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Cue the Conferences: FableVision’s 2023 Guide

Lunches with partners, new meet and greets, enlightening sessions, presentation opportunities, and exciting cities – what’s not to love about conferences? Check out where we’re headed to learn from industry professionals, share our insights, and most importantly, see you.

MuseumNext Digital Learning Summit

During the virtual conference, learn how museums can keep up with evolving technology to create engaging and immersive experiences for visitors. Keep an eye out for Kellian Adams Pletcher, our Director of G.L.A.M. (Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums) Innovation.

When: Monday, June 19 – Tuesday, June 20, 2023
Where: Online

ISTELive 23

Visit our friends from FableVision Learning at their tables at the Keystones Technology Innovators in PA session on Wednesday, June 28 from 9–11 a.m. and STEM Playground — Tools for Physical Computing and Making from 12–2 p.m. in the ISTE Explore and Create Playground. Paul Reynolds, Andrea Calvin, and Mary Johnston will provide hands-on demonstrations of FabMaker Studio and Animation-ish. Learn more here.

When: Sunday, June 25 – Wednesday, June 28
Where: Philadelphia

Games for Change Festival

Celebrate Games for Change’s (G4C) 20th anniversary with a summer festival full of events analyzing the past, present, and future of gaming and XR.

FableVision’s VP of audiyo-yo Anne Richards will present a project brief on Nunaka!: Games for Indigenous Cultural Heritage Preservation on Wednesday, July 19 at 5 p.m.

Producer Jonah Gaynor will present a project brief on Wilson Center’s Plastic Pipeline right after Anne on Wednesday, July 19 at 5:20 p.m. Both presentations will be at the Microsoft Winter Garden.

President Gary Goldberger and Communications Strategist Nadya Karpova will also be attending. We hope to see you at both project briefs! The schedule and more details can be found here.

When: Tuesday, July 18 – Wednesday, July 19, 2023
Where: New York City

Podcast Movement

At the world’s largest podcast conference, passionate podcasters and industry professionals gather to learn from each other and improve the audio community. Anne Richards and Gary Goldberger will surely tune in — don’t forget to say hello.

When: Monday, August 21 – Thursday, August 24, 2023
Where: Denver

Ed Games Expo 2023

The  Ed Games Expo is a public showcase of game-changing #edtech innovations developed through programs at IES, the U.S. Department of Education (ED), and across government. We’ve got a few great things lined up for Wednesday, September 20 at Kennedy Center REACH:

  • Between 10 a.m.-2:30 p.m., catch FableVision Studios’ Paul Reynolds, Snow Dong, and Nadya Karpova, along with FableVision Learning’s Andrea Calvin and Mary Johnston in Skylight Pavilion at tables S-7 and S-8. We’ll be doing live demos of Civics! An American Musical and Nunaka.

  • At 1:30 p.m., Snow will lead a Master Class on Civics! at MoonShot Studio. If you’d like to attend, please register here.

  • Between 5:30-8:30 p.m., find us in PT-109 at tables P-3 and P4 for the Ed Games Expo for the Public.

Click here to view the Ed Games Expo agenda.

When: Tuesday, September 19 — Friday, September 22
Where: Washington, D.C.

Serious Play Conference

Time for some serious fun in Toronto, while learning about creating and using games and simulations for educational purposes and how to move those programs ahead. Make sure to attend Executive Producer Peter Stidwill’s session on Wednesday, October 11 from 2-2:45 p.m. on Five Tips for Researchers Who Want to Make Educational Games. See the full conference program here.

When: Wednesday, October 11 – Friday, October 13, 2023
Where: Toronto

Hands On! Conference

Hosted by the Children’s Museum Creaviva in Bern, Switzerland, Europe’s largest conference on science education and children in museums will experiment with exhibitions, themes, and learning opportunities. And who’s keynoting? You guessed it — Kellian. More information coming soon — you don’t want to miss this one.

When: Wednesday, October 25 – Friday, October 27, 2023
Where: Bern, Switzerland

MCN Annual Conference

For MCN 2023, the Penn Museum in Philadelphia will gather over 600 cultural heritage professionals from museums, historic sites, and visitor attractions to advance digital transformations in museums. Kellian and Gary can’t wait to see you there.

When: Wednesday, November 8 – Friday, November 10, 2023
Where: Philadelphia

This year, Gary, Anne, VP of Moonladder Tone Thyne, and VP of Development Rachel Reade Marcus attended the Kidscreen Summit in Miami. At BostonFIG Online Expo, Kellian presented tips for researchers and developers working together when creating games. We were thrilled to catch up with you at those conferences, and we look forward to seeing old friends and meeting new ones in the upcoming months.

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May FableFriday: Tone Thyne, Vice President, Moonladder

Tone

After congratulating Tone on his ninth anniversary at FableVision and the rebranding of Moonladder, FableVision’s film and television division, let’s take this oppor-tone-ity to learn more about Tone Thyne. As Vice President of Moonladder, award-winning creative executive Tone focuses on creating, showrunning, and co-producing animated and live-action properties. By drawing on his personal experiences and meeting children at their level, he sets the tone for his broadcasting work, hoping to create educational, inspirational, and relatable content for kids.

“The best show creators are highly nostalgic in nature,” said Tone. “Reaching into the past to dust off experiences and feelings that we remember as kids (or remembering gems from our own childrens’ growing up) is the best way to create characters and experiences that viewers will relate to. Most of the stories I write are ripped from the pages of the Thyne house.” 

Read on to learn more about Tone’s creative journey, advice for aspiring children’s content creators, his latest hobby, and what he thinks about Woody from Toy Story.

What’s your “journey to FableVision” story?
Sesame Street and Mister Rogers' Neighborhood have always been some of my greatest sources of inspiration. Each show seamlessly educates viewers by way of engaging characters and compelling stories. The learning is never didactic since the content is so entertaining. How can you even taste the spinach when it’s chopped up and mixed into a delicious milkshake? This kind of dedication to create meaningful content with a whimsical twist lines up beautifully with FableVision’s 200-year mission to move the world to a better place through media, storytelling, and technology. I was thrilled to join FableVision in 2014 to create original content with a studio that embodies my outlook on the positive power of children’s media through purposeful storytelling.

Congratulations on the rebrand of Moonladder! Can you tell us more about FableVision’s newest group? 
It’s an exciting time for FableVision. We are expanding in step with the industry’s growing need for original content. Since our studio creates original properties in the audio space with our audiyo-yo group and original games with our FableVision Games team, we felt it was fitting to distinguish FableVision’s original film and television properties with their own distinction as well. And so, Moonladder was born. 

We know that a kinder world begins with the bonds we form between young viewers and aspirational characters. Today, there is a notable focus on children’s media platforms to incorporate learning goals that lead to positive change in our world: diversity, gratitude, giving back to your community, inclusion, mindfulness, equity, and so on. Creating stories that inspire children to think about and interact with others in meaningful ways is in perfect alignment with Moonladder’s North Star. 

Rachel Marcus joined our team in February of this year and we are thrilled that her creativity and expertise in broadcast distribution and financing will help place Moonladder’s meaningful content with appropriate homes on important broadcast platforms around the world.  

Before you found your calling in creating, writing, and showrunning animated properties, you were an animator. Where did your creative journey take you?
I studied animation at The University of the Arts in Philadelphia, and cut my teeth in the real world at Walt Disney Feature Animation (great place to work, a little bit of a Mickey Mouse operation). I began there in production on groundbreaking films like The Lion King, Pocahontas, Mulan, and The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Over my 12 years at Disney, I worked on other animated jewels like Tarzan, Fantasia 2000, Atlantis, and Toy Story. I left in 2001 to follow my lifelong dream of creating educational content for kids and had the incredible opportunity to animate segments on the “Letter I” and the “Letter N” for Sesame Street (it was my IN!). This eventually led to my producing animation at Little Airplane Productions where I produced animated series such as The Wonder Pets!, among others. While at Little Airplane, I co-created The Adventures of Napkin Man! Fueled by the thrill of creating my own series, I packed up my expertise and headed to FableVision to join superhero forces with the dream team at the studio to create some of the world’s most meaningful content. 

What was your time at Disney like, working on blockbuster films that many kids grew up on and cherish? 
It was unlike any experience I had ever had. The Great Masters of Animation were creating world-famous and culturally indelible characters literally right in front of me. I remember being in Michael Surrey’s office while he was sketching out options for what Timon could look like – or in Ken Duncan’s office while he was dreaming up Jane from Tarzan. I had amazing “front row seats” to recording sessions with notable talent like Tom Hanks, Demi Moore, Catherine O’Hara, among so many others. Music meetings with Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz. What an absolute thrill. And knowing that the content that we made at Disney has such a global appeal and can impact people around the world in a positive way is nothing shy of heartwarming. Disney was a Master Class in making something from the very germ of an idea to post production and distribution. Being a part of that process helped mold my production skills, allowing me a 360 degree view of every aspect of creating content.

What attracted you to children’s television?
I was born the same year that Sesame Street was born and literally grew up watching the show. It had a profound impact on me, which helped me realize how effective and creative children’s media can be, especially on television. Creating children’s content that has the power to positively shape the citizens of tomorrow is a privilege that I’m grateful for every day.

Wonder Pets! Schoolhouse

Wonder Pets! Schoolhouse

What’s the key ingredient for all of your projects?
Quite simply: PERSONAL EXPERIENCE. Viewers need to connect with content that they consume. The best way to connect with content is to relate to it in some way. The most effective tool for creating relatable content is to draw directly from personal experiences. Viewers can feel that authenticity. 

On a train one day, I was tickled to watch a playful interaction between a mother and her baby. Each time the mother handed the baby his soft toy, he would throw it onto the ground in a fit of giggles. I was mesmerized. So, when Sesame Street called looking for a short film about counting, I drew on this real life experience and created The Silliest Counting Show, a piece showcasing a little girl attempting to count soft blocks with a playful baby who continuously throws them on the floor. I was able to harness the joy and playfulness of the real world experience in our short film.  

Considering the importance of “lived experiences” in creating authentic content, it’s vital to have a broad range of voices at the table that represent the experiences characters portray on screen, whether cultural, historical, or personal.

Dads Rock

What advice do you have for aspiring kids’ content creators?
Create what you know. You can’t tell stories or develop characters that aren’t close to you or it will reek of falseness. 

Also, know your audience. When my daughter celebrated her third birthday, I took tons of pictures of the adorable party, but when I looked at them later, I realized that they didn’t capture the magic of what I experienced in person. On her next birthday, I got down on my knee and took photos that were on an eye-level with the kids. Those photos put me right back at the party. Being on the same level with the kids had a real magic to it. There’s a famous clip of Mister Rogers speaking with a child in a wheelchair on his show. Mister Rogers doesn’t stand up and talk down to him, he crouches next to him, asks him if he can lean on his chair, and talks face-to-face with him. He literally gets down on the same level as his viewers. Metaphorically, children’s content creators need to join our viewers at their level.

And finally, give your characters flaws. Young viewers recognize flaws and relate to them. Showcasing “perfect” characters leaves a void between the viewer and the character they should be relating to. Whether a character is too impulsive or impatient or a little clumsy, young viewers should be able to look at a character and say, “That’s me. I know that person, I can relate to them.”

What are some of your hobbies?
I’ve been converting an old potting shed in my backyard into an art studio with an incredible custom floor. I bought 16,000 classic #2 pencils and created a herringbone parquet floor with a layer of epoxy over top. It’s super fun and immensely inspiring. This is where all the great future ideas will be born! 

More About Tone

Favorite show? Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, of course.

Favorite movie? It’s a Wonderful Life, of course.

Favorite game?
My kids made up a game they call The Chain Game. We play it on car rides or at the dinner table. One person plays a song, then the next person picks a new song that is linked in some way through lyrics, theme, guitar riff… anything. It’s DJ Round Robin. 

Favorite place traveled? Crayola Experience in Easton, PA.

Favorite type of music to listen to while working?
Somehow sad music helps me come up with great creative ideas. The sadder the music, the better. I search Spotify for “Sad Playlists,” “The Saddest Music of all Time,” or “The Weepiest Break Up Songs.” When I put on my headphones and announce, “I’m going into my sad cave,” everyone knows I have some ideas to come up with. 

Favorite practical joke?
I began my first day at FableVision on April Fools’ Day. I came into the studio with a tray covered in foil and announced that I always bring brownies to commemorate my first day on a new job. When the staff pulled the foil away, they discovered a pile of Brown E’s that I had cut out of construction paper. They’ve never forgiven me.  

Concept art for Woody, featuring Tone’s blue eyes

A Tone fun fact that most people don’t know?
At Disney Feature Animation, the characters the artists create always seem to end up looking like the coworkers they spend so much time with. Everyone there is seemingly somebody. It’s like working at a theme park – Gaston and Pocahontas were great friends of mine and Belle was my boss. Woody from Toy Story bears a striking resemblance to me. Thankfully, my boots are free from snakes though.

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Introducing BagelVision, the Culinary Division of FableVision

Hello dough! To set us apart from other multimedia companies, we decided to tap into the sense of taste through BagelVision, FableVision’s culinary division.

This tasty initiative focuses on baking bagels in all styles with traditional and unique flavors. But it’s not just a bakery; we’re creating bagels full of character and delivering them straight to your door, 24 hours per day, seven days per week. We’re rolling with the roll-with-a-hole to bring you delectable joy.

Check out some of our larger-than-life flavors and take our bagel personality test to find out which BagelVision bagel you are.

 

  • Boston’s Big Papi-Seed, the baseball player who faces adversity but works hard in the hopes of winning the World Series.

  • Cinna Come-On Raisin, the cheerleader who sees positivity and potential in everyone.

  • Multi-Gain, the gym rat. No pain, no gain!

  • Plane Jane, the adventurous aviator flying around China, India, and Turkey, searching for sesame seeds.

  • EverySing, the musical and drama one who can act, dance, and sing.

  • BlueJerry, the melancholy dreamer who sails around the ocean searching for his love in quaint port towns.

  • Sweet Wheat, the kind and caring one who puts a smile on everyone’s face.

  • Fred French Toast, the one who’s always ready to celebrate by raising a toast.

  • Mary Marble, the one studying marble columns from Ancient Greece.





Why bagels? As the starting point of our culinary art, bagels will help us expand to other baked goods, savory dishes, and more. With the innate love of food that’s a part of each FableVisionary, we have no doubt that BagelVision will rise to new heights. 

Stay tuned for our upcoming animated series about our delightful bagel characters and contact us if you have a bagel that you’d like to see on our menu. In the meantime, check out our bagel personality quiz.

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March FableFriday: Owen Hey, Junior Developer

With his upbeat demeanor, signature smile, and twinkle in his eye when given the opportunity to build a new game, Junior Developer Owen Hey makes one thought come to mind – "O-wen will we learn more about him?" The answer is simple: right now.

FableVision scored a goal when the freelancer joined the company as a full-time staff member in July. His passion for games combined with his love of art, creativity, and overall aesthetics in programming help Owen build unique interactives that further FableVision’s mission in developing meaningful, educational projects.

“In college, studying both game design and computer science reaffirmed the feeling that I like the creative avenue of programming,” said Owen. “I understood the cybersecurity and low-level computing classes, but they didn't hold a candle to the cool games I was making.”

Owen brings not only his game development knowledge and desire to grow his coding skills, but also his positivity and ability to put everyone in a good mood, which brightens the studio. Read more to learn about Owen’s methods for finding the best feasible solution on a project, his original game Polygunners, his love of wizards, and the activity that brings him the most joy per minute. 

What’s your “journey to FableVision” story?
I knew I was interested in educational kids’ games after I worked with Eco Resilience Games in college to create a VR experience that helps kids learn about different eras of Earth. For example, they could look at Lake George in New York now, in the 1800s, in the Cretaceous period, and so on. With this organization, we play tested various games with kids at the science museum and it warmed my heart seeing them enjoying the games we worked so hard to make. I knew that I liked the children’s gaming industry, so FableVision appealed to me even more once I discovered it. 

After I graduated from Rensselaer (RPI) in December 2021, I went to GDC – the Game Developers Conference – with my resume, business cards, and a great smile on my face. I left with no job, but I met a connection who works as a programmer in educational media. We set up a call and he listed several companies in that industry on the east coast, telling me which ones he respects, which to avoid, and other information. He had great things to say about FableVision, and within two days of speaking to him, I applied for a freelance Unity developer position, spoke to Technical Director Jordan Bach, and was assigned to a FableVision project. 

What do you like about computer science?
Growing up, I really admired and looked up to my older brother, who’s five years older than me. He did computer science, so following in his footsteps was a no-brainer. Very quickly I learned to love it, and not just because of my brother. My high school offered an awesome Unity development course that sparked my interest in this field and really shaped my future. That class and my RPI courses made me realize that game development and creativity specifically were both aspects of computer science that I enjoyed and wanted to pursue. And it all started because of my brother.

What types of projects do you like to work on?
I definitely like games and interactives. I grew up playing lots of games, so it was always one of my goals to create them. It’s fun to work on projects that you have a lot of experience in, which for me is Unity, but I want to expand my palate to other frameworks, libraries, and game engines. 

I prefer working on smaller games because it’s always a new experience; you can learn from something you worked on in the past but also try something new. There’s quicker iteration with a cleaner process. On a bigger project, while the end-product may be more impressive, you get stuck with the code you wrote a while ago. I enjoy splitting the work into mini projects, like mini games within the larger game, so that each game is a breath of fresh air and I can create things from scratch.

How did your previous experience prepare you for your role at FableVision?
In RPI’s game design program, our projects were structured in small groups of four-to-five people, with a person from each field – designer, writer, programmer. From a programming standpoint, I worked on half a dozen projects with a similar group size and structure as FableVision. The biggest thing that was missing were the producers. At FableVision, they make the whole process so much easier and great, I love them! On my own time in college, one of my main hobbies was going into a game engine I was learning at the time and playing around. I worked on a lot of small projects to dive deep into a certain visual effect or style. 

My previous internships were closer to traditional software development, which helped reiterate that I want to be a game developer as opposed to a software engineer, but I also had an IT support position that taught me communication skills. The job was 20% knowing how to fix the problem and 80% being able to explain the solution to those who needed help. Growing my people skills was really beneficial, especially for a company like FableVision that values interpersonal relationships, and where I have to communicate with different members of a project.

Owen and his decade-long best friend Caleb.

Speaking of communicating with different folks, how do you work with producers, artists, and designers to create the best possible games and interactives?
Not everything can be built exactly the way people might want it, so there is some back and forth between the teams where we work to find the best feasible solution. To help with this, I’m good at giving these roles different options for what they can do. I prototype or mock up multiple variations and send them to the designers, artists, and producers to see what sticks. 

What advice do you have for aspiring game developers?
Something that I’ve found to be invaluable is separating what is good from what is easy – you don’t want to create something only because you know how to build it. Instead, focus on the design and what is right for the experience, even if it’s challenging. You will create a better game and learn new techniques, which will help you build new games in the future. You don’t want to get stuck and do the same thing over and over again. It’s also valuable to be very clear with what is doable, especially in the time and budget parameters that you’re given.

Tell us more about Polygunners!
In college, I worked on many small, narrative, puzzle-based games, but I wanted to create something closer to the type of games I personally enjoy playing. I also hoped to expand my skill set and develop a project by myself. For about six months, I worked on Polygunners, a cooperative action game where players fight evil shapes. I was really, really passionate about it and it eventually turned into my capstone project.

I did the game design, art, programming, and sound creation, which was a lot of fun, sitting in my bedroom, recording “pew, pew, pew!” I paid a friend to create the music and trailer. It’s called Polygunners because everything in the game is composed of basic geometric shapes, including the evil, scary Polyqueen. I published it on Steam, and while it’s not the most popular game, over 40,000 people have played it! It’s definitely the project that I’m most proud of making.

It seems like soccer is a huge part of your life.
Soccer is really important to me. Growing up, I played it like every kid plays a sport, but in middle and high school, I became very serious about it, traveling every weekend to play in tournaments. At one point, I was on the “Maine team” as part of the Olympic Development Program. I took a step back in my junior year of high school after a severe back injury, but I continued to play intramural in college. To this day, I watch a lot of professional soccer and play in intramural leagues throughout Boston. It’s my favorite thing to do – definitely my highest fun had per minute.

You also love drawing?
Even though I’m a developer, I’ve always liked the visual parts of game development, like graphics programming and procedural animation – it’s all about making stuff look pretty. I like doing artsy, creative things in code, which extends to drawing, because I see that as the most pure form of creativity. You can make something look cool in code or you can just draw it. I’m not very good at it yet, but I’m getting there, and I’m having lots of fun, especially drawing wizards and clouds. 

More About Owen

Favorite game: Starcraft II.

Favorite wizard: Septimus Sylvaria – he’s my D&D character, a 12-year-old boy who thinks he’s the best, greatest wizard that ever lived. My red wizard hat is his hat, that unfortunately for him got burnt, so now it’s black.

Favorite movie: Game Night.

Favorite sports player: Marco Asensio. And my favorite soccer team is Tottenham Hotspur.

Favorite snack: Oreos! 

Favorite place you’ve traveled: Perú – Machu Picchu, Lima, Cusco.

An Owen fun fact that most people don’t know: As an 8-year-old kid, I lived in Edinburgh, Scotland in a flat and I went to school in a castle!

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February FableFriday: Snow (Xue) Dong, Producer

Some places have winter wonderlands that last a few months and others sparsely get a few snowflakes, but lucky for us, we get Snow all year round.

FableVision’s Producer Xue Dong, who goes by Snow, joined FableVision to pursue her interest in children's media. An artist herself, she brings her creative eye to each project, combined with her strong project management, communication, and teambuilding skills. To ensure that client needs are met while taking the thoughts of artists, developers, designers, writers, and others into consideration, Snow creates a safe working environment and the opportunity for anyone to speak up.

“I’ve enjoyed projects where the team is collaborative – everyone brings their skillset to the table, we bounce ideas off each other, and we learn from one another,” says Snow. “I make sure to ask everyone’s opinions, which can be challenging, but ultimately rewarding.” 

Keep reading to learn more about Snow’s approach for producing the best possible projects, how her Chinese upbringing helps her pay attention to small details, and the type of art that she loves to create.

What’s your “journey to FableVision” story?
As I studied sociology and animation in college, I didn’t know what I could do with those two fields, but I knew I wanted to do something creative and educational. While taking an animation class, I started researching what other Harvard students did with this degree, and I found Lead Animator Didi Hatcher’s work. I met up with Didi in the old, quirky FableVision office and it was a great opportunity for me to see how smaller organizations create purposeful media. After college, I met Executive Producer Peter Stidwill when he spoke at a local event. I introduced myself and learned about his FableVision experience. There weren’t openings then, but a couple of years went by, and I applied to an open producer role… and here I am!

Why are you drawn to children’s media?
Growing up in China, I took great pride in learning English at a young age and being good at it. Disney movies were a main resource for me, so the media was very impactful for my own childhood experience. As I worked on personal animation projects in college, I had so much agency over my creations, since I was the film director, writer, storyboard artist, and animator. The children’s piece comes in due to my sociology background. I was really interested in how education plays a part in our society, and I thought it would be cool to see how media could influence kids at a young age and facilitate learning in a fun way. I also watched Mr. Rogers for the first time in college, since he’s not famous in China. He has such strong beliefs in what media should do for kids, and he became a huge inspiration for me.

Why did you decide to go into producing? How did your background prepare you for this role?
Producing makes so much sense to me since it combines my strongest skills, knowledge of art and animation, and creative eye. My past experiences have helped me organically find how to best position myself and use my strengths. In my previous job, I worked with others, managed projects, facilitated communication, focused on timelines and deliverables, and made sure we got things done. So being a producer at FableVision was a great fit and once I started working here, everything felt familiar and comfortable to me.

What types of projects do you like to work on?
I love projects where we can collaborate amongst ourselves and with the client to come up with a great solution. It’s cool to see the problem solving that takes place in a project. It’s rewarding when a client wants our input, since we have more creative agency over the project, and it takes us some figuring things out along the way. And of course, every project is different, so you have favorite art in one, a favorite game in another, and so on.

How do you work with other team members to produce the best possible projects?
Proactive communication is so important. Since our projects are educational, they’re research-based with a lot of information, and we have to be careful to deliver the right information and content. I help team members be in sync, especially since people may be working on multiple projects, and I never assume that someone just gets it. I check that everyone is on the same page.

A lot of our projects are interactive games, which involve designers, artists, and developers. Everyone works on different pieces, but still needs to have a global understanding of the project, so that no one falls out of the loop. I try to remind myself that everyone’s ideas matter, and the most valuable opinion might come from someone who is two steps down the pipeline.

Lastly, I focus on the client relationships. Producers are the bridge between the client and the project team, so I make sure to connect them with each other and ensure there isn’t miscommunication.

How has your experience growing up and studying before college in China shaped your perspective?
I’ve lived in the U.S. for about seven years now, but having my own upbringing that is different from people in America, even though America is diverse, keeps me very curious. I have to remind myself to educate myself more and ask questions, which makes everything more interesting. Something may be common for Americans, but for me, it might feel new or different. It also helps me be a conscious observer; the things that are new to me might not trigger the same questions to those raised in the U.S.

It makes me appreciative of the American education system’s resources, but also raises more questions. For instance, even though there is an abundance of resources, not everyone learns and discusses complicated topics, such as race, in the same way. I love seeing what’s on American public television. There are many thoughtful creators, and it’s great knowing that FableVision is adding good content to that repertoire.

Lastly, it keeps me inspired to bridge the cultures. I’m working in an all-English environment, but I would love to at some point connect with Chinese creators and work on a Chinese project.

We heard that you’re also an artist! What type of art do you like to create?
I love figure drawing, which I’ve done since childhood, and drawing faces. I took a drawing class in college with live models, which helped improve my drawing since the human form is full of wonderful geometry, shapes, and textures. I would invite friends over, do portrait sketches, and show them my work. People usually liked what they saw and that felt rewarding. When I retire, I want to bring an easel to the farmer’s market and do free portrait drawings. I did this in China for a month where I would go to a cafe and sketch people. Once, I asked those who sat down with me to play their favorite songs, and the songs informed my sketching styles. For example, if it was a sad song, I would make the linework more somber, and if it was happy, it would look almost like anime.

I also want to improve my children’s illustrations. One of my goals is to create a small children’s book for my friend’s 4-year-old kid, who I’m tutoring in Chinese. I’ve been procrastinating, but I’m halfway there. It’ll be in English and I want to illustrate it myself. 

On a very different note, I tried songwriting during the pandemic. I played a little guitar in college, so I wrote some silly tunes, took an Ableton class, and tried producing my own songs. 

And you’ve been dabbling in baking?
I started baking also during the pandemic, which I found very comforting. I hated the idea of baking before, but once I started, I leaned into it and went all out. Originally, the measuring system really got me… ounces? Cups? Tablespoons? Teaspoons? They didn’t make sense. One time, I mistakenly put a tablespoon instead of a teaspoon of baking soda and everything tasted like toothpaste. But, my key moment was buying a baking book. I followed the recipes exactly, so my baking would turn out really well, and I would feel super accomplished. And I love sweets and sharing them with people – that makes me happy too.

Anything else you’d like to share?
I’m an aspiring cat parent! I’ve always loved cats and have recently been surrounded by cat people, especially at FableVision. Fingers crossed, before the end of 2023, I’ll have my own orange cat.

More About Snow:

Favorite book?
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari.

Favorite film?
Princess Mononoke.

Favorite game?
Ransom Notes.

Favorite holiday?
Mid-Autumn Festival because the traditional food for this holiday is moon cake, and it’s delicious.

Favorite American idiom?
“I’ve got bigger fish to fry” – when I hear this, it reminds me of a villain in an animated movie moving on to their next scheme, the next problem that they’re going to cause.

A Snow fun fact that most people don’t know?
In Chinese schools, some students are asked to give motivational speeches that they prepare ahead of time. Our school would have a speaker every Monday, usually a different student, and I’d be called up quite frequently. Outside of school I competed in public speaking contests. A super niche and buried past of me!

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