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 for a toy company as a Product Manager and one of our first licenses was with Warner Bros. I was in my early twenties and remember sitting at a conference table listening to the Warner Bros. licensing executive and I was inspired. I loved the idea that, in licensing, you could work with so many different types of products and industries. A few years after that meeting, I found a job working with a local licensing agency.

What’s your biggest personal and professional accomplishment?
My biggest personal accomplishment will always be parenting such an interesting and kind human being. But before that, I’m grateful for my time sailing in California. I did local club races and eventually participated in the Newport-to-Ensenada International Yacht Race on a 50’ Hunter as part of a 5-person crew. My biggest professional accomplishment has been working with my husband and business partner, Steve Fowler, for fifteen years successfully. (Success could be defined as not killing each other!) We both took a leap of faith giving up a steady pay check to start TLS and it has been the most challenging and rewarding endeavor.

What are the most significant trends or changes that you’ve seen in the business in recent years?
To state the obvious, the past year has been a game-changer for many of us. We have seen retailers, once open to ‘testing’ new licenses, retract and stick with the ‘tried & true’ properties with allowances for ‘hot’ licensing opportunities. I totally appreciate and understand the need to play it safe but it has diminished the space for promising new licenses. On the other side of that, it’s been heartening to see manufacturers quickly acclimatize to launch or expand their DTC businesses and work around the obstacles.

What keeps you up at night? What’s your biggest challenge these days?
Besides the deep contemplations to do with the pandemic, climate crisis and sociopolitical unrest, I worry about my teenager’s off-the-chart screen time and well-being after a year of social distancing and lockdowns. It’s a tricky time for smaller licensing agencies, like TLS, representing new licenses but we have weathered the ups and downs of the licensing business before. I’m a planner, so the most challenging part for me is the unknown timeline. Last year, I naively thought everything would go back to normal after the first lockdown and here we are a year later.

What is the best piece of advice you ever received? OR What is your favorite quote?
For years, I travelled internationally but rarely took in the sights as I was very focused on the work. Luckily, a boss pulled me aside and told me to lighten up and take a personal day to sightsee. I am grateful for that advice as I have had some amazing travel experiences because of it. (I’m thinking right now about an incredible day I had walking the Great Wall of China.)

What is your favorite licensing deal of all time? (doesn’t have to be one that was signed by you)
I will always remember a licensing deal Seth Siegel (Beanstalk Group) told me about in the back of a taxi on the way to a meeting. This would have been in 1999. I may get some of it wrong as it’s been over 20 years but basically he was working late and his calculator broke. He went out to buy another one and noticed that a renowned multinational telecommunications conglomerate had licensed their brand and had a calculator for sale. He bought it and it was of horrible quality. He couldn’t believe it! So he phoned the brand owner and spoke with the General Counsel as they didn’t have anyone handling licensing. They had licensed the calculator just because someone reached out and presented an offer. Not long after that call, Seth had a new client, the brand owner had a licensing strategy and they had replaced the calculator licensee with a reputable consumer electronics manufacturer for an eight-figure minimum guarantee. Ah, the golden age of the licensing business!

The last licensed product I bought was…
KAWS X Peanuts Uniqlo t-shirt.

THE 2021 PEOPLE PROFILE SERIES IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY MYMEDIABOX
MyMediaBox is the leader in providing online solutions that streamline every stage in the brand licensing lifecycle, from contract management and rights tracking, through style guide delivery, product approvals, security tag management and royalty reporting. With over 54,000 global professionals logging in from 125+ countries, Mediabox is by far the world’s most thoroughly tested and widely trusted licensing software.