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Subscribe at GravitasMag.com | 47 how it all works in a larger sense by becoming a point person for Universal International. What was your next move after Universal? I had an amazing opportunity to work in Hong Kong heading up business affairs for a Holly wood studio look ing to open offices in China. Sadly, the financing didn't work and they just couldn't raise enough capital. At the same time, my mom became ill again and I moved back to Tampa to be close with her. at's when I found out about CEA here in Tampa. e discover y was truly a gi because it allowed me to be close to my family, as I was beginning to feel as if I neglected them in my own pursuit of success. Initially, part of me was sad about missing out on all the different hot new happenings in London, L . A . and Hong Kong. But the CEA's Chairman, R ick Michaels, made me see the light. He told me, "If you're a shot- caller, people come to you. e business comes to you." CEA has offices in 60 cities across the globe, but we are based here in Tampa because that was more convenient for our chairman. A nother benefit is that I can stay one arm's length away from all the stupid Holly wood gossip. It keeps me grounded. How does that affect your approach to the business and your clients? I think my clients and my investors find it refreshing. At first they're like, "What? You're in Tampa?" e fact of the maer is that I didn't do this on my own. It was because of my chairman's pedigree and the firm's prestige along with their long histor y of business and contacts that gave me the professional equity that I needed. What do you do at CEA? When I first started work ing for CEA, I sat down with R ick to tell him about some of the special projects I had in mind. I told him that I wanted to do things differently and together, we car ved out a different ty pe of business for investing bank ing and financial ser vices apart from what the rest of the industr y is doing. e world of media and entertainment financing is ever-changing. With all the things that are happening in the virtual reality space, the new media space and the new content space is so much more diverse. None of it fits neatly into the studio model that once ex isted. A nd I k now that because I used to be the studio. I see how it can be done differently. e studio business is still the studio business, and the studios are going to be fine with or without me, but who I really benefit are the content makers, the producers, and the investors that want to finance projects without losing out to the studios or having the studio take the lion's share. It's about creating a smart business for my investors and the producers so ever yone gets what they want. at's the business that we're building. A nd here I am today. So, how long have you been at the firm? I officially joined in 2014, as a super visor. So, this is all still pretty new? Oh, yes. I initially joined the team as a senior advisor and I became a managing director this last fall. So, it's all fairly new. Are you married? Do you have children? No, no. Yeah, I don't do that. No relationships? Not at the moment, but I do date. Truthfully, I do not want to get married, and I don't want to have k ids. I love my life. I love dating whom I want to date when I want to date them, and I love leaving them the moment I'm no longer satisfied. What's wrong with that? Some women seem to make harsh judgments of this, but I believe the choices I make in my relationships should be accepted the same way the choices I make with my hairstyle or fashions are; people shouldn't tr y to psychoanalyze me. ey always think I have daddy-issues when in reality, I've had the best relationship with my father. A nd let me tell you, when I am dating , my men treat me like a queen because I don't sele for any thing less. Can you tell me about the women in your field and whether you had any mentors to look up to? e friendships I developed with the women while I was at Universal International I still hold onto today. I think I found a really great group of women in the industr y who tr y to stick together because there's so few of us. I finally found a mentor at another studio who taught me not to lose sight of myself and not to "play the man's game." So many women tr y to be ballbusters or badasses because they're tr ying to beat the men or play their game. is mentor was the one who told me to stop. She shared with me some of her experiences and let me k now that she had regrets about tr ying to mold herself to be "one of the boys." She said to me, "You're quirky, funny and you're sweet. You care about fashion and the way you look, and you should. If that's the k ind of woman you want to be, then own it." D A girlfriend getaway in Firenze.

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