The political science curriculum at Emory was a great precursor to my course load in law school. Classes like Civil Liberties and Constitutional Law laid a solid foundation for the classes I took in my first year at Penn. Both schools enabled me to be an analytical thinker and refined my approach to problem solving. The perspective I bring to everything that crosses my desk is definitely informed by my time at Emory and Penn.

But more than my coursework, two things about Penn really shape my day to day. 1L year is particularly stressful—it’s a high-pressure time filled with incredibly intense coursework. One professor even sent us home over Thanksgiving (when all of my free time would be devoted to studying for my first semester’s finals) with the advice “Hunker down, this is war!” You can imagine how stressed I felt walking into my first final. As my classmates and I waited for the exam to start, our dean of students entered wearing a tutu. He reminded us that at the end of the day, this was just one final and everything would be okay. That moment of levity is something I return to often in moments of stress. We’re not saving lives—we’re making really funny videos!

I also took the opportunity during law school to step outside of the classroom and enrolled in the mediation clinic where I was trained as a mediator in Philadelphia family court and small claims court. The tools I learned as a mediator—the ability to listen and to find common ground—are probably the tools I return to most often as I negotiate deals on behalf of Electus Digital. I have to be able to hear through a lot of “noise” to distill the other side’s perspective into what it is they really want…and then figure out a way to give it to them while still protecting Electus Digital’s interests. My ability to do that is largely due to my semester spent in the mediation clinic.

I’ve always been interested in the arts but am self-aware enough to know that I don’t quite have the creative chops necessary to pursue a creatively-focused role. I loved the idea that I could support artists and help them realize their creative vision and, in my own way, be a part of the creative process.

From an early age, I knew that I was interested in pursuing a career as a lawyer. However, it was not until college when I interned at both Nickelodeon and CNN that I discovered my interest in the “behind-the-scenes” aspects of the entertainment industry. Given that I was already set on heading to law school, combining my two interests seemed like a natural progression.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t quite that easy! There wasn’t an entertainment law curriculum at Penn (which is the case at most law schools, given that it’s such a niche practice), so I had to chart my own path. In addition to intellectual property-focused classes, I supplemented my course load with classes at Penn’s Annenberg School for Communication. In anticipation of the summer, between my 1L and 2L years, I reached out to Penn Law alumni working in entertainment to secure an internship…and it worked! I spent the summer between my first and second year of law school as an intern in the legal department of Time Warner, which was a great experience. Each of those things taken together helped confirm that this was the right path for me.

IAC really offers the best of everything when it comes to company culture. While it’s a massive public company, it has managed to retain a small business vibe. The businesses at IAC may seem incredibly varied but they’re each full of incredibly talented and nice people who have a real interest in helping their colleagues across all IAC businesses. It’s an incredibly collegial environment and that feeling is really cultivated from the top down. Events like happy hour and community service day bring people together on a regular basis and they allow me to continue to meet colleagues from different businesses and offer me a varied perspective rather than just the perspective of my colleagues at Electus Digital.

The corporate department at Kramer Levin provided me with many of the skills I’ve relied on throughout my career. While my days may no longer be filled with securities work, it was at Kramer Levin that I learned the importance of a strong team, how to stay organized amidst countless ongoing projects and the importance of clear communication. I was always interested in pursuing a career in entertainment law and joined the corporate department at Kramer Levin with that goal in mind. However, I knew that the training I would receive at a large, well-respected firm like Kramer Levin would give me a leg up when I pursued work at the smaller boutique firms and in-house at a larger company.

To-do lists! My friends and family often tell me I’m quite tech-savvy (and that may be true) but I rely on “old school” to-do lists to keep me on top of everything. To me, there’s nothing more satisfying than crossing an item off the list.

Maintaining an organized email inbox—with countless sub-files—is perhaps the closest I get to utilizing tech to stay organized. Otherwise, I have an 11-inch Macbook Air, which enables me to work on the fly. Being able to drop my computer in a tote of pretty much any size, which allows me to be responsive as issues arise on the go, has been life changing!

The success of CollegeHumor is more invigorating than daunting. It’s an incredible success story! From its origins in two college dorm rooms, it has grown into an incredibly diverse business that’s part of a thriving public company. Visiting any of our sites or our YouTube channels is the perfect stress release—it’s a great reminder of why I pursued this area of the law in the first place—I get to play an integral role in a creative and fun company every day.

It’s such a cliché response, but there really is no average day. As a member of our management team, I’m involved in every aspect of our business, which means I’m constantly getting pulled into meetings as the day progresses. Given that much of our business is west coast-based (hello, Hollywood), my mornings are generally quieter, which allows me time to turn to drafting and reviewing contracts, responding to emails and catching up on industry news.

Once LA wakes up, there goes the quiet. I spend most of my afternoons on the phone speaking with my west coast colleagues and negotiating with lawyers on the other side of our deals.

It can be a challenge at times to try to impose some semblance of order on my highly creative colleagues, but that’s what I love about this area of the law. My days aren’t routine and I’m not surrounded by like-minded colleagues. We’re an incredibly diverse organization and I thrive on that. I also like to think I’m well versed in distilling complicated issues and making them more manageable to digest.

I like to think that I defy the stereotype that many creative types have about lawyers—namely that they’re a menacing presence or obstructionist. I never want to get in the way of a good idea when I spot potential risks. Instead, it’s my job to find a way for my colleagues to achieve their creative vision and do it in a way that makes them feel like I’m on their team. That’s the challenge in what I do and that’s what I thrive on.

Knowing that I have an IMDB page and my name in the credits of movies, television shows and our web content is a cheap thrill! It’s a visual representation of some of the projects I’ve lent a hand on and it’s always gratifying to see.

Absolutely! Enjoying our content is a big part of what has kept me here. I love that when one of our videos goes viral, and it appears in my Facebook feed, I know I contributed to getting that video onscreen. To me, an interest in what we produce is essential to my role here. I can’t imagine being as excited to head into work if I were a tax lawyer (no offense!). 

I’d love to continue to work in an environment where I can have my hands in all aspects of the business and not be limited to solely legal tasks. Because there are legal implications to virtually every decision a business makes, I hope to always be part of a team that values my insights beyond simple contract review. I certainly have that now and can’t imagine giving that up!