Jakks Pacific Toy Company

Space was a factor from day one at Jakks. Many jobs required working on the floor because the size of projects and every work station was occupied. One day I saw an empty office; a product engineer had been laid off; I set up a desk, grabbed lots of “flats” from the print room and set to work. A day or two later, my manager’s boss came to me and said I couldn’t work in this office any more. “Would I move to the Master’s table?” he asked.

I loved working at the master’s table. My table mates taut me to work harder, faster and better. I learned how to make paper glow through high craftsmanship. I also had a 105° ocean view of the waters off Malibu. I worked the table for 10 months before I met the fate of the engineer.

The pieces we crafted went with Jakk’s salesmen to meetings with executives of Walmart, Target, Kmart and Toys ‘R Us. I was told they’d point to the box and say: “We can have 3 million units of Tinker Bell on your loading doc in 90 days. Sign here.”