Jaqi Howard '16: Making Her Dreams Come True

In spring 2022, Jacqueline “Jaqi” Howard ‘16 wrote the Alumni Office to share a professional update and to express her appreciation for Kent Denver art teacher Jon Fortmiller, who set her on the path to her career in animation. She shared:

My first introduction to animation came during my freshman year in Mr. Fortmiller’s Photoshop and design class. I was more interested in traditional art at the time, but the regular art class was full. He taught both, so, while I was unsure of the curriculum, I knew that I’d be learning from someone who understood what it meant to be an artist.
 
Mr. Fortmiller is a Renaissance man. A designer, an actor and writer—among other things. He knows a multitude of artistic techniques and eagerly guides all the students towards their respective passions. He never shot down my ideas no matter how outlandish or complicated they might have been. He had us experiment with different programs, create posters and t-shirts. We even listened to him read books about effective marketing. He led our class with curiosity, always encouraging us to at least try. One assignment changed the course of my future, and that was our first introduction to animation.
 
Needless to say, I found my calling. After four years of his classes, I had enough confidence to apply to USC and was admitted into the School of Cinematic Arts. After graduating, I worked on DC animated movies at Warner Brothers and have since moved on to work at Disney as a part of the Creative Development team. While working on a variety of creative projects, I often think back to where it all began. Were it not for Fort and his unwavering support, I would have never found my passion for animation. Disney is a place “where dreams come true.” Thank you, Fort, for always supporting mine.

After Jaqi shared this reflection, we had to follow up and learn more! Read on for our conversation.

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Kent Denver School (KDS): To go back in time, can you tell me a little bit about what you were like as a student at Kent Denver and what you were involved in?

Jaqi Howard: I was definitely a theater kid. I didn't love the sports world as much as some of my other friends. I did do basketball briefly, but most of the time I spent doing the musical and fall play. I enjoyed that so much. Extracurricular-wise, I was spending a lot of my energy reading and writing and of course, making art.

KDS: In addition to Mr. Fortmiller's class, were there other teachers or classes in high school that really had an impact on you?
 
Ginny Threefoot was my English teacher, and she also was the counselor for my college application. She was a huge inspiration. She really helped me with my writing skills, and specifically, my creative writing. She allowed me to really think outside the box and improve my craft, which has helped me enormously in my current job. She was always very kind and really wanted the students to thrive, just like all of the teachers at Kent Denver.

I really enjoyed learning Chinese. Michelle Tai gave me a passion for Chinese language specifically and Chinese culture, and I ended up traveling to China during my senior year at Kent Denver, then went back to China in college to do an internship in the animation film industry over there. 

KDS: What was it like to see the film and animation industry in a different country? Was there anything that really surprised or inspired you about what you observed in China with the creative process or how they approached storytelling?

I ended up interning for three months in Shanghai, and I was with a company that did both animation and film, mostly in the advertisement space. It wasn't the traditional animation film stuff, but I did get to speak with people who were at Pearl Studios, which is a DreamWorks partner and one of the big Chinese language film studios. 

We worked with the NBA while they were in China. There was a China office that was marketing particular NBA stars. The difference, I think, between the American market versus the Chinese market is that the American market tends to be more focused on the individual. China is very much focused on community. Ads are always talking about family and how you can benefit each other, and media is monitored to a certain degree, so there is a level of consideration needed when creating content. At the same time, what China is doing isn’t so different from what America is doing. They're just trying to appeal to the masses. 

When it comes to the animation industry, one of the reasons why I really wanted to work in China was because I really didn't see China putting out a lot of animated content that was able to be viewed worldwide. Korea was doing it, Japan was doing it, but I didn't see Chinese stories. And China has so much history and so many stories to tell.

Since then, China has come out with Over the Moon. The industry is really building and they're even starting to make anime—Japanese animated TV shows—that have more of a story arc. 
 
KDS: What made animation as a form of storytelling so appealing to you?
 
I was not a cartoon watcher as a kid. I was definitely a reader and when I read, I could see everything in my head. I wanted to put it on paper, but when I tried to draw it, it didn't give me the sense of, “This is coming to life.” Then when I got introduced to animation by Fort, I saw my character move, and I thought, “Oh, this is it. It's no longer just in my head. It's no longer just on a piece of paper. You can see it interact with other things. You can see it move, and it can wave.”

I had a very scientific mind alongside a creative mind. I really loved both. If I wasn't going to be an animator, I was going to be an engineer. With animation, the physics of how the character moves is based on human physics and how it actually works and then accentuating and making it more playful and imaginative based on what we actually see in reality. 

I was able to combine my two minds and put this sort of living character on the screen, which ended up getting me extremely excited. Once I did actually start animating, I started looking at animation and TV shows and movies completely differently. It just got me more passionate.

KDS: What does the college experience look like for an animation major? 

I was in the Cinematic Arts program at the University of Southern California, which focuses a lot on the production pipeline, but each year you were also learning a different kind of skill or technique for animation. I learned 2D animation, I learned 3D animation, I learned about motion graphic animation. The teachers were all people who had been in the industry or even were still in the industry. I took a class about the animation production pipeline, and the professor was working as a visual effects supervisor on a Disney feature at the time.

KDS: How did you use your academic and internship experiences to break into the industry as a professional?

The primary reason why I got the job that I have is because I was networking while I was in school. I was reaching out to people who were already in the industry, talking to the teachers who are still in the industry, and moving forward that way. When I got out of college, I could reach back out to those people who were still working at those companies and say, “Hey, I just graduated. I would love to sit down with you and learn more about what's happening at your company.” 
 
It is the type of industry where you need to have that extra hustle and drive and passion.

KDS: Did that kind of networking come naturally to you, or did you have to learn it? 

My mother is a very hardcore woman. She owns her own company and is really big on networking. She loves making good connections, and she had a connection through one of the organizations that she was working with—somebody's mother who knew somebody's daughter who happened to be the president of Fox Animation at the time. She sent them an email and told me, as a little high school student, to follow up. She advised me to stay in touch with those people, to let them know what I was doing periodically. I’d send an email here and there, and eventually those relationships are how I got my internship at Fox. 

There was also an event called Studio Day at USC, where studios would come in specifically to talk to the animation majors. At that point, I knew I wanted to be in production management. A lot of employers wanted to talk to me, because not a lot of students wanted to be an animation manager. They needed more people like me, who didn't want to transfer from production assistant to being an artist; they wanted a production assistant to become a producer. I spoke to a woman who was at Warner Brothers who told me to follow up once I graduated. It was quite crazy and very lucky in a way because it was during a time where a lot of people were looking to hire more African-American people behind the scenes.

Then it just grew from there. I went to Warner Brothers and I reconnected with the people I interned with at Fox, which was being acquired by Disney. A friend tipped me off that she was going to leave her job and encouraged me to submit an application, and now I’m an executive assistant in movie development at Disney.

KDS: What advice would you give to alumni or soon-to-be graduates who are trying to build their own networks?

I think a lot of people get afraid and think, “Why would a professional want to talk to me?” But people in these big roles often want to be a mentor. My executive that I'm working under, he loves to be a mentor, he wants to talk to people. There are people out there like that. When you're a student, you have the upper hand, because you can say, “I'm a student, I want to learn.” 

You also have to have a mindset of “What can I give?” A lot of people in my industry need to understand how the younger generation ticks. Reaching out as someone from a younger generation and talking to them can provide really helpful insight.

LinkedIn—I know, it just seems like a very old thing—is a really good tool for getting in touch with someone. Even Instagram or Tiktok can work! Just reach out wherever you can reach out, and there might be an opportunity.

KDS: What kind of messages would you send to potential contacts?

Whenever I had something to say, I reached out. Sometimes I would send an email to say, “I am really proud of this project. Here's the link.” I might not get a response, but I made sure they remembered me. 

KDS: Tell me more about your day-to-day at Disney? What does creative development involve?

It’s a lot of administrative work. My executive is scheduling meetings with producers, writers and directors constantly. He’s trying to get to know them, to see what their work is like and to establish a connection. In that sense, his job opens a lot of networking opportunities for me. 

Whenever agents or writers or directors submit their work, I take a look at them. Sometimes I exclusively take a look at them, and I give my opinion on them to my executive. I read a lot of scripts to determine whether they work for Disney, or would work for a specific department in Disney. 

My executive also oversees the entire production process—not closely, because they have a whole department for that—but we get to see what designs are coming in, and we get to see some of the newest animations that are coming in from the other studios. 

A lot of my responsibilities are just connecting the right people. It can be a very powerful position. People don't always recognize that assistants see everything, and they hear everything. They are the flies on the wall. If there's any issues or great things are happening, assistants are the boots to the ground. Trusted assistants are sometimes the ones making the big decisions. Be friends with the assistant! 

What do you hope is in your future?

I'm still figuring it out. At Warner Brothers, I really loved being in production. I loved the pace of it, and I loved working with the artists. It was very rewarding, albeit extremely stressful. 

In this assistant role at Disney, I'm utilizing it as an opportunity to really see the even higher level above the production process, what they're thinking about and what they're doing. I'm interested in finding a way to become a production executive or creative executive in production, so I can have a hand in making the things that I love.

Five years from now, I will see where I'm at, but I would love to still be working at Disney, possibly at Disney Features. I hope to one day be continuing what I'm doing, but at a higher level.

If students or alumni would like to connect with you, what’s the best way to do that?

It gives me heart to know that there are people out there who want to continue to make the industry and make the world a better place. I want students to feel comfortable reaching out to anyone they admire. That's going to help them learn at least a little bit about what it means to be a working professional. Reach out to me on LinkedIn!