is a graduate of Asbury University in Wilmore, Kentucky, where he focused on digital storytelling, film and integrated media. Cody and his wife Heather and their dogs live in Powell, Ohio.
K. Elliott Nowels
Executive Producer
K. Elliott Nowels is a veteran ag journalist, publisher, film producer and business catalyst who has covered ag trends and new technology for more than 40 years. The son of an ag teacher, Elliott grew up on a small farm near Loudonville, Ohio and earned a bachelor’s degree in agriculture from Ohio State University with a parallel major in journalism. He’s directed and produced numerous film documentaries featuring young farmers, precision ag technology, farm suppliers and agricultural education, as well as hundreds of stories and columns.
He currently operates The Elliott Group, an agricultural business development and strategic communications firm, where he has led projects for the Ohio Agribusiness Association, Meristem Crop Performance, the US Soybean Export Council, Centerra, The Fertilizer Institute, Valent Biosciences, and others. Elliott and his wife Joy have been married for more than 40 years and have three married children and five grandchildren. They live in rural Geauga County, Ohio.
Kelly J. Nowels
Design & Digital Marketing
Kelly Nowels has spent the past 10 years honing his skills in creative communication and web development. He has solved problems for brands like Defacto Sound, Swift, Twenty Thousand Hertz and Melt Shop, applying his keen eye to assure images that are arresting and impactful. Kelly graduated from Cedarville University, where he was also a hurdler and member of a very fast mile-relay team. A former national competitor in cyclocross racing, Kelly and his wife Mallory spent their honeymoon touring New Zealand by bicycle. They now live in North Bend, Washington and now include their young sons Lenny and Hugh in their adventures.
John Gilroy
Podcaster
John Gilroy has hosted and produced more than 1,000 podcasts, authored more than 500 tech columns for The Washington Post, and was a regular on NPR’s WAMU 88.5 FM in Washington, D.C. for 25 years. Insatiably curious about digital technology, cybersecurity, and marketing, he shares this enthusiasm with grad students at Georgetown University as an award-winning adjunct professor. John lives with his wife Janet just outside the Beltway in northern Virginia. They have three grown children, two grandchildren, a Koi pond, and a strange metal frog named Rusty. A city kid, he first touched a cow when he was 30 years old and was surprised recently to learn farmers don’t always wear bib overalls.