OUR TEAM

CHAIR

DIRECTOR OF SPONSORSHIP / OPERATIONS

As TAAFI's first female, first non-founder, and first queer Chair, Karen is excited to bring with her new ideas and efforts in increasing inclusion and diversity into TAAFI's events. Karen has worked tirelessly for TAAFI for many years and is proud to have the opportunity to continue building TAAFI towards further success. Karen currently works as a Professor at Seneca Polytechnic and has over a decade of experience in the Animation Industry bringing with her a strong background in managing teams, organizing events, building event and organizational pipelines and running the business.

SECRETARY

DIRECTOR OF OUTREACH / PARTNERSHIPS / GRANTS

I entered the VFX and CG production industry to explore my ambition for working eminent series and features on VOD platforms. Covid- 19 made me reevaluate my career path, and I decided to pursue my passion for 3D animated content development and production. I joined Industrial Brothers as a production coordinator in 2020. When I am not busy with PCing, you can find me at Reference Library burying under Mesopotamian Mythology books, skating on frozen lakes, spinning and camping under the stars.

DIRECTOR OF TECHNOLOGY

Rhys Yorke, a Creative Director with a diverse career spanning video games, comics, TV, film, and animation, has worked on notable projects like Deadpool, ThunderCats, G.I. Joe, The Secret World, FarCry, and TV series such as Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, The Expanse, Titans, and Blue's Clues and You. A member of the Directors Guild of Canada, Rhys is passionate about innovative storytelling and consistently explores new opportunities in various mediums. Rhys now brings his extensive technical expertise to TAAFI as the Director of Technology.

DIRECTOR OF PROGRAMMING / INDUSTRY

Sumira has spent her entire career in animation. She started as an animator and has worked in various departments in creative and technical roles for more than 15 years. Her resume includes roles at Awesometown Entertainment, Arc Productions, Nelvana, and DQ Entertainment, where she animated, supervised and led the development of impactful animated movies such as ‘Barbie: Star Light Adventure’ and ‘Elliot the Littlest Reindeer’, and animated television shows such as ‘Remy & Boo’, ‘Daniel Spellbound’, ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ and ‘Mickey Mouse Clubhouse’.

DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS

After graduating from Loyalist College with an Advanced Diploma in Animation, Sabrina now works as a Production Assistant for Big Jump Entertainment. Sabrina brings her love of the industry and passion for bringing new people together to the role of Ambassador Coordinator. When she's not knee deep in a new project, Sabrina can be found reading, cooking, or 3D printing things she may or may not need.

DIRECTOR OF MARKETING

As the Director of Marketing at Pipeline Studios, D’Arcy leads consumer marketing for the Pipeline brands, and oversees trade marketing initiatives for the studio. D'Arcy has led the creation and execution of integrated, consumer-facing marketing campaigns for some of the hottest children's content in the world, bringing over a decade of this experience to the TAAFI board.

Director of Programming

Shorts Programming Lead

Social Media Manager

Copywriter / Newsletter

Partnerships Lead

Special Events Lead

Website Lead

Finance Coordinator

Ambassador/Volunteer Coordinator

Sponsorship Coordinator

Programming Coordinator

Technology Lead

Merchandise Lead

Marketing Coordinator

Film Screener

Special Events Coordinator

OCAD University

Centennial College

Durham College

University of Toronto

George Brown College

Cambrian College