Get to Know Your Board: Angela Geier
OMPA Board Member Angela Geier has been a Recruiter in the VFX and Animation industry for 10 years, working all over the world! Now she works at LAIKA and has championed reverse recruiting methods to help share talent among local studios. She looks forward to helping artists and studios make Oregon, and OMPA, their forever home.
If you ever get a chance to chat with her, take it! We did, and here's what we found out.
How long have you been a member at OMPA?
I joined when I moved here in 2015, 3 years ago as of this month. I went back and forth between LA and Vancouver, Canada for two years and before that, I was in China for 6 years.
How did you get your start in the media industry?
I graduated with an International Business degree with a focus in Chinese in 2008 and the economy just totally fell apart so I decided to use my degree and moved myself to China! After figuring out that teaching English probably wasn’t going to be great for my resume coming back to the U.S., I decided to try and find a real job. This VFX house was hiring for production manager and I applied even though I had absolutely no experience or idea what they did. They liked me and they made a position for me, so I fell into that and I was with them for three years. I eventually did marketing and client relations but also recruitment.
What do you love about this community of creatives? What makes Oregon unique?
The Oregon community is much more tight-knit, coming from Vancouver recently where you could throw a rock and hit another studio, so {community} is already organic there. You can’t walk down the street there without meeting someone in the industry. I think it’s so important to have OMPA here because this is a smaller community and more spread out, and it’s so important for people to connect better in this industry. It’s harder when there’s not as many studios, so I’m really happy that OMPA is growing and helping people connect.
What motivates you?
There are several things. I honestly love my job. I love getting up every morning. I love hunting down people - {laughs} that sounds weird - and finding people that are perfect for the positions that are open. I love giving offers and hearing the people get excited. I love working around artists and being part of this crazy industry. It’s so huge and I’m always learning every day. I literally am just motivated by the fact that I feel like I’m so good at my job and it fits me so perfectly.
What are you working on now that you’re excited about?
We’re actually just finishing up Missing Link, which is very exciting, and we can finally talk about it, which is even more exciting. That’s going to be wrapping up and then we’re going to move on and hire for film six and I’m currently looking over positions that will come up in the future and start getting really, really busy again.
Favorite movie: That’s so hard! I would say, Stand by Me. Oregon made!
Favorite TV show: Everybody Loves Raymond or Sex and the City. There’s so many! Netflix these days makes it impossible to choose.
Favorite book: I’m actually reading my favorite book right now - Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly. It’s my favorite so much that I’m on the last chapter and I’m trying to drag it out. The other one is A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman.
Favorite pastime: I’ve actually recently just discovered that I have the running bug so I’ve been doing 5ks and 10ks every month. I’ve done 3 this month and I have one coming up this weekend!
Favorite dessert: chocolate lava cake with ice cream
Favorite meal: “Sushi, sushi, sushi, sushi!” Angela says. Shogun Sushi in particular, especially their protein rolls.
Favorite album: It’s between Billy Joel, Led Zeppelin and Paul Simon. I love him!
Favorite concert: I used to go to one in San Francisco called the Bridge School Benefit Concert. They used to have it every year. They have great people like Neil Young and Billy Idol. I think I went to that four times.
Astrological sign: Virgo
Worst fashion trend you’ve ever rocked: Early 90s crazy bright shiny spandex with all the neon colors big old perm. That was not my favorite look!
What do you always recommend visitors do while they’re in Oregon?
Go to Multnomah Falls and then go eat at Screen Door, but only if you climb to the top of multnomah falls because otherwise Screen Door is way too many calories! {laughs}
Just go hiking - there are so many beautiful hikes.
Favorite app: My work e-mail app (laughs) - that’s what I live on! No, my new running app - it’s called “Running” by Red Rock Apps.
Anything that would surprise people to find out about you?
I used to be a flight attendant! I’ve flown to 23 different countries and I speak Chinese, some Arabic, French, Spanish, and Japanese, and English. I'm not fluent in everything, but I am fluent in Chinese. Also, my favorite person in the entire world - and my dream job - would be to be Anthony Bourdain.
As a recruiter, you must have some advice for OMPA members looking for jobs. What is it?
Join the OMPA! Networking is your best friend in this industry. Every job you get is usually word of mouth. Build as many bridges as you can and never burn any of them down!
Words to live by, Angela. Words to live by. Thanks!
