ITSme Learning

Amy is the Global Manager for Illo Agency. She loves to surround herself with incredibly talented people, whether their creative focus is photography, illustration, motion graphics, or typography. Being a part of the creative process keeps her driven and excited to see what brief is waiting around the corner. Amy has worked for advertising agencies and illustration agencies and has a great balance of communicating briefs toIllo’s amazing freelance artists. She also has experience working directly with creatives to launch design-led products in retail environments. She has successfully placed products into the Design Museum, Southbank Centre, Harrods, and the V&A Museum of Childhood. For Amy, it is all about building lasting relationships with clients and creative collaborators. Working closely with the Illo artists to ensure project briefs and timings are met. Liaising with agencies and clients to ensure Illo is meeting and exceeding their expectations.

Tina is Creative director and agent at Astound US Inc. She has always had a deep appreciation for Illustration and imagined herself having a life-long career in the Arts. In pursuit of her dream career, she attended college and received a B.F.A in Illustration and a minor in Multimedia Communications which helped to facilitate her roles as an Art Director and Graphic Designer. She has worked in Children’s Publishing Industry, Board Game Publishing, and in Visual Merchandising. She is a multidisciplinary thinker who has excelled at working with a variety of teams, ranging from editors and art directors to licensors and packagers. Her expertise is centered on building bridges between creative conceptualization, design, and implementation. Tina is very passionate about working with clients and artists to create contemporary and distinctive products. Key clients include: American Girl/Mattel, Sleeping Bear Press, Beaming Books, Lerner, and Cottage Door Press.

Vickie is an artist agent at Advocate Art. She has a degree in illustration, but the majority of her career has been spent in design and project management for children’s products, apparel, and toys, working with both licensed and private label clients. Vickie has a deep-seated love of illustration and helping bring beautiful art to the world! Since working at Advocate Art, she has had the opportunity to be a part of some fantastic projects, such as “Vivienne in Paris”, illustrated by Emanuela Manello for Mascot Books, which won the Mom’s Choice Award and was featured on NBC, and “This is the Sun” illustrated by Evelyn Andrya for Science Naturally, which won the Creative Child Book of the Year Award and Tillywig Toy and Media Award. Vickie currently resides in the Hudson Valley with her two cats. She enjoys a good cup of coffee, long hikes, needle felting, and spotting funky fashion around the city. She deeply enjoys helping emerging talents to reach their full potential.

Alice is the lead agent in France for Advocate Art SL. She graduated from Emile Cohl’s School of Arts in France with a degree in academic drawing, multimedia, and illustration. Alice first worked in the video game industry as a 2D and 3D artist before embracing the book industry as an author and illustrator. Since then, she has worked on dozens of children’s books giving her inside knowledge on every step of creating a book, from knowing how to deal with all the stakeholders in the publishing chain to processing layouts, designs, narratives, or deadlines. Additionally, she has spent the last 10 years teaching illustration and academic drawing at her former art school in France. This has given her the keys to efficiently assist artists and help them meet the requirements to make every project a successful one.

Ed is the CEO of ITSme and author of the E.F.E.C.T.S charter! He has been instrumental in bringing the world’s top Agencies together to join the ITSme Society and follow the progressive practices they aspire to, from carbon net zero to diversity and inclusion. Ed started as an illustrator in 1988, later founding Advocate Art in 1992. He has been on both sides of the Agent management table understanding what it is to be a freelance illustrator as well as being an agent through to running a global Artist Agency. He has been a senior manager or on the board of eight prominent artist-related businesses in his career of 35 years, but now devotes his time to helping support Artist Agencies with business advice and support finance. “I am always happy to share my experiences of the industry to help new or established illustrators further their careers, I am especially passionate about seeing our E.F.E.C.T.S. charter make a real difference and leave a lasting legacy.”