New York Stories: A friendship spans 2 states, 2 decades
MANHATTAN – Mountain Brook natives Matthew Turke and Tyler Armstrong are young, highly successful professionals living in New York and working in what many young people would consider dream jobs
Turke produces TV commercials and recently made a YouTube-busting lyric video for the Taylor Swift single, “Look What You Made Me Do.”
And Armstrong produces glamorous, celebrity-studded events to raise money for the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).
But perhaps the most intriguing thing about the two men is the close bond they’ve enjoyed since they became best friends at Mountain Brook High School, when they were just 15 years old.
That bond has lasted for 20 years despite the twists and turns of their careers.
“Our lives have been intertwined and separated and come back together,” Armstrong said.
And those lives have led them to the Big Apple, where they continue to enjoy their friendship while working hard in their chosen fields.
Village Living talked to Turke and Armstrong on a sunny summer afternoon in Manhattan at one of their favorite spots — City Vineyard, a bar and restaurant at Pier 26, where a couple hundred 20- and 30-somethings gathered inside and out for food and post-work drinks.
Armstrong and Turke — while joking with each other almost constantly — discussed how they met, the satisfaction they find in work, why they enjoy New York and why their friendship has endured.
The links between the two men go back to a time before they even met.
Their families owned the same house on Oakdale Road at different times when they were growing up.
“We technically share the same childhood bedroom,” Turke said.
However, their friendship got off to rough beginning — at least for Turke.
They met in 1997 during casting for a production of “My Fair Lady” at MBHS.
“Tyler was cast above me, so I decided I didn’t like him,” Turke said.
However, they both had parts and became best friends by opening night, according to Turke.
“We’d hang out backstage,” Armstrong said. “We’d joke and make fun of ourselves. That might be the foundation of our friendship.”
The friendship seemed meant to last because their personalities complemented each other.
“We were just different enough, but very much the same,” Turke said.
“I think we have the same life perspective, and we both lean on each other a lot,” Armstrong said.
They roomed together at Birmingham-Southern College, where Turke graduated in 2003 with an English degree.
He wanted to act “but realized that wasn’t my calling,” he said.
Instead he moved to Los Angeles in 2005 and discovered his flair for making commercials.
Armstrong, who graduated from BSC in 2004, moved to New York right away. He worked at Live Nation and at Carnegie Hall — his first fundraising job — before moving to UNICEF.
Turke, who enjoyed life in Los Angeles, finally moved to New York in 2010, but only when he was transferred there by his company.
However, that allowed him and Armstrong to reunite, and they shared an apartment for four years.
Turke took a new job as head of production at Office of Development & Design (ODD) in 2012.
Focusing on design and animation, Turke, who lives in Manhattan with his wife, Hillary Helmling, has worked for such brands as Ford, Exxon and Google.
Armstrong produces UNICEF fundraisers and other events — often with performers and other celebrities such as Pink, Mariah Carey, David Beckham and Ted Turner — in New York, Los Angeles and other cities.
Both men love what they do.
“I see commercials as 30-second films,” Turke said. “People don’t realize the amount of work and detail that goes into each commercial.”
“The work that UNICEF workers are doing on the ground every day to ensure children are healthy and safe is incredibly inspiring to me,” Armstrong said.
And they love New York.
Armstrong likes the city’s “the energy and the spontaneity,” he said.
“I love the freedom to walk, take a bike, take a cab, hop the subway – to go anywhere, anytime,” Turke said.
The men are also glad to have each other in New York.
“I couldn’t imagine NY without Tyler,” Turke said.
“I love that I have a front row seat to see him thrive in his career,” Armstrong said.
Recently the men found a way to collaborate.
In 2016, Armstrong asked Turke’s company to donate time to design visual content for the Snowflake Ball in New York, UNICEF’s largest annual fundraiser.
“It was the coolest to be able to work with [Turke] to create content that would feature the faces of the children UNICEF serves around the world,” Armstrong said.
The Ball, held in December, honored Katy Perry, who was introduced by Hillary Clinton in her second post-election public appearance.
The men were not unmoved by the occasion, according to Turke,
He and Armstrong looked at each other as Clinton presented the award to Perry and said, “We’ve fallen into greatness.”
“That’s our phrase,” Turke said. “We wake up, we work hard, we try and do good things and great things just happen to us.”
Turke praises Armstrong’s work with UNICEF. “He is doing amazing things to save lives,” he said.
Armstrong also takes pride in Turke, including the visual effects and animation he created for two award-winning documentary films: “Blackfish,” which examined the treatment of whales at SeaWorld, and “Icarus,” which explores the Russian doping scandal at the Sochi Olympics.
Turke was an executive producer of “Icarus,” which premiered at Sundance in 2017.
“He’s making such big social statements, and I think that’s so freaking cool,” Armstrong said.