The lovers, the dreamers, and me

A career path takes many twists and turns along the way. Mine has, in any case. I’ve made sandwiches, taught music, promoted museums, and represented hundreds of entities during my time in agencies. Some of it was more fulfilling than others. A lot of it didn’t matter to me personally, but I gave it my all nonetheless. But every now and then, one has a day where everything lines up such that the perfunctory and even the demoralizing bits seem worthwhile. This past week was one of those moments.

Four months ago, when I sat down for a catch-up lunch with a former colleague and longtime friend Christina Martell, she was telling me all about Mighty Coconut’s plans when she uttered the name “Jim Henson”. In retrospect, I realized it was part of a pitch to have me come work there—and it worked brilliantly.

As a child, I was what you might call a “happy heart”. I spent my time watching Sesame Street, Snoopy, and so much Muppets. In fact, I had a collection of the Muppet puppets and would regularly put on shows with Kermit, Piggy, Fozzy, and Animal. And I would watch The Muppet Show in television religiously. I loved the creativity and chaos, the music and the guest stars, the tenderness and the imagination. Accordingly, I’d always aspired to do work that’s fun, joyous, and artful.

"Life is meant to be fun, and joyous, and fulfilling." — Jim Henson

After I did a tour of duty in food service starting at age 11 and going through college, I tried my hand at running blueprints and flower delivery before getting into extracurricular arts teaching followed by arts fundraising then arts marketing at the local symphony and museum. It was meaningful to be cultivating a love for and awareness of culture, which lead me and my wife to start an agency called Wyatt Brand. For a dozen years, we worked with over a hundred artists and cultural entities, but the hard realities of paying the bills meant we took on more and more clients that didn’t exactly speak to my soul.

During the stillness of the pandemic and on many long walks with our teenage son, I found myself rationalizing a mountain of compromises, mainly instances where I’d have to suck it up and do something that was in conflict with my wiring to speak the truth or do what is right. As I explained these situations to him, I realized I was teaching him a lesson I didn’t want him to learn: it’s acceptable to veer off the course of who you are and what you want for your life it maintains the status quo.

When Christina said “Jim Henson” at lunch that fateful day, it was the sign I’d been searching for. She was referring to a now-announced collaboration between Mighty Coconut and the Jim Henson Company for Walkabout Mini Golf: Labyrinth. A few months later, I’d not only found myself changing careers to do something fun, creative, and challenging—I was on a plane to California to participate in a series of pivotal meetings at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, then down to Los Angeles for a behind-the-scenes shoot at the Jim Henson Studios, which had been Charlie Chaplin Studios once upon a time and the set of the iconic scene in The Muppets (2011) where Walter goes to find his idols. You remember the one:

We spent the morning beholding Jim Henson creations, Muppet artifacts, and meeting members of the team including Lisa Henson, who now runs the company. It was an amazing day and a reminder to hold on to your dreams. It may take a few decades to get there, but if you keep that feeling in your heart, you can stay true to where you once wanted to go.

I’d like to say little David would have been surprised that I made it there, but somehow I think he knew that he’d get there someday, somehow.