Ideologically, I prefer the safety of dipping my toe in rather than making a full-fledged jump, but alas, that is not the industry I chose to work in. You go from zero to 100 in all cases, so when I got hired at CBR during the California wildfires, a time when our industry was deeply challenged in navigating its rocky landscape, I knew it was time to be bold. Thankfully, the colleagues I find myself swimming with make the pool party fun.
Immediately, I was tasked with coming up with a signature series for CBR that expressed who I am while diving into CBR’s dedication to fandom. With my inherent curiosity combined with a penchant for chaos comes a love of drawing that I hadn’t explored since childhood. My show CBR Presents: DRAW! seeks to answer the question, “What do your favorite entertainers talk about when you give them a marker, canvas, and zero expectations?” While I don’t think the team was expecting the pitch to include a request for easels, they handled it with grace, and we decided to launch at SXSW, which we would be covering a couple of months later.
The response was immediate and very positive. For appropriate projects, publicists were volunteering their clients and asking why no one had done this before. Thankfully, CBR wanted to take a chance. Our very first guest was Olympian Carl Lewis, promoting his insightful SXSW documentary I’m Carl Lewis! Needless to say, that set the bar for guests higher than what his Olympic colleagues faced in their pole vaults. Carl was surprised by the concept and made it clear he didn’t consider himself an artist. Just to cement that, he even requested a new canvas after a false start, which I allowed–but only because he had won nine gold medals. Had it been eight, who knows what would have happened.
Anyway–and you won’t hear me say this about the other things Carl has said–he is dead wrong not to identify as an artist. He ended up drawing his personal hero, Olympian Jesse Owens, eating a burrito, wearing a funny hat during the legendary 1936 Olympics. Surprises like that, and the humanization of our heroes, are the hallmark of my work. I now have the drawings from Arnold Schwarzenegger, Guillermo del Toro, Andy Samberg, Tony Hale, Lana Condor, Kurt & Wyatt Russell, Carrie Ann Moss, David Dastmalchian, Ashley Eckstein, Paul Feig, and Ed Sheeran, among many others.
Soon after a thrilling SXSW, packed with great standard interviews as well as easel-based drawing parties, the opportunity arose to co-host a live event at AGBO Studios, thanks to the hard work of our Deputy Editor of Authority and Original Content, Sean O’Connell. Their film The Electric State had just been released, and the mobile creators wanted to discuss the game that tied into the Russo Brothers’ visionary-as-usual project starring Chris Pratt and Millie Bobby Brown. This marked the first time I had the opportunity to connect with fans of CBR directly and get to know their love of the brand and its hardworking staff.
That goodwill from our audience is mirrored in that of publicists we depend on to create our content. When our can-do team worked for months to take interview suite ideas from concept to reality, booking became the easiest part of the equation, as the gatekeepers saw us upping the ante and knew their clients would be well taken care of. This is how we secured a spot on the exclusive Critics Choice Awards carpet in 2026. Similarly, our efforts at San Diego Comic Con led to more opportunities, including hosting the premiere of Vietnam-but-with-dinosaurs banger Primitive War, which included a post-screening Q&A after my interview with the cast proved so lively. By the way–congrats on the sequel, y’all.
In terms of fostering relationships, working with CBR creates a synergy that news programs are excited about. I’ve had long-standing relationships with networks in Los Angeles, and like publicists, they were overjoyed to hear the news about my new endeavor. My weekly spots on LA’s CBS and FOX stations have also created a new opportunity with CNN, with more on the way from a station I’m very excited to develop a new relationship with (catchy segment name forthcoming).
When any new opportunity arises, I’ve experienced boundless enthusiasm for the possibilities from my teammates. Over the course of this year, we have been a part of uniting Valnet’s Screen brands as much as possible, combining our strengths for better bookings and more content for everyone. In this busy world, with countless outlets fighting for a small slice of time, publicists love the one-stop-shop we offer, where each site has its own signature shows, specialties, and flavor, but all are united by being nerds who love the magic of entertainment.
It’s like in David Lynch’s The Straight Story, when Richard Farnsworth illustrates that a stick by itself can be broken–but sticks in a bundle are much stronger. Evidence of our stick-bundle vibes could be found in our New York Comic Con shared suite, where Collider, ScreenRant, and CBR all took turns interviewing phenomenal talent. I didn’t even realize a highlight of my career would be hearing Sarah Michelle Gellar talk for 30 minutes about playing an animated bear in the forest who swears and sells meth (coming to Tubi this summer).
The positivity from our crew is what’s emboldening me to push beyond the usual interview hijinks you can now regularly find on the site for a significant number of TV and film releases. It stands to reason that the only thing better than talk time with artists is more talk time with artists–especially those who have been making an impression on audiences for ages. I pitched a new profile series that we’re calling CBR’s Scene Stealers. It represents not only our love for artists, but also the collaborative process among our staff here that I feel so fortunate to be a part of.
Together, we’re drawing a great future here at CBR. Here’s to year two!
