Mitch Monson - Executive Director of Creative and Partnerships at Sibling Rivalry.

21:53And then they came to us with some of those initial ideas saying, hey, we want to develop and refine this. So we had the opportunity with all the digital tools that we had at the time to develop the idea further, but then also bring it into animation, bring it into performance, bring it into music videos. Yeah. So it just, then it started having a life of its own. We started, you know, we worked on the album cover. We worked on, you know, as I mentioned, the concerts, et cetera. You know, it all kind of stemmed eventually from that symbol. And there's a number of meanings I could bring up, but like key ones were just, you know, the, there's kind of a backwards seven in the love symbol, which, you know, that's his birthday is on the seventh.

22:36Claire:Oh, okay. There's also, you know, reasons for the male-female symbol. Obviously, he was very much about being inclusive. Yeah, he's very fluid. Yeah, all of that was kind of in there. And then there's like, I have Horace and, you know, the world and, you know, just a lot of different things that were portions of that that we've talked about in other articles. But I think, you know, the opportunity to do that and actually have it, you know, years later still mean something to people. Yeah, of course. And still be relevant. Yeah. Is, I think it's still a bit of stretch, but we've had people as like, it's kind of like the peace symbol was at a moment in time.

23:16Yeah. And I think if like that love symbol and what it means and the inclusivity of it, if that ends up having that kind of legacy, I think it'd be fantastic.

23:27Claire:Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. The legacy of it's huge, isn't it? People still, it's very clear in my mind, like what it was. Yeah. Or what it is now, of course. It's like everyone knows it. Well, just one interesting story. My niece Lauren, I remember this so vividly, when he played the Super Bowl. And of course, he was playing Purple Rain in the rain, which is probably one of the most historic Super Bowl moments. Oh my gosh, yeah. But I remember her calling me and saying, Uncle Mitch, Prince is standing on your logo. And of course, it's not my logo, but to have that kind of connection was so interesting because, you know, that much time later.

24:07And then, you know, even recently seeing, having friends say, hey, Chris Rock's wearing the cymbal in his latest concert. Like those kind of things, it's still there. It's still meaning something to people. So I hope it continues to have, you know, a really positive message. Yeah, I'm sure it does.

24:22Claire:So you actually made the stage of the cymbal. we didn't that that was so that was years later at Super Bowl yeah but them building that massive kind of neon based symbol in the stadium was you know pretty iconic and I think at that point in time when all of a sudden my niece understood what I did yes you know the world was right that's exactly right yeah totally so what happened to the production company what did you how long were you in that um having your own production company and then so so I did that for about 10 years with my partners. And then we added Greg and Michael also came on at that point in time.

25:01And I think after that 10-year point, I was just getting a bit restless. And I had some other friends that had opportunities in Los Angeles and in Hollywood at the time. And one of them, my friend Anne White, had contacted me one day and mentioned this opportunity. And again, when you think of being in that bubble of Minneapolis and Minnesota for so many years and owning your own company, having all this structure and all these people you're responsible for, to think about a different opportunity and something as big as LA or Hollywood, it just seemed so out of reach and just too complex, too scary.

25:39Interesting.

25:39Claire:So even working with Prince, you wouldn't like, yeah. Oh, yeah. It's not a natural. Yeah. And I think it's because being a business owner so early, and I think also that opportunity, even though it prepares you for, you know, experience all the things being a business owner. I think that was, it also made me really uncertain. Like, could I work for somebody else? Could I handle that pressure of what their expectations on me? And I think that's, you know, again, from the self-taught thing to that, I think there was just so much imposter syndrome of like, gosh, if I do that, they're going to figure me out.

26:17You know, like they're I know I've done this for 10 years, but they're going to figure me out. This is not going to go well. But then again, just that same, I think that same idea of taking that risk and knowing that would be my momentum to like, I can figure this out. I'm scrappy. I can get into that place and hopefully convince people I'm able to do this job. But I was so unprepared because I just didn't know the tools that a lot of the people did in Los Angeles and what they were using in their production world, which at that time was After Effects and cinema and all these things that were not part of this really big, heavy model we had in Minneapolis.

27:02So what was the opportunity?

27:03Claire:What was the – so you moved to LA? You moved to Hollywood? Yeah, I got an opportunity to work at a company called Three Ring Circus at the time, which was, I would say, kind of an offshoot of where Pittered Sullivan started in the industry because we had so many people from Pittered that ended up coming over. And it was just, it was a magical place. That's all I can say. I mean, when my title, when my formal title on my business card was The Circus Freak, like I knew I was in a different place. And the conference table was actually a massive diorama that sat in the table of an entire circus. Wow.

27:40So, like, that just gives you an idea. And we were in this old kind of mansion house on Franklin in Hollywood. would and it's so like all the things it was just a hard place to describe but i'd love to have seen that it just fostered some amazing friendships some amazing talented people and my mentor there in cantwell was one of the people that i had kind of dreamed of working with at the time seeing her at conferences seeing the work that they were doing so i told my partners at the time even though that was going to be a big step and i was gonna really miss all of that like i just told and there's something in the universe telling me that this is right.

28:18Like this is not going to be one of those opportunities that I'll get again. So I think that made it easier to make the jump.

28:25Claire:Yeah. You have to listen to that. Yes. Yeah. Realizing it's not going to come along again and again and again. Yeah. And, you know, in some way, shape or form, I think my parents might be happy if I do this at some point in time. It's always back there. Definitely, it's always back there. But having a mentor seems to be a constant thread throughout your career. Tell me more about that. I think it's a really smart move, I love. Yeah. And I think the one thing I realized, and this is from a podcast conversation I had with Simon Dixon, is he had mentioned to me he didn't have a lot of mentors. And I think it really opened my eyes because that had always been kind of my path as I had these incredible mentors or I actually always thought of, like, I really want this boss to be my mentor because they're going to help me push things forward.

29:17We learned a lot of things from them. Befriending them is going to be very helpful for me. But I just kind of thought that's how everybody did it. You know, and I think when I talk to directors or I talk to people that are other designers that have kind of been in their lane for so long, you just kind of lose track of like what else is out there and how else people are doing it. But I knew those mentors, even my first one at that Wilson Learning job across from Prince's Studio, he was amazing in helping us put together this first business and be our first client. And then, you know, from that point forward, you know, when I got to Three Ring and had that opportunity to work with Elaine, all of a sudden I had my mentor was somebody that I just worshipped as a designer.

30:01Claire:That's so cool. And you just don't, yeah, I think you don't think those things are going to be possible. But then I realized that, yeah, the more I could find those mentors and especially in some of the amazing bosses I had, all of that has kind of pushed things forward tenfold. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I can imagine. I think you find the right people to be that mentor. Yeah, transformational. And I think that's, you know, I think the thing I was going to mention Bob again, because one thing that was super special about him, I'll try not to get emotional, but he did tell me what he was doing for us.

30:37it's up to me to do something for somebody else.

30:40Claire:Wow, I love that. And so it was that kind of paying forward part of what he shared that I think... That's really beautiful. Yeah. So I think that, and you've probably heard that story in other people's journey, but I think for me, that again was always back there, that it's my responsibility to make that difference for other people that are either in my path or have interest in what we're doing. and it really, you know, the Move Together organization, the assembly stuff that we do, all of those things are about helping other people make those connections and how we can pay it forward. Can we talk quickly?

31:19Claire:I want to learn more about the sort of work you started doing in Hollywood, just as you mentioned Move Together. Can we talk a little bit about that? Because I love this organization. I think it does great stuff. Yeah. The credit of that really has to go to Chuck Carey from Compadre and Chris Manzaras from ESPN, because Chris had this seed of an idea during COVID that there was just this loss of connection, and especially for younger people in the industry. And we all love that. And he had this kind of bigger idea, but the first idea was like, how can we get people more connected? And even in part of that, what's, you know, is it student base is it other people in the industry but they kind of gave me a challenge of like how many people can you get on a call to discuss this yeah and so with such generosity like you know porva jumped in david herbrook jumped in chuck carrie jumped in all these people all these other owners that we have befriended and love yeah as people involved you've got lord Casper, you've got, yeah, really good studios behind it.

32:25And also both people here domestically and overseas. And I think the idea that people are open to, you know, talk to them on a Wednesday and on Thursday, all of a sudden we have 30 people on that call that say, love this idea, like tell us more. And I just, you know, we so appreciated that. And I think Chuck and Chris really appreciated that. And really from that point, it kind of evolved into this thing where we put it together as a way that we could provide mentorship and other learning by presentations, by also getting students an opportunity to be able to get an internship at Fox or get an internship at MTV or at The Mill.

33:09And out of that experience, be able to see this is actually a possibility. To your earlier question, there's design behind all of this. There's a job behind all this. And so giving those students that opportunity to get a mentorship, and then at the conclusion of it, we have this big celebration, we have this big kind of graduation moment with all the other sponsors and the great companies that were a part of it. It was at the time, especially giving a lot of youth that would have no connection to this industry and especially underrepresented schools to be able to see what we do and how we do it.

33:49And the great thing is some of those students actually got full-time opportunities as part of it. So it's something that I think, you know, going back to us giving back, it really kind of brought everything full circle. And I think it's hopefully something that we can continue to push on. You know, it's not the most inclusive world right now.

34:11Claire:Well, yeah, it's not. It needs to changed, doesn't it? So, and I think, you know, COVID kind of taught us that how important that was, but I think, you know, we're trying to do that. I think it's, it's also part of this mission of assembly of really, how do we get, how do we get the community together? How do we get opportunity together? Now that's kind of what I'm pushing on further, but. So let's say, so move together is more about getting different people of different backgrounds, mentors, and so they can move through the industry and they can experience it and know what it's about. Exactly.

34:43Claire:Assembly is more about getting the, that's big gatherings of people already in the industry, getting them together and getting them working together and friends, social, all that kind of stuff. Yeah. And exactly that. It's not an award show. It's not a conference. It's not all the expected things. It really is like when Tony Cadillac and Carson Hood first put it together in 2020, it was really, how else do we connect after COVID? And how do we get, you know, all the people that we love in a room together? And that's clients and that's studio peers and other creatives. And I think what it's evolved, you know, that's maybe 90 people in a Noe House situation in New York to now in 2026, we're getting three to 400 people showing up from clients to prospective talent to studios and creative studios.

35:36Claire:It looks amazing. It looks really fun. I need to come to one, basically. It looks fantastic. We'll have you in New York for sure. And I think that's the thing. It's trying to put together a community that really doesn't get that opportunity to just get out, connect, and that is literally all there is to the evening. It's just a really elevated experience. And I think we've had so many people, especially recently saying I just got this new gig because I was at assembly and I made this connection or I you know reconnected with somebody that I haven't seen for years and now they're a client again to just hey I haven't seen these people in 10 years yeah I can't believe there's an opportunity to do that yeah definitely so yes we'll have you in New York so you can experience it and we also do LA in the fall so it'll be you know May will be in New York and then likely October, November will be in LA.

36:33Claire:That sounds very good. Yeah, I do a much smaller thing, but similar idea with friends of mine called Baxter and Bailey, who do a design agency that are very good friends in Brighton. And it's called Meeting Room. And we basically get together every six months and we have amazing people talking about stuff and designers talking about stuff. We've been doing it for about three or four years and people are starting to work together and get to know each other and whole systems evolve around it. And I'm just like, this is what should happen. Oh, I love that. So can I come to one of those? Yeah, please.

37:03Claire:Yeah, absolutely. You should speak at one of those. Let's talk separately about this. You need to come over. When I think, you know, there's, and there are other organizations like that. Our mutual friend, Joel Pillager does that with his Fuse events where it's getting business owners together. Yeah, I love that. And I get to be part of those on a frequent basis, thanks to him. And I think those again are like being a business owner, you're isolated. You know, how else can you get people together to talk about what they're struggling with or processes or techniques of things. And then the same with what we've seen in Radham even having that creative dinner for us in London.

37:39Yeah, Radham's great. You and I wouldn't have met without that. Yeah, absolutely. But then that connection of just an evening with people that are just, you know, good friends of people that are already good people. Yeah. It's just only going to lead to great things.

37:51Claire:Definitely, I agree. Can we talk about a couple of sort of highlights? I know you've done so much amazing work, But a couple of things that really stand out to me would be the work with Marvel and then the work with NBC and the Olympics. Can we talk a bit about Marvel and any other bits that you want to add on as well? But let's talk a bit about Marvel because it's such a cool opportunity to work on. Well, after I had left New York, this opportunity came up where a really good friend of mine, Chuck Carey, was running part of the operations at Motion in Los Angeles. Yeah. And that was an opportunity where I really wasn't, again, it was a big, it was kind of a big risk because I didn't have any theatrical experience except for, you know, years prior at Three Ring being able to work on Minority Report.

38:39And that was kind of my first opportunity. Such an amazing movie. Amazing. My favorite Tom Cruise movie. But it didn't prepare me for what was, we want you to come in, run the theatrical design part of the company, as well as expand on the broadcast and brand design part of the company. I knew that part. I didn't know the other. But they, yeah, Craig and Michael and Chuck gave me this opportunity to do that and put that trust in me. And I was like, just left New York, this isn't going to happen. I would, if Chuck owned a garage, I'd go work for him. So it was the opportunity that we got to work together.

39:18And from there, yeah, I just, one of the first projects I walked into was Doctor Strange and working on design and trailers for that. Brilliant. And I just.

39:30Claire:So when you say working on design, like what did you do? So Doctor Strange, are you talking about the overall look of the. So for like motion would focus on the marketing and promotion of films. Yeah. So for that, we were doing title design and other graphic design for things within the trailers. And then also integrating that into the eventual trailer cut that we would do for like the Doctor Strange film. And I can still remember it so vividly. I'm sitting at a Starbucks on Sunset Boulevard and I'm looking across in the morning at a billboard with Doctor Strange on it. And that moment of like, I'm actually working on that.

40:08Like the chances of that from when I was here in New York to going to LA to my first job being that, it was so far out of reach. Yeah, absolutely. Like I never really thought that was possible. And I had kind of at the time always thought it'd be great to get into movies again, but it's never going to happen.

40:25Claire:Yeah. So huge kudos to Chuck and also for Motion Trust and me with that. And then, you know, 15 movies later, you know, I was in everything from Black Widow to Avengers, Endgame to Infinity War to Ant-Man to where like it just kept coming. It was kind of the heyday of those films. And I just felt so grateful that that happened. And Adam and his team just kept us moving on that incredible path. Yeah. Yeah. God, what an amazing opportunity. But what amazing work you did as well. Thank you. It's really cool stuff. Well, I think the one thing that was interesting for, you know, for not only myself, but for designers is, you know, you don't get those kind of numbers now.

41:11But when we did Avengers Endgame, when that went up on the Internet in a single day, that got 283 million views.

41:20Claire:Wow. 283 million. Yeah, in the same day. Oh, my God. So that's globally. That just doesn't happen anymore. Does it not? But is it just much more split up and diverse? Yeah, and there's just the traction and the distractions of the internet. There's so many other things there that I think at that time, Marvel 2 was just completely in its stride. Yeah. And every one of those films was a billion dollar film. So that was really where, you know, I just experienced something at a scale. And I think the team we had there got to experience something that, you know, that'll never happen again for the way that we see films.

42:01But I think, yeah, like, how did I get to experience that? Yeah. It was just, it was, yeah, it was really special. But I think it also made me, I think, appreciate being in that moment. Like, we realized at the moment that this was it. Like, we were experiencing something that was really unique. sometimes that doesn't happen until years later but when we were in it we knew it was going like

42:26Claire:this was special and this team was special that's fantastic that's such a yeah amazing thing to do but can we talk a bit about so nbc olympics can we talk a bit about that and how sibling rivalry basically and what i'd love to do yeah well actually it goes back to 2016 it was the first time that i had this opportunity with that team and it's it's just so special to me because again, I always had always watched the Olympics as a kid with my parents and it was such a big thing in our household and, and didn't matter if it was summer, winter, whatever. But to know that, you know, at that point in time, when I was working here in New York, I had that opportunity to work with David and Wade and Mark on what at the time was just going to be, we, we want to do this Mark around the real Olympics.

43:13And I had done some freelance for them prior to that on, on london so i just at least knew them i knew wade actually from through inc circus so again make sure i always stay connected to your friends yeah and and that that ended up from 2016 all the way up to you know what we just finished for milan cortina here at sibling and not only that identity but we worked on paris last year which i love my work for paris oh thank you it's it like it it's That I think was particularly special. And I think the main reason is not just because we had an amazing team here at Sibling working on it and we had such a great experience with the NBC Olympic team.

43:55But I think in particular seeing my friend Wade be on stage at the sports Emmys, you know, accepting all those awards, like they just swept the awards last year, was just so special because that's, you know, that's why you do it. You do it to make them look great, also have a great experience. And there was something particularly special about Paris because of that. But I think for me, again, being an athlete and having this experience with the Olympics and design, it's really a perfect storm for me. And I think what I love about Sibling is everybody here is excited about working on it, wants to be part of it.

44:35And I think that energy and enthusiasm comes through to our clients. Massively.

44:40Claire:Yeah, it really does. The work's outstanding. Thank you. It's a really, really cool thing. To know you even said that, you know, you were excited about Luz or Skeleton, I'm so happy. Oh my God, I was so totally obsessed with the Winter Olympics. They've just been mind-blowing this year. Yeah, because you hope that that's, you know, obviously the result of our work is we want people to watch. We want to get these stories out here and NBC wants to get those stories out there. And I think, especially between Paris and Milan Cortina, it's definitely hit its stride. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I wanted to ask about how you inspire yourself creatively.

45:18Claire:I know that your snowboarding is a massive part of this. We were talking earlier about the sort of concept of silence and stuff. Can I ask you about that? Does snowboarding link with your creativity? It really does. And I think everybody's got their own story. And I think all of us share in that. We get a lot of that inspiration from conferences and from connections with people in the industry and all the other things that are kind of the standards by seeing other people's work, going to other types of conferences and things that are going to inspire us. But I think the thing that really inspires me the most is the opportunity to step away from all of this.

45:58Claire:Yes. And not just step away from it and go on vacation somewhere. But for me, the snowboarding is really about this adventure travel, you know, kind of throughout the world. And I think, in fact, this week I'm going to be going to Austria for exactly that. Yeah, of course. And I think there's something about stepping into that silence and stepping into, you know, being dropped off at the top of the mountain. And when that helicopter is gone, there's no sound. There's nothing up there. That actually makes me feel slightly dizzy with fear. I'm such a fair weather blue run scared. And I think it's also, I think it really is embracing that fear too because a lot of people go, I can't believe how many times you've done that.

46:44And it's like, I'm sure it's not scary anymore, but I would never do that. But that's the thing. It's always scary. There's always the fear there. That's interesting.

46:54Claire:I just assumed you got past that and there's no, you've still got the fear, but doing it. But I think that's the part of it that, and you'll hear this from climbers, backcountry snowboarders, anybody that does that kind of activity is you literally feel the most alive in that moment. Yeah. And part of that is because of the fear and part of that is getting past it and then getting into, you know, being kind of back to my military training, being disciplined, being focused, being present. And if you want to be present in the moment, there's nothing like doing that in a, you know, in the Arctic Circle, in the middle of an area where you see nothing but snow mountains.

47:40Claire:Yeah. So there's a clarity to it. And the one other thing that's, I think, so valuable is when I come back to Sibling, and I'll come back again on Monday, it's literally, you're so refreshed from that and so cleared out that it literally feels like your first day. Wow. So it just resets your mind. Completely. That's so cool. Yeah, and I had experienced that years ago when I first did it in Alaska, but I still get that experience every time I come back. Yeah. And I think there's something about that, you know, even going back to those military days again of like get the old shit out and bring the new shit in.

48:21Claire:Yeah. That's what your training teaches you. That's what being active teaches you. And I think that's also why I love doing the backcountry experience because it resets me 200%. Yeah. Yeah. I think that's a great way of doing it. Not normal, but most people would say I love going to museums. I love going to conferences and those are all part of it. But for me, sport definitely. Yeah. And it doesn't have to be always extreme. It could just be doing that trail run. It could be, you know, doing something else active. But I think the bigger the adventure, the better the reset. Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

49:02Claire:I agree. Could I ask you finally about sort of, like you've given so much inspiration anyway. Can I ask you about what would be your sort of top tips for young people wanting to get into the industry today? How do they stand out beyond pure design talent? Yeah, you know, it's funny because I always thought that's what it was about. And it's really, I think at this point, what I realized, especially because I've always been really reflective, not just now as I've gotten older, but I found a way to be reflective kind of all the time and always looking back to try to figure out. And I think I credit that to my business partners when I was in Minneapolis is like, there is planning, there is strategic thinking as far as how we're building a business, how we're building a company.

49:46But I think I had also read this one article that talked about it in the 90s about that importance of looking back. And they had, in fact, this specific article was about a bunch of retirees, very successful retirees, like a thousand of them that were interviewed and what they found as valuable lessons.

50:08Claire:Yeah. And I think out of that, which I think are so important to young people, is like it is being more reflective. it's looking at regular intervals, that bigger picture and how it's all kind of coming together. And then biggest thing is taking those risks in relationships, taking those risks in business. There was this quote in the article from Oliver Wendell Holmes that said, don't die with your music still inside you. And that - Oh, I love that. From the time I saw that quote, I literally changed my life at that point. And it was one of the reasons I moved to Hollywood at that first point in time after I made company, because I realized I got to take a bigger swing.

50:50I know I have more inside me. And so I just think that's a super important lesson for all of us. Isn't it?

50:56Claire:What an amazing way of summing it up. Yeah. Yeah. And I think to that though, I think it's also, it's, you know, my career is just not giving up. It's about persistence. There's also, in everything we're talking about, there's plenty of downside of the challenges of what I was talking about with imposter syndrome and challenges of like, am I going to be able to do this? Or it's a terrible day, but the next day is going to be better. Like all that persistence, I think you just have to have that thick skin. So good to know that everyone goes through that and like you've been through it and you go through the other side.

51:32Claire:It's not, you don't have it because you're not good enough. Everyone has it and you just push through it. Yeah. And what I was mentioning this to a friend the other a day is what it actually, the best part of that, especially being self-taught is it's kind of a superpower because you ask a lot more questions because you aren't the smartest person in the room. But also when those challenges come up, I was always the one asking for help. Or I was always the one, like all the designers would hold their work so tight. And I was just the opposite. I would ask for opinions. I would ask for support. And if you're doing that early on, I think it can really help you, especially in this career, because in a lot of cases, everybody has to have it perfect before they can share it.

52:15And, you know, the work in process, the rawness of what you're doing, you know, the more you can bring people into that equation, the stronger your ideas and your path is going to be.

52:26Claire:Yeah, absolutely. That's very good advice. So those are some things that I can think of. But I love that question because I get so much out of that when I hear other people in your podcast talked about because everybody's experience is so different. And they always have a nugget of like, oh, I'm writing that one down. I can learn from that. Yeah, that's the point. Mitch, thank you so much. This has been amazing. I really appreciate it. And I hope you have a great week in New York. It's going to be fun.

53:08Thank you.