John Hankemeier has been the public affairs specialist and social media manager for US Navy Personnel Command in Millington, Tennessee, since April, 2022. Hankemeier has a background in multimedia production and began his career as a combat motion photographer with the United States Marine Corps in 1997. He has worked in various areas of communications and visual media that include video production, broadcast journalism, public affairs, and most recently from 2013-2022, was the public information coordinator for the Eugene Police Department in Eugene, Oregon. He also spent five years as a manger in retail before graduating from the University of Oregon with a B.A. in Journalism in 2012. During his time at the university, he volunteered with the UO radio station KWVA, and received an Emmy nomination for a student documentary class project that was broadcast to a regional audience on Oregon Public Broadcasting. While with the police department, Hankemeier became proficient in other areas of digital media to include photography and design, and attended FEMA’s Advanced Public Information Officer Course in Maryland.

On June 30, 2005, he met his future wife Jessica and step-son Jessie, and married Jessica six months later on January 7, 2006. The Three J’s Insta-family then ventured to Springfield Oregon in June, 2007, with their three cats Earl, Brier, Grady, who have all since passed, and adopted their dog Rusty in August of the same year, who passed in February, 2021. Jessie continues to live in Springfield, Oregon, with his girlfriend Amber, and John and Jessica moved to Munford, Tennessee, after John accepted the public affairs specialist position with US Navy Personnel Command in April of 2022.

As a student at the UO School of Journalism and Communications, John was given an assignment to put together the following 3-minute documentary about himself, shot entirely by himself, and based on the theme “Essence,” with the word having to be included in the video.

Disclaimer: All events that took place in this documentary are true, and everyone in the documentary is real.