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Stay true to yourself. Learn what you are good at. Follow your heart and be kind.


For this month's interview, we're delighted to have Kristina Warner, Vice President, Theatrical, D-BOX Technologies, USA. Kristina was a mentor in the seventh edition of the UNIC Women's Cinema Leadership Programme. 

Here she shares her insights and experience as a female leader in the cinema industry.

TELL US ABOUT YOUR DAILY HABITS THAT KEEP YOU INSPIRED AND MOTIVATED.

Passion for this industry and a desire to continue learning keep me motivated.  I love meeting new people, growing my network and finding ways to connect what other people do in their respective fields to D-BOX.  I find we have so many things in common, and in this industry, relationships are key to our success.  I have always been a highly motivated person and challenge myself every day to keep the momentum going on projects, emails, simple ideas and meeting people.  It is a priority for me every day.

LOOKING BACK AT YOUR CAREER JOURNEY, WHAT ARE YOU MOST PROUD OF?

I am most proud of the depth of my knowledge about the Entertainment industry.  As a young executive, I worked at an ad agency doing tear sheets (newspaper ads), we represented many of the Hollywood Studios in the Portland, Oregon market.  This was a very hands-on position, and I learned early on you have to be willing to do the work.  Moving to California and working at New Line Cinema was a dream job, I loved in-theatre marketing and collaborating with exhibitors, and industry partners and when a movie finds its audience like Austin Powers and The Lord of the Rings trilogy it is an exciting moment.  Moving into the "premium" experience world has been fascinating, and spending 9 years at RealD 3D and now close to 8 years at D-BOX, plus 3 years at Iconic Events, my knowledge of the technical aspects of our industry, plus distribution, and marketing I realise how important it is to take each of them into consideration when releasing a movie.

WHAT WERE THE BIGGEST CHALLENGES YOU ENCOUNTERED THROUGHOUT YOUR LEADERSHIP JOURNEY, AND HOW DID YOU NAVIGATE THEM? DID YOU HAVE ANY MENTORS ALONG THE WAY?

As a young executive, I think the biggest challenge was navigating the generational gap of executives who had been in the business their whole career and entering into the industry in a very transitional time with film to DCP delivery, new & innovative ways to market films, leadership expectations syncing with new realities of the business. I think my devotion to learning, talking to people, understanding the entire process led to people relying on me to know how to get the job done.  Throughout time, the challenges changed on how to be committed to my daughter and being an integral part of her life, while working a full-time 24/7 global position.  I was lucky to have a lot of flexibility in my hours and having my daughter be a great travel partner.

My main mentor in my life is my dad, he had a long career in the industry and his guidance always proved to be my most valued career relationship.

GIVEN THE DEMANDS OF YOUR ROLE, HOW DO YOU MANAGE TO BALANCE YOUR WORK AND PERSONAL LIFE? WHAT STRATEGIES OR BOUNDARIES HAVE YOU FOUND MOST EFFECTIVE?

I have always been fortunate to straddle my work and personal life because most of my friendships are with people in the industry and I brought my family, my daughter, into this world.  For me, because I have a dedication to both worlds, I tend to work 24/7 and keep my personal life going at the same time.  I realise this is a unique approach, which doesn't work for everyone, but because I love what I do, often times work doesn't feel like work, so I do have to make sure I devote enough time to my personal life.

WITH OVER 25 YEARS IN THE CINEMA INDUSTRY, WHAT DO YOU THINK IS HOLDING WOMEN BACK, AND WHAT DO YOU THINK NEEDS TO CHANGE FOR BETTER REPRESENTATION AND INCLUSION?

Women & men supporting women & men in this industry is the key to our success.  We need each other to drive the collaboration of ideas, the excitement of working together on projects and learning to appreciate each other's specific talents in my opinion.

YOU WERE A MENTOR IN THE 7TH EDITION OF THE UNIC WOMEN'S CINEMA LEADERSHIP PROGRAMME. WHAT HAS THAT EXPERIENCE BEEN LIKE FOR YOU? 

I enjoyed the mentoring process and was grateful to meet my mentee. Throughout my career, I have spent most of my time mentoring young professionals, many of whom were in their first job.  I like to inspire people to learn and to push themselves to network, wear as many hats as they can to know as much as possible about how the entire industry works and not just their position.  Mentoring in the UNIC programme was more about learning what issues the mentee was dealing with and thinking of my experiences and how they could be incorporated into their work life experiences.  I would love to continue to mentor people throughout my career.

WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE YOUR YOUNGER SELF?

Stay true to yourself, appreciate your unique contributions and don't be intimidated.  Learn what you are good at.  Follow your heart and be kind.


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