What is art if not transforming a loose idea or feeling into something expressive, creative, and purposeful to be enjoyed by others? Despite years of artistic schooling, my own perception of art was once narrow, as I looked to a small handful of predefined mediums as the be-all and end-all. Art is more than just paint on a canvas or ink on a page, and working at Valnet helped me translate my creativity into a career in an industry that connects millions of readers across the globe with content on the topics they love every single day.
Getting a Foot in the Door
After earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Visual Communication, I found myself in the creatively unfulfilling role of a call center employee at a health insurance company in Massachusetts. As a new father, I took a massive gamble when I left that job in February 2017 to pursue freelance writing, but CBR – just one year removed from being acquired by Valnet – graciously took a gamble on me as well. I cut my teeth on the news team, writing breaking stories on the movies, TV shows, and comics I was passionate about. In May 2018, Screen Rant Editorial, Brand, & PR Director Rob Keyes brought me onto CBR’s editorial team as a junior news editor. A little over a year later, I was promoted to lead news editor, and by May 2022, I was deputy editor. Finally, in May 2023, I was named executive editor of CBR.
Eight years later, the journey still feels profoundly surreal. When I was sitting in a cubicle reading CBR articles on my phone through a half-open desk drawer in between calls at a call center, I never imagined I’d one day be participating in managing the brand and overseeing a large and talented team of writers, editors, and leads. Valnet’s motto is “Humble and Hungry“; being hungry is what helped get me here, but I’ll never cease to be humbled by the opportunity.
An Incredible Journey Shaped by Incredible People
I’ve been fortunate enough to meet and learn from some of the brightest minds in the industry in my time at Valnet. I’ve known Rob Keyes for as long as I’ve been here, and beyond helping me make the initial jump from writer to editor, he’s always been incredibly supportive. Most of what I know about SEO and the intricacies of Google Search and Discover comes from my time working with ScreenRant Content Director and Operations Manager Alex Leadbeater. I can firmly say I would not be able to do what I do today without the skills I learned from him.
When I first joined the management side of CBR, I began working very closely with CBR Deputy Editor of Anime/Manga & Gaming Renan Fontes. Few people are as driven as him, and he’s the reason CBR has arguably the most competitive anime coverage in the industry. I’ve also been lucky enough to work very closely with CBR Deputy Editor of Movies/TV Samantha McPhee, who is one of the most brilliant, innovative, and hardest-working people I’ve ever met. It’s challenging to reminisce about my time at CBR without also thinking about the future, and Samantha is very much the future of CBR.
Passion Projects Without Limits
Valnet is a company that rewards passion, and I’m incredibly grateful to have had so many of my own passion projects realized throughout my time here. I attended San Diego Comic-Con twice, and I’ve has the opportunity to review some of my favourite movies and TV shows.
More importantly, I’ve had the chance to put the skills I’ve learned to the test. In 2022, I built the “CBR at a Glance” dashboard, a one-stop hub for the entire editorial team to track article performance, traffic source distribution, and trends in real-time. Three years later, the dashboard remains a go-to tool for every editor and lead.
Continued Brand Growth
One of the most rewarding parts of my time with Valnet has been watching CBR grow as a brand. From standing on the sidelines reporting on major industry events remotely to being an active force at red carpets, press lines, junkets, and more, CBR has evolved from a comic book news website to one of the leading entertainment and pop culture outlets. As part of Valnet’s Entertainment portfolio, we’ve also undergone massive readership growth, jumping from an average of 36 million unique pageviews per month in 2023 to nearly 48 million in 2025.
This year marks CBR’s 30th anniversary, and while I’ve only been with the brand for eight of those years, I’m honored that Valnet has entrusted me with leading the brand’s continued evolution. I’m excited to see what the next eight years (and the next 30 years) bring, and I am certain it will be a work of art.
