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 profile one of these professionals in this ongoing series.

How did you get into licensing (or how did licensing find you)?
I worked at a law firm as a legal assistant for many years. In 2005, one of the attorneys I worked for became the General Manager/General Counsel at Tetris (fka Blue Planet Software) and I eventually transitioned over to work for him. My role involved helping him review a lot of documents, including license agreements and deal memos, and to keep track of the key terms from the various licensing deals we had signed.

What’s a “typical” day in your current position?
In my current position, a typical day involves communicating with current and prospective licensing partners, reviewing product approvals, redlining contracts, and working with various departments within the company, including marketing, quality assurance, and finance. We’re a small but nimble licensing team. Each day brings us new opportunities and challenges that we have to deal with. The great thing about the licensing industry is that you can always learn something new!

What’s your biggest personal or professional accomplishment?
My biggest personal accomplishment is being a mom. My son just turned two a few months ago and he’s just the most amazing little human being. My biggest professional accomplishment was being promoted to my current position. I originally started as an Executive Assistant at the company almost 20 years ago. Over the years, my position changed from being primarily legal-focused to being involved in many other areas of our licensing business. Now, as Director of Licensing & Brand Management, I oversee the licensing program for the Tetris brand. We recently celebrated the 40th anniversary of Tetris, so it’s been really exciting. Our team has been busy with various activities, including our collaborations with 7-Eleven, the Red Cross, and Minecraft.

What are the most significant trends or changes that you’ve seen in the business in recent years?
In recent years, I’d say there is definitely more interest from brands that are not in the gaming space to work with video game IPs, which is really great to see. This is also true in the entertainment industry where there are so many movies and TV shows that are coming out based on video games. The Last of Us, Fallout, The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Sonic the Hedgehog, and of course, the Tetris movie are just a few examples!

The use of AI is also undeniable. It seems to have exploded overnight. You can see it being used all over the place these days, in everything from your phone to notes on Zoom calls to copy for sales presentations and social media posts.

What keeps you up at night? What’s your biggest challenge these days?
What keeps me up at night is thinking about all the things that I didn’t finish that day and what needs to be followed up on tomorrow. The biggest challenge lately is that there is never enough time.

In your opinion, what is the top skill every licensing executive should have in order to succeed?
Being open-minded. Every brand has a set of guidelines that are meant to be followed. However, sometimes there are situations where it makes sense to push the envelope a bit and see where it could take the brand. An example of this is Tetris Effect: Connected from one of our videogame partners, Enhance. Their game is so unique and different from any other Tetris game. They really elevated the Tetris gameplay experience and it’s great to see how much people love that game.

Being a team player is also critical when you work in the licensing business. Licensing involves so many different areas that it really is a team effort. It’s important to be able to work with other departments and keep a good relationship with your colleagues that is built on trust and respect. Thankfully, we have a really great team at Tetris that I love to work with!

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received, or what’s your favorite quote?
Don’t let the fear of failure stop you from trying something. This is hard for me because I hate to fail. However, I’ve learned that sometimes you have to fail in order to succeed. What matters is to keep trying and to never give up.

What is your favorite licensing deal of all time? (It doesn’t have to be one that was signed by you.)
My favorite licensing deal of all time was the one Henk Rogers negotiated in 1989 for the handheld rights to Tetris. This deal led to Tetris being released on the Nintendo Game Boy, bringing the game to worldwide fame. It’s also the deal responsible for the existence of our company today! The story is so interesting that there’s even a movie about it called Tetris on Apple TV+.

If you weren’t in licensing, what would you be doing now?
I’d probably be working at a law firm as a paralegal.

The last licensed product you bought was…
A Nightmare Before Christmas pajama set for my son. The movie was cute, but the merch is so much cuter!