The global licensing community is powered by an incredible group of professionals whose diverse backgrounds and creative energy drive innovation and excellence. Each week we’re profiling one of these professionals in this ongoing series developed in partnership with MyMediaBox.

How did you get into licensing (or how did licensing find YOU😊)? I was working at Hallmark as a designer in various departments and the creative head of licensing, who was succession planning, targeted me for a creative manager role in licensing due to my dual education background of psychology and design. I, in turn, have always been a big fan of tv, movies, pop culture, especially Star Wars and I knew Hallmark was licensing brands that I would love to work on. Once the position came open I was hired. And it sucked me in, I never left, just evolved the position over time.

What’s your biggest personal and professional accomplishment? I sort of have two. For sure working on Star Wars products is a consistent one. I’ve been a fan since I was a little girl so the fact that I could take my career down a path that allows me to work on Star Wars every day has been a one of the most rewarding accomplishments. Couple that with me helping spearhead Hallmark’s foray into Comic & Fan Conventions and ultimately creating a branded Pop Culture collection, called PopMinded, which curates all our pop culture products under one umbrella to help fans of various fandoms find our products that resonate most with them. Being a huge pop culture fan myself, these both perfectly blend my personal and professional life in a way that I could have never imagined.

What are the most significant trends or changes that you’ve seen in the business in recent years? Digital Collectibles. I remember when you could not sell digital content for much. We would spend more time making it than we could charge for it because the idea behind digital content was much more open, less valued. Now, with onset of entertainment streaming and NFTs we’ve come full circle and the increase in value of digital content seems to be here to stay for the near future at least. Also it’s nice to see in-person pop up experiences sticking around, despite the pandemic. I witnessed them first hand when we started attending comic conventions about 14 years ago and they continue to be a cool way to engage fans beyond the screen and the product aisles. I definitely think digital and physical will continue to merge in how we experience brands and products and I can’t wait to see how this manifests going forward.

What keeps you up at night? What’s your biggest challenge these days? Uh, beyond the current shipping fiascos that are now affecting development timelines? Mostly, the ongoing challenge that keeps me up is the need to work deals and bring products to market in a quick enough manner to react to trends. In-and-out trends continue to happen more and more rapidly and the endless supply of new content can be overwhelming on what’s the best bet to chase. While there is evergreen content that can always be leveraged, there is still a desire to be on trend and relevant to the rapid pace of our content culture. To get there will take a combination and collaboration of various business efforts, but with services like POD, as well as content curation of the ever-growing and endless digital shelf space, there are definitely opportunities to help combat the challenges in the short term.

What is the best piece of advice you ever received? OR What is your favorite quote? I have a bunch of quotes I love, particularly from tv and movies, but this one really speaks to how I think about how I like to live my life: “I don’t want life to imitate art. I want life to be art.” – Carrie Fisher

What is your favorite licensing deal of all time? (doesn’t have to be one that was signed by you) As previously stated, working on Star Wars has been a dream come true and I’ve worked on some amazing products that brings a smile to my face daily, but one of my favorite deals was one of the first ones I was assigned to work on the acquisition for and that was The Simpsons. Hallmark had struggled in the past to get the license and a lot of that came down to the creative direction, so I wrangled fans & creatives across the company to re-think our approach. I was a fan, so very passionate about the project and bringing that perspective in. It paid off, we got the license and developed big programs out of a lot of the concepts we conceived. I met Matt Groening at Comic-Con that year we launched product, and he signed some of our greeting cards and commented on how much he liked them. It was definitely a high point being fairly new to licensing and an experience I will never forget.

The last licensed product I bought was… Some Blade Runner, V and WandaVision Funko Pops! I tried to get that prototype Boba Fett exclusive from Target, but no luck.

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