Kaziblooms didn't need
a commercial.
She needed someone to believe
her story was worth telling.
A borrower story film for Lendistry — the CDFI-backed fintech closing the capital gap for small business owners across California.
Lendistry is a minority-led Community Development Financial Institution and fintech lender built to serve the small business owners that traditional banks routinely overlook. Through SBA loans, state-backed programs, and emergency capital, they operate where the need is highest — and where trust is hardest to earn.
Their borrowers have often been told no before. That history doesn't disappear when a better lender shows up. It has to be overcome.
The gap wasn't awareness.
It was belief.
Lendistry's product is genuinely different from what most of their borrowers have encountered. Lower barriers, mission-driven underwriting, real support. But mission doesn't market itself.
A small business owner who's been turned away, underfunded, or ignored by financial institutions doesn't take a chance on a new one just because the website looks good. They need to see someone like them, on the other side of the decision, in a life that got better because they said yes.
Lendistry needed content built for that moment. Not a brand statement. Not a rate comparison. A human story — told well enough to do what no loan officer can fully do on a first call.
We didn't want a testimonial.
Testimonials perform.
We wanted a portrait.
The difference is in what you ask, how long you listen, and whether you're willing to let the story go somewhere unexpected.
Kaziblooms is a day spa in Diamond Bar, California. The owner came to Lendistry because she needed capital to invest in specialized training and equipment — the kind of upgrade that would let her serve clients at a different level, and build the business she'd always been working toward.
That's the story we went looking for. Not the loan. What the loan made possible.
Before cameras came out, we spent time understanding her world — the business, the stakes, what this particular yes meant after however many no's came before it. We built the film around what was true, and let the financing be the thing that unlocked it, not the thing the film was about.
The result is a film that doesn't feel like marketing. Which is exactly why it works as marketing.
"I am a small business owner but on that day I felt like we were a major player in business. The exceptional footage is still used by Lendistry, and every time I see it, it reminds me of how Kazi Blooms and its owner was treated on that special day."
— Kam Horton, Owner · Kazi Blooms · Diamond Bar, California
01
90-Second Borrower Story Film
Primary asset — built for web, paid media, community presentations, and outreach. Director-led from concept through final cut.
02
20-Image Still Photography Package
Supporting content for social, editorial, and campaign use across both Lendistry and the borrower. One shoot. A full content library.
Every lender has borrowers
whose stories deserve
this kind of attention.
Most of those stories are sitting untold — doing nothing for anyone. If you're ready to change that, let's talk about what one film could do for your institution.
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