Creative Innovators with Gigi Johnson

"I had no idea what I was doing." Mark Harper shares his story of going from ROTC to Combat Camera (leading teams of combat photographers) to Technicolor to high-end headphones to joining a startup military channel. He talked about each time where he sought out creative opportunities, the advice given to him by Sargeant Logan from his hometown (whom he will be seeing next time he returns to Upstate New York).

Guest: Mark Harper, CEO, We Are the Mighty; General Manager, Military & Defense, Recurrent Ventures

Mark Harper is the General Manager of Recurrent’s Military vertical. He is responsible for all editorial and business operations of Task & Purpose, We Are The Mighty, and The War Zone, as well the industry-leading military events from MilSpouseFest and Military Influencer Conference.Previously, Mark was CEO of We Are The Mighty (WATM) and joined Recurrent upon their acquisition of the brand. During his tenure at WATM, he built out content strategy and executive produced hundreds of hours of videos for brand partners, with an Emmy Award for “Songs of Service” for the U.S. Army. He joined WATM for the launch of the company in 2014.Mark is a former Captain and veteran of the U.S. Air Force. After commissioning through ROTC from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, he spent most of his Air Force career with the 1st Combat Camera Squadron, deploying twice while leading combat-ready photojournalists around the globe. After leaving the military, he held numerous positions in the entertainment industry, including for Paramount Pictures and Technicolor. Mark earned his MBA from UCLA Anderson School of Management.Mark lives near Joshua Tree National Park with his Marine veteran wife Natasha and is an active member of the Television Academy (Emmys).

What are you most passionate about with your current work? : Continuing to service our extended military community.

Mentioned Links

• We Are the Mighty: www.wearethemighty.com
• Task and Purpose: www.taskandpurpose.com
• The War Zone: www.thewarzone.com
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/markharper147
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markharper147/

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Mike Polis started and ended with animation and graphic novels and cool creative content. In between, he has run marketing for Yo Gabba Gabba, Jim Henson, and other adventures. Mike shares his stories of how he moved from desktop publishing after college to food marketing, to DVDs for Universal Studios, and into adventures with Kermit and other creative projects. He brings us to his present day, where he runs two types of organizations -- one producing with creative brands and one now working with next-generation low-energy rendering systems. His stories are ones of finding unique opportunities from other people offering him a change in direction -- and being ready to say yes to something new. 



Guest: Michael R. Polis, CEO – Creator - Executive Producer, Atomic Toybox Entertainment, Inc.; Wild Hair Media - President; XetaOne - Partner

Michael Polis is an American producer, writer, and creator, of Puerto Rican descent, with a focus on science-fiction, fantasy, and family spaces. His specialty is in developing and creating intellectual property for television and film with a clear path to becoming entertainment brands realized in publishing, games, and consumer products.

Nominated for 4 Emmy Awards, he has developed and produced award-winning content for film (Mirrormask), television (Yo Gabba Gabba!, Kermit’s Swamp Years) live entertainment (Bear in the Big Blue House), and digital media (UMIGO) in addition to managing content development, and production for some of the world’s most celebrated brands and companies including Universal Studios, HBO, Baby Einstein, Nickelodeon, Disney, and The Jim Henson Company.

He also has extensive experience in digital and social media through Wild Hair Media, his digital media agency, and is a co-founder of Xeta One, a revolutionary technology company delivering the fastest, most compact, and energy-efficient servers on the planet.

Polis heads up his own independent production company, Atomic Toybox Entertainment, and is currently engaged with multiple projects with world-class partners including Ridley Scott’s, Scott Free Productions for a prime-time television series, a Halloween special with Bix Pix Entertainment, in addition to a distribution deal with international distributor Cake for an original property developed by Atomic.

In addition, Michael has acquired various intellectual properties including Captain Action, a world-renowned toy and collectible property, in addition to multiple properties from the former Fuel Entertainment library including content based on the toy line Chub City, the iTunes app BrOddcast and Sideway, the PlayStation network video game. He has also acquired film rights to reboot the “Attack of the Killer Tomatoes” film franchise.

Polis is also currently President of Wild Hair Media, a leading social media company that directs digital and social strategy for world-renowned brands, entertainers, musicians, and athletes principally on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube. Since Polis joined Wild Hair in 2014, the multi-million-dollar company has experienced a 3X growth in top-line revenue and 2 X EBITA.

Polis is the creator and Executive Producer of UMIGO – a cutting-edge transmedia property designed to teach today’s generation of digitally savvy children aged 5-8 years old math and literacy skills. Under Polis’ direction, the project was awarded a multi-year grant with the U.S. Department of Education for thirty-two million dollars.

Prior to 2013, Polis was CEO of Wildbrain Entertainment and EVP, of Branded Entertainment & Consumer Products at DHX Media. In addition to overseeing global development, production, distribution & digital operations for Wildbrain Entertainment, he led DHX Media’s international licensing activities. He also served as executive producer on key productions including “Yo Gabba Gabba!” for Nickelodeon in addition to projects for HBO, Disney, Nickelodeon, and Mattel. He was nominated in 2011, 2012 & 2013 for the Outstanding Pre-School Children’s Series Emmy.

Polis joined Wildbrain as the studio’s Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) in June 2007. As CMO, Polis led and supervised unprecedented global marketing and licensing efforts on behalf of Wildbrain’s entertainment assets, including the groundbreaking series “Yo Gabba Gabba!” He developed product and brand licensing initiatives on behalf of the entire studio’s intellectual property.

Prior to joining Wildbrain in 2007, Polis served as Senior Vice President of Marketing Worldwide at The Jim Henson Company, overseeing global strategic marketing initiatives for the entire Henson library, including “The Muppets,” “Fraggle Rock” and “Labryrinth.” Polis received an Emmy nomination as an executive producer on "Kermit's Swamp Years” and numerous awards and nominations as executive producer for the theatrically distributed film "MirrorMask”. Before Henson, Polis was Executive Director of Marketing a Universal Home Entertainment, managing marketing and promotions of home entertainment titles such as "Babe, E.T.," "The Lost World: Jurassic Park" and "The Land Before Time."

Polis serves as a member of the executive committee for the Children’s Programming Peer Group and was a two-term Governor of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. He is also a member of the Producer’s Guild of America’s new media group and a member of YPO Gold (Young President’s Organization) Pacific Coast Chapter.

Michael has a passion for creating projects in celebration of his Puerto Rican and Spanish heritage. He holds an M.B.A. from Northeastern University.

Links:

• URL: AtomicToybox.com
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelpolis/
• Interesting Bio: https://en.everybodywiki.com/Michael_Polis

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From photography to musician websites to Flash to now AR, Lafiya Watson Ramirez combines visual and experience creation with storytelling. She tells her own story about how she moved from photography to web and interactive design into being inspired by Pokemon Go to pursue Augmented Reality (AR) through Snap Studios and a residency there. She shares some of her projects and her ideas for future projects.

Guest: Multidisciplinary artist Lafiya Watson Ramirez

Lafiya Watson Ramirez is a multidisciplinary artist specializing in AR development, web development, graphic design, and photography. Her strength lies in combining her array of skills to produce unique digital content. Over the years, Lafiya has created websites for musicians, artists, and non-profit organizations. Her photographs of musicians have been featured on billboards, various publications, and television programs including on BET and PBS NewsHour. For eight years, Lafiya worked as the Coordinator of Electronic Media at Usdan Summer Camp for the Arts. She returned to freelancing in 2019 to pursue her latest passion, Augmented Reality. She was part of an artist residency program at Snapchat in 2020 and has since become a verified Snapchat developer. Lafiya has been a part of a few hackathons including MIT Reality Hack, 5th Wall Forum, and the Musical Theatre Factory XR Garage experience. She has also developed AR filters for clients, most notably for The Museum of the City of New York. Most recently, she worked on a proof of concept with artist and choreographer Koryn Wicks for a location based AR walk through LA’s Cobb Estate. Lafiya’s main focus is on creating engaging and interactive storytelling games and experiences, especially for use with wearable devices.

Mentioned Links:

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/badchickstudios
• @Spectacles showcase: https://twitter.com/Spectacles/status/1538515192249720833
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/badchickstudios/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lafiyawatson/ 
• Bad Chick Studios: https://badchickstudios.com 
• Emily Wapnick, https://www.emiliewapnick.com/
• TEDxBend: https://www.ted.com/talks/emilie_wapnick_why_some_of_us_don_t_have_one_true_calling 
• Big Magic: https://www.elizabethgilbert.com/books/big-magic/ 
• Wikitude: https://www.wikitude.com/ 
• Vuforia: https://www.ptc.com/en/products/vuforia
• Unity: https://unity.com/ 
• Flash: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adobe_Flash 
• Ghosts in the Machine, with Koryn Wicks, location-based AR walkthrough LA’s Cobb Estate: https://korynwicks.com/ongoing/ 
• MIT Reality Hack: https://www.mitrealityhack.com/ 

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We are in post-production on new episodes, so our host, Gigi Johnson, shared a story about "Postcards" and Postcard Moments that has come up in prior episodes and in many recent conversations. She shares how a single postcard created a pivot that changed her direction when a TA offered the suggestion that she apply for USC Film School after a single class. She challenges us to explore "postcards" in our lives -- both given and offered. She also suggests that postcards are all over past episodes, which we'll call out with additional content in the future.

Mentioned:

• Happenstance Theory - Krumboltz, J. D. (2009). The Happenstance Learning Theory. Journal of Career Assessment, 17, 135-154. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1069072708328861
• Example article: https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/careers/2019/04/30/how-planned-happenstance-can-help-your-career/

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Bruno shares his saga from playing the drums and enjoying international music, mixing songs and culture from Tunisia, France, and LA. Those facets led to studying at UCLA Ethnomusicology, becoming a DJ at KCRW, and building a record label in his living room. He shared work in place-based music and compilation records, in building the sonic architecture of hotels, vacations, and clothing brands -- creating soundtracks to vacations and lifestyles. His own independent label became his inspiration to work to streamlining the complexity of running a music label. His work in Filemaker Pro and Salesforce for his own company became the early stages of the 2015 go-to-market for Revelator. He became a “product guy,” helping labels in many regions with streaming music processing and accelerating catalog valuation and fractionalization processes. We closed with discussions from Web3 -- moving from an information-based to a value-based Internet -- and new types of marketplaces and tokenized economies that will go beyond what artists can do today.

Guest: Bruno Guez, Founder and CEO, Revelator

Founder of Revelator, and a former Director on the Board of Merlin Network, the leading music rights agency, Bruno Guez brings over twenty-five years of experience as a seasoned digital music executive working with Chris Blackwell’ Island Records and Guy Laliberte’s Cirque du Soleil. With a strong vision to retool the creative industry, Bruno saw the opportunity to provide a game-changing technology platform for global rights administration and royalty management using blockchain technology, with a goal of enabling efficient and fully transparent reporting, real-time payments and innovative revenue streams for rights owners, creators, artists, producers, and publishers around the world.

Links:

• URL: revelator.com
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brunoguez/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/brunoguez @brunoguez

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[Enjoy our podcast this week that we share with our sister Maremel Network podcast, Innovating Music, that has just launched its fifth year.] Dick Huey claims that his career jumps have been "educated luck." "Because they they are luck. And I'm, I'm I don't ever pretend that I have more information than everybody else does. But I think I'm good at identifying opportunity. So for me, this felt like opportunity. And I jumped at it. And then of course that launched a 25-year career in digital music." And so Dick shares with us his 25-year career, ranging from teaching software applications to getting his first music management client to building his digital music chops at Beggars Group to building Toolshed. He works now on his three-legged stool of interests: helping big picture enhancements of the music business, working with record companies, and engaging in ed tech and new technologies.

Guest: Dick Huey, Founder/President, Toolshed

Dick Huey moved to New York City in 1997 to work for independent label powerhouse the Beggars Group (XL Recordings, 4AD, Matador Records, Rough Trade. He created and staffed the group’s digital media department as global head of digital in the early days of digital music, determined the group’s strategic direction, and licensed its groundbreaking catalog of world-class independent music from artists like the Pixies, the Prodigy, Throwing Muses, and many others. Huey launched his NY Hudson Valley-based digital strategy company Toolshed in 2002, long before remote work was in vogue. Toolshed offered an early bespoke label and artist digital marketing, direct music service licensing, and download hosting service that created groundbreaking digital campaigns for Arcade Fire, Sufjan Stevens, Indigo Girls, Ani DiFranco, and Aimee Mann amongst hundreds of hundreds of others. Labels and distributors including Matador Records, Beggars Group, The Orchard, Touch and Go, PIAS, Righteous Babe, and Merge Records were also clients. In 2010, Toolshed expanded into music rights acquisition for consumer brands, media, tech, sports, and entertainment companies. Spotify contracted with Huey to lead its US independent label licensing efforts prior to and during Spotify’s US launch in 2011. Red Bull Music Radio, SoundExchange, 8tracks, Digital Rights Agency, Red Mountain Ski Resort, Jaxsta, and Tunecore are all past clients or advisory relationships. Huey is currently a Business Development Consultant to AIMS API, an artificial intelligence music search platform based in the Czech Republic, as well as to Entertainment Intelligence, a high end music analytics platform for direct-license content owners. He is a music license consultant to the US independent record label Merge Records and to stealth cloud radio startup HijackRadio, and an advisor to Techstars accelerator winner Paperchain and Australian personal social media monetization platform OkTY. Outside of the music industry, Huey is a senior teaching assistant at NYU Professor Scott Galloway’s two-year old educational sprint startup Section4. Huey regularly TA’s online classes of up to 200 students on the topics of Subscription strategy, Brand, Platform, Product, Data Analytics, Growth Innovation (brand association with physical stores), and Storytelling. Several of the classes Huey TA’s are taught by Galloway himself. He held a 9-year board seat at SoundExchange representing Matador Records. He is a past Executive Director and board chairman of the Future of Music Coalition, based in Washington DC. He was chairman of the new media committee at the American Association of Music (A2IM) from its earliest days, as well as a consultant to independent entity the Association of Independent Music (AIM). Huey is a USSA-certified downhill ski racing coach and committed biker and mountain biker. He moved from the New York area to the Columbia River Gorge in 2021. He began his career as a musician, then a music manager, and signed and managed several artists to the Beggars Group and Glitterhouse Records.

• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/toolshed/
• Twitter: @dhuman
• Website: https://toolshed.biz | merge records digital | aims api | section4 | entertainment intelligence
• blog: Digging in the Dirt

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Questions: How do we design for extreme conditions and resource challenges? Is that for Mars or Earth?

Guest: Alfredo Muñoz, Architect; Founder; Onteco; Founder, ABIBOO Studio; Chair for Memberships of the Technical Committee of Space Architecture at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics

Digital twins? Space architecture? Alfredo Munoz combines astrophysics and architecture to let us pilot new ways of building in VR on Earth . . . as practice for Mars . . . to improve how we live on Earth. He’ll share elements of a digital twin of a compound in Mars that you can engage with here on Earth to try out better ways of working, living, and creating. He also shares his own journey through innovative architecture and bringing those skills and insights to connect with space architecture and collaborative virtual reality. 

Our Guest

Alfredo Muñoz is the founder of Onteco and ABIBOO Studio. He is also the Chair for Memberships of the Technical Committee of Space Architecture at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

Mr. Muñoz has been considered the youngest among the most influential Spanish Architects and the youngest European Leaders (EYL40). His clients range from Fortune Global 500 conglomerates to governments to private high-net-worth individuals on five continents.

Alfredo has been teaching and speaking at elite Universities, and his work has been featured in media outlets across the world. He holds a Master's in Architecture from the Polytechnic University of Madrid and a Master's of Advanced Studies in Architecture from BarcelonaTech.

 Mentioned Links:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alfredo-munoz/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/AbibooArchs
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ABIBOOStudio/
• ABIBOO YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAKg_w7V0PquCiyCCO8mdvA
• Onteco https://onteco.com/
• ABIBOO - https://abiboo.com/
• Mars Society and the Mars Desert Research Station - MDRS - https://mdrs.marssociety.org/
• Nüwa City: https://abiboo.com/projects/nuwa/ - https://vimeo.com/468344643
• Space Analogs in Israel - D-Mars 2021 - AMADEE-20 Mars simulation, led by the Israel Space Agency and the Austrian Space Forum,https://www.israel21c.org/astronauts-carry-out-space-mission-in-israeli-desert/
• NASA Analogs - https://www.nasa.gov/pdf/563511main_NASA-Analog-Missions-06-2011_508.pdf
• Friends of Europe / EU - 40 People Below 40 - https://www.friendsofeurope.org/insights/read-all-about-it-the-names-of-the-eyl40-class-of-2019-are-finally-out/
• Dr. Guillem Anglada-Escude and Proxima B - https://www.alphr.com/space/1004184/proxima-b-scientists-discover-a-new-earth-20-just-four-light-years-away/
• Oxford Union Debate - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wAP0mVpPlw

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Question: How can you build a rich creative life based on referrals and going out on a limb?

Guest: Darryl Hurs, Owner/CEO, Indie Week; Managing Director, Downtown Canada; Director, Market Development, Canada, CD Baby; Educator, Harris Institute

In this episode, Darryl Hurs shares his journey from studying music, working in retail at HMV, and being in a band to building a dynamic life in digital arts and music business through the reach of the people he has met and putting himself out there, even if he was uncomfortable. His work of getting and giving work to others launched his own early work for Live Nation in launching VIPNATION. His life ever since has all been about referrals and reaching out. He built Indie Week from booking venues and creating discovery opportunities for new music. He threads together stories of expanded risk-taking from one group of skills and people to bigger opportunities -- and how the referral is at the core of building his work in the world.

Darryl Hurs has a 25+ year history in the music business including launching and running Indie Week (one of Canada’s largest music showcase festivals and conferences). In the past two years, he has founded 3 new online conferences: Music Pro Summit, indie101, and SCREENxSCREEN. 

Darryl recently has been hired as the Managing Director for Downtown Music in Canada heading the Canadian operations for FUGA, Songtrust, Adrev, Found.ee, and CD Baby.

His past positions include design and branding/marketing for Live Nation as a freelancer (projects included a corporate rebrand and logo design, launching VIPNATION.com, work for U2, Nickelback, Madonna, Beyonce, Jay-Z and Dave Matthews), retail buyer at HMV, and booker for one of Toronto’s top live music venues (The Rivoli).

• Indie Week
• Indie 101
• Music Pro Summit
• Screen x Screen
• Downtown Music
• Twitter: DarrylHurs, IndieWeek, Downtown Music
• Instagram: Darryl_Hurs, Indie Week, Downtown Music
• Facebook: Darryl.Hurs, Indie Week
• LinkedIn

Our Mission

Through our guests’ stories, we aim to inspire current and future change agents who are creatives, entrepreneurs, researchers, or community leaders who are seeking inspiration and support around creative innovation — changing the ways we create, collaborate, engage, change lives, and build communities.

Your Host: Gigi Johnson, EdD

I run transformative programs, speak/moderate, invest, advise, and produce multimedia on creativity and technology. I taught for 22 years at UCLA, where I ran the Center for Music Innovation and the podcast "Innovating Music," built four industry-connecting programs, and taught undergraduates, MBAs, and executives about disruption in creative industries. Before UCLA, I financed media M&A at Bank of America for ten years.

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Sponsored and Produced by the Maremel Institute

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