Hi Brian! Fun interview – thank you! I’m looking forward to checking out Smart Toys and Games booth at the Chicago Toy and Game Fair next month! Please share with our readers what you do in our industry?
I manage marketing and e-commerce for Smart Toys and Games.

What is it about the Toy and Game Industry that you love?
So many good people. And I am lucky to work for a company that makes great products.

Do you have a mantra that you live by?
I try to be happy in the moment. I imagine like most people I have been coached to simply ‘be’ in the moment. But sometimes the moment sucks, right? And in those moments I’d actually prefer to be in a happy place somewhere else.

Why and how did you get into the Toy and Game industry?
I had a friend that was part of a toy marketing start-up in the early 2000s, he brought me in. Later I helped another friend get his invention developed and produced, this eventually led to where I am now.

What are you working on now?
I appreciate the implication that I am working.

What has kept you motivated to stay in the toy industry?
I know this isn’t supposed to be a commercial but probably being at a company (Smart) that makes genuinely good, quality, enriching products. There are bad toy companies, just like any other industry. I’d rather be part of an organization that makes quality boring products than one that makes crappy ‘fun’ products.

If we were in a zombie apocalypse, where would you hide?
Lucky Chances, my local card room. Its already full of zombies and they don’t bother me.

What trends do you see in toys or games that excite or worry you?
Its basically the same answer. Technology. It breeds creativity: its easier than ever for people with good ideas to bring them to fruition.  Unfortunately it is also easier than ever to copy other people’s good ideas and products. For an organization in the future this means there is nothing more important than branding.

What advice would you give a young adult graduating from high school or college today?
I have two daughters, one in both categories. We try to tell them that the world isn’t ending, but it is changing. You don’t have to love new technologies, but you do need to understand how they will change traditional career paths and prepare accordingly. Despite my wisdom and my brilliance my daughters don’t always listen intently (at least that’s how I interpret the eyerolls). Which is weird as I recall always listening intently and downloading everything my parents told me.

What advice do you have for people starting in the industry?
Working in a great organization is more important than maximizing early bells and whistles.

What is the most trouble you’ve ever been in?
I don’t know if it’s the most trouble but I vividly recall my mom catching me shoplifting a pack of gum when I was five or six. Horrified, she loaded me in the car, returned to the store, walked me up to the manager and made me apologize, no slack offered for the uncontrolled tears. A lesson about honesty and a genuine, defining moment. I am grateful for that. In sixth grade I got suspended for drinking beer at school…in Utah. Long story. Funnily enough I think my parents found that one amusing.

What is the worst job you’ve ever had and what did you learn from it?
Investment banking. I would love to say that I learned money isn’t everything, but that wasn’t the lesson. Money is ok. I was miserable because I worked my way into the business without training. I jumped in head-first. To this day I have no idea how to run a discounted cash flow analysis, at least not without Gemini. If I knew what I was doing I think I could have endured the all-nighters. Take the time to learn what you do, use all possible training. Get good at it. This makes your days pleasant.

What excites you?
Landing in new places. Its funny – I don’t particularly love the actual travel process – but that first cab ride from the airport always puts me in a good mood.

How do you define creativity?
Broadly. Maybe you are always coming up with new ideas. Maybe you’ve improving existing processes. It’s a big tent.

Where do you come up with your best ideas?
Its completely random. For the record I appreciate the implication that I actually come up with ideas.

What blocks your creativity?
My mind wanders. I think about everything going on, lose focus. Again for the record I appreciate the implication that I have creativity.

Where did you grow up and how did that influence who you are today?
We lived in several different cities, Las Vegas, Vancouver, Salt Lake City, Los Angeles. My opinions tend to be in the boring, dispassionate center of a lot of issues. Perhaps living in a bunch of different places influenced this.

Who is the person you most admire?
Definitely, unequivocally, 100% my wife. She’s successful in tech, has teams of hundreds of people that she genuinely cares about, manages a calendar that makes me dizzy just to look at, and keeps it all together at home. And all this on the heals of a very serious health battle a few years ago.

What are your favorite childhood memories?
Playing soccer, baseball and skiing, especially in Salt Lake City.

Do you have any kiddos?
Two daughters, they are the greatest.

What do you play with your kids?
I was utterly stereotypical and ‘encouraged’ them to play soccer. My younger was actually quite the star for a little while. We played all the time, every day. Then she got the courage to tell me she hated it and just wanted to dance, quashing my dreams of vicariously experiencing the World Cup. I am usually a pretty good people-reader. Boy did I miss this one.

Are you a dog person or a cat person?
Dog. And if you’re not, well, you are weird. By the way everybody should check out SmartGames award-winning bestseller, Cats & Boxes.

What is your favorite way to waste time on your phone?
I doomscroll. Its an awful, terrible habit. Trying hard to break it.

Do you play any musical instruments? If so, which one(s)?
I know a few guitar chords. One of my regrets in life is that I didn’t take learning the instrument more seriously until recently.

Who are your favorite musicians, singers or musical groups?
There are a lot of them. Lately I’ve been listening to audiobook versions of musician autobiographies. Mike Campbell, Bruce Springsteen, Keith Richards, others. It is making me appreciate their music more deeply.

What music are you listening to now?
My dad was/is a jazz musician. I am actually listening to his work more these days. Appreciate it now more than I did in the heyday when I was a kid.

What’s the first thing you usually notice about people?
So many bad jokes here. I will bite tongue.

What is the last time you did something for the first time?
One really bad joke here. Tongue starting to bleed.

What are your favorite books and/or magazines?
Anything by Kurt Vonnegut. The one author I can read over and over. Jailbird, Bluebeard. So prescient.

What are your favorite sports and sports teams?
My dad is from Chicago. I grew up Bears and White Sox. Living in San Francisco for 25 years now with Bay Area teams its pretty easy to be a homer. I live next to Oracle Park and can walk to Chase Center. But if I had to choose one…Arsenal. I lived in the London in the 90s and am lucky to have attended many matches since. Nothing like it.

What is your favorite night out?
Long, quiet dinner with my wife at Mon Ami Gabi or Yellowtail, a Cirque show, then poker all night at Bellagio.

Favorite movie of all time?
Life of Brian. For real.

What’s the furthest you’ve ever been from home?
Singapore. My older daughter did an internship this summer and I got to take her over.

Summer of Winter?
Winter. At one with the mountain, brah.

What do you want to be when you grow up?
As if I would ever grow up. Just ask the people I work with.

What do you hope your legacy will be?
It becomes simpler as you get older: I just hope my kids have happy lives.

Thank you for taking time to answer our questions thoughtfully and with a sense of play!