Meet Our Team

Mike Vance Creative Director

Mike Vance has taken a unique path to become a Texas historian, building on decades of work in professional media combined with a lifetime of history study. Mike is now the Creative Director at Night Heron Media. He also works as Interim Executive Director for the Brenham Heritage Museum. Previously, he hosted a weekly regional history television program, co-hosted both a television sports show and an afternoon talk radio program in Houston, and performed a litany of award-winning national and regional voice over work and script and content writing.
In 2005, Vance founded Houston Arts and Media, a non-profit organization to create innovative ways to educate Texans about their history, and he brought all of HAM's many award-winning projects into the Night Heron fold. Through HAM, Vance wrote, produced and directed feature length documentaries, short films, web content and publications on Texas and Houston. HAM merged with The Heritage Society for two years (2016-2018). There he conceived and managed the notable mural Mexican-American History & Culture in 20th Century Houston and oversaw programming both on and off the Heritage Society campus in downtown Houston.
Today, Mike Vance is one of the best history story tellers in Texas. The documentary work that he has written, directed and produced has been recognized by top entities around the state and has enjoyed multiple airings on Texas PBS stations and on HISD-TV. His video work totals seven feature length documentaries and well over 150 short educational videos. His eighth book, Getting Away With Bloody Murder, is an historical true Texas crime volume coming from Pelican Publishing in January 2022. It follows Mud & Money: A Timeline of Houston History from Bright Sky Publishing , Murder and Mayhem in Houston from The History Press and Houston Baseball: The Early Years: 1861-1961 from Bright Sky Press. Vance lectures on Houston history topics as part of the Continuing Studies program at Rice University and served for over 12 years on the Harris County Historical Commission where he authored five historical markers and contributed to many others. He currently lives in rural Texas.

Aries Jones Publishing Director

Aries Jones has made writing, editing and reading a part of her daily life, and she wouldn’t have it any other way. Aries graduated from the University of Houston in 2016 with a Bachelors in English: Creative Writing and Literature, with minors in Marketing and Psychology. While at UH, she was on the staff of Glass Mountain, the school’s nationally recognized undergraduate literary journal, as an Associate Fiction Editor. By her senior year, Aries became the journal’s Editor-in-Chief.
Following graduation, Aries worked with a local digital marketing company as a Content Writer, creating online content for various clients from ads and social media posts to blogs and SEO-friendly articles. She eventually became the company’s Content Director the following year in 2017, leading her very own team of writers in creating memorable content. She also worked part-time for Best in Class Education in Katy, TX as an English Teacher and later Manager.
Missing her love for books, Aries decided to go back to school and eventually received her Masters in Publishing with a concentration in Communications. She also joined Bright Sky Publishing in the fall of 2018, first as the Operations Manager, then becoming Publishing Director before launching Night Heron Media with Mike Vance.
Outside of work, you can find her writing, reading, playing her favorite video games or spending time with the people she loves.

Marla Yadira Garcia Senior Graphic Designer

Marla Garcia graduated from The Art Institute of Houston with an Associate of Arts in Visual Communications. Following graduation, she found a job at a company where her work involved following the brand’s specific guidelines for their products. After a few months, she worked for Cregan Design as a Graphic Designer. The work there ranged from designing logos, annual reports, and newsletters, to every kind of printing material, as well as websites. Every project she took on was different, challenging and fun. She worked at Cregan Design for nearly eight years.
In 2008, she joined the team of Bright Sky Press as a Senior Graphic Designer, a role she now reprises with Night Heron Media. Today, she is responsible for designing books from start to finish, as well as designing, developing and maintaining the company’s e-commerce website, social media graphics and email blasts. Night Heron’s work environment has helped her strengthen her abilities as a graphic designer and offer detailed attention to every project she puts her hands on.

Tim Godwin Senior Video Editor

Tim Godwin serves as Senior Video Editor for Night Heron Media productions. He worked with Houston Arts and Media as Chief Editor for over a decade including editing all of the award-wining titles of the Birth of Texas Series of documentaries. Godwin has an extensive history serving as producer, director, technical director and camera operator at multiple local TV stations, resulting in thousands of hours of experience in producing, directing and filming live, live to tape and post produced programs. He is the recipient of a 2008 Lone Star Emmy for Outstanding Achievement in Sports Editing for “Sports Off Center” and was nominated for another Lone Star Emmy in 2010 for his work on the historical documentary, “Tell Us Your Story- La Porte, Texas.”