Panel Discussion:
Resilience and Reinvention in Today’s Job Market
The media industry is evolving, and many professionals are finding themselves at a career crossroads. Hear firsthand from professionals who have successfully reinvented their careers as they discuss recognizing when it was time for a change, leveraging transferable skills, overcoming uncertainty, and finding purpose beyond the media industry. Whether you're considering a new direction or simply exploring your options, this conversation will provide practical guidance and inspiration.
Paul Bailey (Panelist) is the Vice President and General Manager of AOA West, headquartered in Burbank, California. He is a mixed-media artist and technologist who specializes in mis-applying common technology for immersive storytelling. With expertise in illusions, special effects, and show technology integration, Paul’s extensive work in the themed entertainment industry spans nearly three decades and covers a wide range of storytelling tools, methods, and environments.
Before joining AOA in 2020, Paul worked in multiple roles at Walt Disney Imagineering, totaling fifteen years of combined service on global projects. Paul was the Principal Concept Technical Director for Imagineering over the Star Wars land expansions at Disneyland and Disney’s Hollywood Studios, responsible for setting the overall creative technology strategy. Paul developed the projection system used in Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run and directed the delivery of the Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance attraction. He was also responsible for bringing all the Astromech droids to life in the land.
Previously Paul was on the opening team of Walt Disney’s Studios Paris, and Hong Kong Disneyland, Disneyland’s (California) New Tomorrowland, and many other domestic attractions. At Electrosonic as their Director of US and Asia Operations he contributed to significant projects such as the National 9/11 Museum and The Tom Bradley Terminal at LAX, as well as multiple attractions for Universal properties. Previously Paul led R&D for underwater show elements at WET Design and worked on military and automotive projects at Applied Minds. He also founded Art and Automation, a Hawaii-based luxury home firm. Originally trained as an illustrator and sculptor, Paul’s career began in movies and TV as a creature designer and makeup artist on Star Trek the Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek VI, Star Trek VII, The Mask, Hellraiser 3, Mortal Kombat, and in Visual Effects on Dante’s Peak.
Neal Bloom (Panelist) is the Managing Partner of Rising Tide Partners, a platform that invests time, energy, and capital into people and communities that lift the world around them. Through a unique model of community-first investing, strategic advising, and curated experiences, Neal and his team support entrepreneurs, city ecosystems, and family offices alike.
Over the past decade, Neal has built and scaled a range of community-powered tech platforms. He co-founded Portfolium (acquired in 2019), launched Hired.com into 15+ top tech cities globally, and helped grow San Diego’s startup identity into a nationally recognized innovation hub.
He’s the creator of the Tacos & Tech Podcast, co-founder of Interlock Capital—a community-driven venture fund with 400+ tech operator LPs and 40+ investments—and helped scale Startup San Diego and San Diego Startup Week, turning ideas into companies and connections into capital.
With Rising Tide Partners, Neal is evolving his vision: offering strategic community-building services for economic development, investing through syndicates and funds, and creating the infrastructure to grow thriving ecosystems. Through each initiative, he lives by the belief that “if we all give, we all stand to gain.”
As a mechanical engineer by training at UC San Diego, Neal helped launch over 80 astronauts into space during the Space Shuttle program before earning his MBA from Pepperdine University. Today, he’s on a mission to help launch the next generation of founders, leaders, and communities.
Kyle Shire (Panelist) is a producer at Critical Role, where he produces the company's weekly flagship show (currently Campaign 4) alongside talkback series like 4-Sided Dive and Tale Gate, limited-run series including Downfall and EXU: Calamity, and live shows that have sold out venues from Wembley Arena to Radio City Music Hall. He also writes on projects across the channel, from episodes of Crit Recap Animated to the sponsorship ad reads he's known for. In 2023, his deck-building game Queen By Midnight was published by Darrington Press; it has since come out with an expansion (Queen By Midnight: Quarter Past) and is sold at Barnes & Noble across the country.
His path to his current location was anything but a straight line. Before Critical Role, Kyle spent a decade as a stand-up comedian, with appearances on Laughs on FOX and the Comedy Dynamics special Out On Stage, all while building a production and hosting career at Machinima and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. In 2019, those three threads, producing, comedy, and a lifelong love of D&D, finally converged into a single job at Critical Role.
Anna Rajo (Moderator) is a Registered Associate Marriage and Family Therapist supervised by Jon Tatelman at Scribble, a nonprofit counseling center and community events space in Highland Park. After working as the Diversity Coordinator at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater while pursuing comedy and acting, the 2020 shutdown prompted her to pursue a career in mental health. She earned her M.A. in Clinical Psychology from Antioch University in 2023 and now balances her work as a therapist with performing improv and collaborating on creative projects with friends.