Kickstart Spotlight: Cathy Jiang

frightened 🍕 by Jon Izen

Tell us a little bit about yourself.

I grew up in San Diego and moved up to Vancouver 5 years ago to work at Kickstart.

What was your first job?

Sold knives for my first job, did not like it and I try to spend as little time thinking about it.

How many years have you been working in this industry?

Spent a year and a half in live action and like 5 years in animation.

How did you get started with Kickstart Entertainment?

I first heard of Kickstart Entertainment from Wendy and volunteering at BFF. Heard they were looking for prod coordinators, got on an initial call with Heather and fooled her into letting me come to Vancouver. I just showed up one day and everyone was kind enough to be like fine I guess you can help and learn about animation and they've been stuck with me since.

What piece of advice do you wish you had been given when you first started working in this industry?

This is a team effort and certain things will be out of your control. There will always be bumps and that's ok, how you roll over the bumps is what matters. But also realistically how often do you actually listen to a piece of advice immediately or am I just speaking for myself o_o

If you could give one piece of advice on how to get through a hard day, what would that be?

Smashing stuff I imagine would feel pretty good but you may not always have something to smash so a good alternative is treating yourself to food also a big fan of stepping away for a beat (go for a walk, take a nap, stare outside).

What is the highlight of your career so far?

I have to say visiting Hong Kong and the team there was pretty sweet, but also just getting the chance to work with so many cool and different people.

What qualities do you look for in a mentor?

These aren't qualities more just my personal requirements: I like you, I respect you, I am comfy with you and you challenge me.

What continues to motivate your work, or has that changed over the years?

I feed off of the passion of others.

What’s your idea of a perfect Sunday?

Sleep in, treat myself to some fancy coffee and food, climb, food, watch something good, food.