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Media and Entertainment Companies Develop Skills to Expand Their Businesses

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2015 SS4G Graduates join Alia Jones-Harvey, Director of Education and Workforce Development, MOME, and Gregg Bishop, Deputy Commissioner, Business Development Division, NYC Small Business Services. Photo courtesy of SBS.

July 13, 2015 - Congratulations to the graduates of the third class of Strategic Steps for Growth: Media and Entertainment, an intensive eight-month management training program for entrepreneurs in media and entertainment who are ready to expand their businesses.

This year’s cohort of 14 NYC business owners included video production, design & branding, educational services, marketing, public relations, and sound production companies. During the 12 classroom sessions led by Al Lieberman, Clinical Professor of Marketing Entrepreneurship and Innovation, NYU Stern School of Business, participants followed an award-winning curriculum designed by Interise to examine their businesses. Through peer sessions and one-on-one mentorship, the class members developed business action plans that were presented to a panel of business experts.

“The Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment offers an incredible opportunity to small business owners in the creative industry,” said Lynda Decker, President of Decker Design. “The program was life changing. I received feedback on how to better position my company’s strengths and how to do things I struggle with, like effectively networking.”

“The Strategic Steps program was great,” said Michelle Higa Fox, Founder and Executive Creative Director of Slanted Studios. “It gave me the tools I needed to go from flying on instinct to strategically planning the growth of my company. I look forward to applying the lessons I learned in the program towards expanding Slanted Studios from a boutique studio into a career-building company for a larger community of artists and animators."

According to Michael Fox, Executive Producer/Owner of his newly re-branded company, The Beach, “the most valuable thing was the opportunity to meet many other business owners in [the] class and share experiences with them. The sense of community makes you feel like you are not in this alone and there are others who have similar successes and struggles in their business. Many of us built relationships with one another that will last well beyond the class.”

Carol Colmenares, CEO of Timeline Digital, found that “the most significant learning happened in the area of marketing and sales. The analysis we conducted in class about our current and past clients gave me insight into what had been successful and challenging relationships and why. As a result of this new way of marketing, Timeline Digital has increased its client roaster."

Strategic Steps for Growth: Media Industry program was launched in 2012, and has now graduated 60 entertainment industry business owners. The media and entertainment program is a partnership between the Department of Small Business Services, the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment, and the Berkley Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation at New York University Leonard N. Stern School of Business (NYU Stern).

To learn more about how you can be a part of the next group of business owners to take Strategic Steps for Growth, click here.