Recently, hundreds of students convened at Volume Studios in Inglewood for the seventh annual GRID Summit presented by the Creative Careers Leadership Lab (CCLL) in partnership with the California Department of Education.
Founded by CCLL Director Loree Goffigon, the GRID Summit is an interactive career day designed to provide students, particularly from underrepresented communities, access to various creative career paths within the entertainment industry.
What differentiates the GRID Summit from other career day events is that the students are an integral part of the planning process ensuring that the event is tailored specifically to their interests.
One of the members of the CCLL Youth Advisory Council, 11th grader Thealea Malana gave insight into why she joined the committee and how she and her peers helped to shape the agenda for this year’s Summit.
“I attend a performing arts high school and art is part of everything we do. I wanted to join the Youth Advisory Council to help make change within the arts and CCLL has shown me so many diverse career paths that I could take,” said Malana.
Regarding some of the suggestions that she and her peers provided, Malana said, “Loree and the program coordinators really listened to our ideas. For example, we wanted a beat-making workshop, and they made it happen.”
Goffigon, who also works as a management consultant, shared the inspiration behind the Summit.
“To create a platform that gives kids a voice and equips them with the skills and the tools that they need to be productive, engaged citizens in today’s world,” she said.
When asked why it was important to include the voices of the students in the planning process, Goffigon shared, “From the beginning, we’ve always had a Youth Advisory Council because we think of these events as being by and for kids. We asked schools to nominate two students, and those students make up our Youth Advisory Council.
“We meet with them on a monthly basis and solicit feedback from them [such as] ‘What do you care about? What are you interested in? If we do ABC would that be interesting, or would you prefer XYZ?’ We’re continually querying the students to make sure our work is relevant.”
After months of committee meetings, the day has finally arrived and it’s time for the students to take an active role in the run of the show.
Goffigon continued, “The students are ever-present here. We’re working with student film crews. Students are moderating the career panels. Students are performing in the Open Mic and having their work recognized in the Student Showcase, and the essence of that is really about youth voice.”
At the GRID Summit Goffigon is surrounded by a team of industry veterans who are passionate about sharing their knowledge with the next generation. One of the foremost advocates for the program is Shari Holly, director of Operations at Pipelines, a mobile app that connects underrepresented talent to career and training opportunities in tech and entertainment. Since 2018, Holly has enthusiastically participated in the Summit as the event’s MC, fervently helping to guide the students through their action-packed schedule.
When asked what is one thing that she wants the students to glean from this experience, Holly said, “Proactivity is so important in the entertainment industry, aside from relationship building, you have to be proactive. You are your biggest and best advocate.
“In 2025, a lot of people are still waiting for things to fall into their lap, which very rarely happens. This industry is so competitive, especially with the nature of our economy right now, there’s a lot of people out of work. There’s new technology, then you have the rise of AI, it’s all these different moving parts. So now more than ever you have to be proactive and advocate for your craft.”
In addition to being the MC of the event, Holly also referred several of her colleagues to be workshop facilitators including Michael Dozal, associate creative director, Prettybird Productions. During his workshop, Dozal detailed the process of collaborating with artists and brands including the NBA to bring music videos and commercials to fruition.
Beyond presenting a slide show, Dozel shared how he made his session engaging.
“I gave the students the opportunity to pitch live from briefs that I often get. They had the option to either shoot a commercial for a new Nike shoe that features Luka Doncic from the Lakers or a music video for any artist, but the song is about a breakup, and I got incredible ideas.
“Some kids came up with turning the shoe into a boombox, another one was an animated character jumping around the shoe. The romantic breakup in a music video pitch was a couple walking through a museum and as they were walking, the art reflected the stages of their relationship. Really creative ideas. It was cool to see their brains moving.”
While the GRID Summit has reached over 5,000 students since its inception, Goffigon told the Sentinel that the program is still growing. “We’re looking to establish Creative Careers Leadership Lab Chapters on school campuses throughout the state. We’re working with about 20 schools as demo sites as part of our pilot program.”
At the end of a successful day, as yellow school buses prepared to take students as far north as Apple Valley and as far south as San Diego, Malana shared this feedback on the event, “The workshops I attended were made for us, they were so interactive. There were storytellers who didn’t just tell us what they do, they created ways for us to do the things they do. We got a peek into their passion, and it exceeded my expectations.”
To learn more about the GRID Summit, visit https://creativitymatters.com/grid-summits