Where We've Been and Where We're Now

Pink Light Studio’s vibrant designs and fabulous artists are backed by a team of AMAZING employees who make our studio incredibly special. Our women-owned and operated agency invites you to learn more about our incredible team and how they SHINE on a daily basis!

Hi Mary Beth, when did you realize you wanted to start an Art licensing agency? What inspired you? 

MB: I had been working as a print designer for Nordstrom Product Group for their kids-wear division, as well as a design studio in NYC as a print and pattern designer, when a friend of mine learned about art licensing through the Print and Pattern Blog. We were curious to learn more, and visited Surtex as soon as we could! Once I saw the amazing illustrations, vibrant patterns, and all of the inspiring studios, I knew that this was what I wanted to do. A year later, I started Pink Light and attended our first tradeshow, Surtex, in 2009.

How has Pink Light evolved over the years?

MB: That first Surtex in 2009 started with only showing artwork of mine, as well as a few friends of mine who were in the industry. Fifteen years later, we are now representing over 40 women artists from around the world, and continue to grow and improve each year.  Katie Yates-Isett, our Art Licensing Agent and I have also been focusing on diversifying our team over the past few years and are pleased to represent a team of extremely talented, kind hearted, and inspiring women artists from all around the world. As technology has changed and working remotely has become the norm, we have taken time to adjust some of our processes to work more efficiently with clients and artists to still feel connected. Our internal team has grown from two to five over the past three years.  We are always working on ways to improve processes, connect, stay on top of trends, and offer unique and vibrant artwork to our customers. Although our artists and clients are all over the world, we feel like a close community. I love learning as we go and adjusting where needed to continue to grow Pink Light. It is definitely a team effort - we are a really strong women-led team, we love what we do and look forward to where we will take Pink Light in the coming years.

Hi Katie, what aspect of YOUR JOB do you enjoy the most? 

Katie: The best thing about Pink Light is the opportunity to collaborate with fabulous women from all over the world on a daily basis. It is such a privilege to belong to a rich community of our talented designers and Pink Light team - truly a dream come true!

What are some key changes you’ve made to help grow Pink Light?

Katie: During my time at Pink Light I have built a beautiful, client facing online gallery that highlights our latest and greatest designs and allows our clients to browse artwork 24/7. I have also coordinated more instant communication for our team so that we can collaborate on fun new designs every day! 

Tell us a bit about your day to day workflow?

Katie: I love that each day is totally unique with new creative challenges presented, so my workflow is constantly changing. I am always keeping an eye on incoming client requests, new artwork submitted from our designers, and market-based trends to share with our team. It is a very fluid and fun work day, everyday! 

Hi E, what do you love most about your job?

E: I love the variety. Whether it’s seeing fun new trends in client requests, or refining our back end organization and systems, or working with our artists on fresh designs, there’s always something different every day. 

What is the best piece of advice you have been given? 

E: Fun is a positive end unto itself. So often it’s easy to get caught up in the trap of wanting everything to be productive and lose the joy in it. Life is much better when you remember it’s supposed to be fun! 

Hi Amanda, talk about leads and how you are working to help Pink Light transition into a new workflow?

Amanda: I’m excited to be using my background in marketing and outreach to help further spread the word about Pink Light. I look forward to working together as a team to streamline processes so we can best serve our clients, and continue to bring stunning, fresh artwork into the world.

How does it feel wearing two hats at Pink Light?

Amanda: As a Pink Light Artist, I am extremely invested in its success. I love that I get to put on my creative hat when making new artwork, but I still get to use my analytic/problem solving skills to help further our reach.

Hi, Peili, what do you love most about your job?

Peili: I always feel inspired. I admire the creativity of our female artists and hope to be like them one day. As an artist myself, I believe that research is an important part of my creations, like looking for trends onsite or online. And that was the way I knew Pink Light. Those beautiful patterns on fabrics and cute birthday placements grabbed my attention immediately. I learned so much. Making the trend boards is another inspiration source and I’m indulging in it.

Plus, I was empowered by the Pink Light family which includes more than 40 women across the world. It especially gives more flexibility for moms like me to work from home and take care of our babies at the same time. Therefore I always feel grateful to Pink Light.

When working on marketing pieces, what is the main message you are expressing to our audience?

Peili: As a content and marketing curator, my daily job is hand-picking proper artwork to showcase to our audience on different platforms. The content includes several parts, like the Monday quote, weekly trend, monthly newsletter, spotted products, show information, etc.

Pink Light is a trend-setting art licensing agency, our purpose is to share fresh and trendy designs widely. Sometimes I find myself immersed in the sea of hot-the-press artworks and I’m the one tagging and sorting them. Before sending out anything, I will double-check that all our content is well organized and will be presented nicely to our clients and followers without overwhelming them.