LBX Panel:

Giving Agency to Creators

PANEL RESOURCES

Resource Links

  • Free Worker Coop webinars:

    • U.S. Federation of Worker Cooperatives (USFWC): Watch here 

    • Sustainable Economics Law Center (SELC): Watch here 

About the Panelists:

Nicole Hendrix
Executive Director/Co-Founder of BRIC Foundation

Nicole Hendrix is a four-time Emmy-winning Producer and Creative Director. With a multi-disciplinary background, Nicole has used storytelling as the main ingredient in her successful campaigns that span across television, games, live events, and film. She is currently working as a Producer and Marketing + PR Consultant with clients like Niantic, Baobab Studios, and 9B Collective.

She is the Co-Founder/Executive Director of the BRIC Foundation, an organization that focuses on increasing representation for women and people from underrepresented groups in the entertainment industry, where she directs their yearly Talent + Innovation Summit. She is also the Co-Founder of the Concept Art Association, an organization focused on elevating and raising the profile of concept artists within the entertainment industry, where she directs their yearly Concept Art Awards show.

She is an international public speaker, where she talks about Storytelling for a Brand and Creativity & Gender. She has given lectures at the University of Connecticut, SXSW Edu, San Diego Comic-Con, WonderCon, LightBox Expo, THU, The View Conference, Educating for Careers, CG Futures in Melbourne & Sydney, Australia, ing Creatives in Dubai, and many more.

Contact Nicole/BRIC:

Sam Goff
Talent Manager, Educator, and Animation Activist

Self-proclaimed "animation activist" Sam Goff serves as a Creative Talent Manager with Fourth Wall Management. She has a long history with the animation industry: graduated from Loyola Marymount University with an Animation B.A., worked in TV and Feature production management at Dreamworks, and was an integral member of Netflix Animation's Outreach & Engagement team. She originally joined FWM as a recruiter, but eventually pivoted into her current role - after all, managing is just "reverse recruiting". Outside of her day job, Goff is a mentor and educator in the animation space. She regularly volunteers her time to mentor with BRIC and Women in Animation where she specializes in helping those looking to break into the industry make their applications “recruiter friendly”. She teaches her personal animation DEI activism course, Animated Perspectives at her alma mater, Loyola Marymount University. She is also teaching an animation practicum course with Cal State Long Beach. She lives in Los Angeles with her wife and 12 beloved pets.

Contact Sam:

Eli Allen
Co-Founder & Studio Director at Wild Blue Studios

Eli is an advocate for labor-first working structures and a business literate approach to art careers. Starting out in branding design for sporting goods before moving into AAA games and eventually external development, Eli has participated in a wide array of creative production processes across a range of industry-leading organizations. In 2017 Eli and his co-founder started Wild Blue Studios, a worker cooperative of artists providing world class art services for games, film and television, and physical installations. He is passionate about improving the state of the industry for working artists primarily through education and mentorship aimed at teaching creatives to be effective self advocates in the workplace. Outside of work he enjoys cooking, baking, and amassing gundam models that he swears he'll get around to building one day.

Leslie Ezeh
Founder of Legends Animated & Director of Operations at ASIFA-Hollywood

Leslie is the founder of Legends Animated and currently serves as one of its board members; she is also the Director of Operations at ASIFA-Hollywood. Leslie enjoys supporting the animation community through both organizations, as well as by participating as a judge at animation festivals and events such as the Los Angeles Animation Festival, View Conference, and Kaboom Animation Festival.

Contact Leslie:

Mackenzie Royce
Interim Executive Director at Art Share L.A.

Mackenzie loves to pioneer across the fields of art, cultural heritage, and law, often with a nod toward social and environmental practice. Now serving as Interim Executive Director, she joined the Art Share L.A. Team in early 2023 as Associate Director. During her tenure as Executive Director and In-House Counsel for Bluegrass Conservancy, the regional community-based nonprofit organization permanently protected over 25,000 acres of one of the World Monuments Fund’s most endangered cultural landscapes for future generations and achieved national accreditation for standards & practices of excellence and upholding public trust. She has served on and ethically advised charitable boards and trained in Visual Art and Integrated Studies through ArtCenter College of Design and with artists out of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and New York Studio School. Mackenzie received a Bachelor of Science in Business and Economics with Departmental Honors from the University of Kentucky and Juris Doctor with Academic Excellence Award in Historic Preservation from Vermont Law School. Born in the art colony of Laguna Beach, California, where her parents had a gallery in the 1970s, she has been based mostly in Los Angeles since 2016.

Contact Mackenzie: