Rooted in Legacy: The 2026 HAW Gala Video
Last year, the HAW Gala theme was Legacy. The mascot was the monarch butterfly with the idea that when butterflies migrate, the generation that starts the journey paves the way for the generation that completes the journey.
This year’s theme was the first building block on that foundation: Rooted in Legacy. That meant that the Hispanic Association of Women 2026 video was going to address how the women of HAW, who have set the stage, year after year, for the next generation of women, put their legacy into action. The theme this year was books, and how literary works and information have a timeless quality.
That legacy, alongside this being the celebration of the 20th Anniversary of the HAW Gala, a huge announcement was made (more on that later).
Watch the video to get the full picture.
ihe First Meeting: The Birth of the Concept
It was October 9th, 2025, when Hamil Bros Studios first met with the HIspanic Association of Women gala committee in Lubbock, TX. They shared the idea of Rooted in Legacy and it didn’t take long for the concept for the video production to take hold.
As we sat there, listening, our wheels immediately began turning and our brains went into overdrive.
As we sat in the conference room at the Liggett Law Group, we listened intently.
When they were finished giving us the rundown of the theme, we pitched the idea that would ultimately become the concept for the main video. We wanted to get a few different generations of women who would show a sample of the wide demographics of recipients to have gone through the scholarship program, ranging from women still in school to women who have graduated and are now living life after education.
We would send them a questionnaire and use their answers to build the script.
Rather than doing interviews, like we had in the past, this time, we would get the women to read their respective portions of the script, ultimately having them narrate their part in this story.
This process would take months to put together.
Answered Questions and Bumps in the Road
Jacob assembled the questionnaire and got it sent out.
Since our initial meeting took place in October, the ladies told us it would take a few weeks to go through scholarship recipients and find good candidates for the video.
As the weeks passed, we got a list of candidates who were all willing to be a part of the video production.
The emails went out with the questionnaire and it was time to play the waiting game.
With this idea, the plan was to shoot b-roll of the women in their element (at home, work, etc.) and that that could potentially be an obstacle with locations, especially if someone’s workplace wasn’t amenable.
Fortunately, we had four ladies agree with permission from their employers.
Unfortunately, given the timing on all of this, only two of the women ended up being available.
Between the holidays and end-of-year school requirements, it became a scheduling nightmare.
Spins Vinyl Cafe
Of the two available participants, the first was Evelyn, the owner and proprietor of The Spins Vinyl Cafe.
Evelyn was a previous scholarship recipient who had gone on to open a successful business.
We visited the cafe to do a quick walkthrough and get a plan together and by the end of the scout, had a good feel for how things would go on the actual production day.
The day of production, Hamil Bros Studios arrived and began the load-in.
Once the equipment was in and lights and cameras were built, some of the ladies from the Hispanic Association of Women arrived to be our cafe patrons.
Evelyn had also scheduled a local solo musician to play during the shoot to give a true view of what the experience is like at her establishment.
The shoot was a healthy mix of candid video and staged b-roll.
To enhance the experience, Evelyn’s daughter was also there, working in the cafe, alongside her mother, which made for a great visual embodiment of legacy in practice.
We were able to make pretty quick work of this part of the video production as Evelyn had everything ready for us.
We grabbed a few shots of very specific things like steam and pouring.
The last thing we did at this location was her hero shot in front of the main counter.
Most of this shoot was done with our Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4k on the DJI Ronin RS3 Pro with a few shots being captured on the Blackmagic Pyxis 6k.
Eliysse’s Home and Lifestyle
Eliysse was a current recipient of the HAW scholarship. Her part of the story was unique in that she had faced rejection multiple times before finding where she belonged in her educational journey.
For her portion of the video, we filmed in her apartment, capturing some everyday lifestyle kind of moments from cooking in the kitchen to studying.
The most creative lighting we got to do in this apartment was taking our Aputure 80C and rigging it over the stove with an Aputure MC under the vent to light the cooking scene.
In my humble opinion, I, personally, feel like the video captured in her living room during her study time may be some of the best looking lifestyle footage we’ve ever captured.
Using natural light from the window, we added a backlight with our 80c over Eliysse’s right shoulder, gave her a window light from her left (pictured in the photo), keyed her with the Amaran 300C, and used an amaran 150c to cast the window shape on the wall.
It was beautifully lit in a high key visual and really made her living room come to life with minimal lighting.
The Special Announcement
Remember when I said there was a huge announcement?
Well, that was a separate video that was going to also be shown at the 2026 HAW Gala and you can watch the video right here.
Funding a Legacy for Generations
This video was an announcement of an endowment for the Hispanic Association of Women that was being started by Ted and the Liggett Law Group with a gift of $100,000 dollars.
Given the Rooted in Legacy theme with the books, we were looking for the perfect location.
For this, we turned to our good friend Brett Womble, whom we’d worked with on several occasions including some of the 100 Black Men of West Texas shoots and a shoot honoring Ted Liggett for the Best of Lubbock in 2025.
Brett came through and was able to secure his father’s private study.
We’d met Dusty Womble once before and were familiar with his massive support for Texas Tech University, but never fancied ever seeing inside his home.
When we first walked in, we knew this was exactly the room for this shoot.
Beautiful wood and stone work filled with books and an amazing mural painted on the ceiling.
This room made our job easy.
We would load in with just a few lights, including our Aputure 600c Pro and a few Amaran lights and the room took care of the rest.
Andrea, our interviewee and co-chair for the HAW Gala, showed up beyond prepared for her video interview.
She made quick work of her part and we were wrapped and ready to finish the post on this.
The Finishing Touches
With everything shot and just over a week until the gala, we had our work cut out for us.
All of the planning had come together to make a wonderful video production and gala.
Every year, it is obvious the love that these women have for their community and the future generations of HAW and we are honored to continue to be a part of it.
Grab Attention at Your Next Fundraiser
If your organization is planning a gala, scholarship night, or fundraising event and you need a video that does more than play in the background — one that tells the story, lands the announcement, and stays with people after they leave the room — we’d love to talk. Hamil Bros Studios has spent years making the kind of special event videos that get shown on the night, shared afterward, and remembered. Reach out and let’s build the piece your event actually needs.