The Monster Factory is an entertainment and licensing brand based in Toronto, Canada, best known for its imaginative characters and creative plush toy designs.

Firstly, it’s super cool that Rhya has turned monster making into a career, and secondly, if you aren’t familiar with Colin, Clementine, Lucy and gang – then you really ought to get acquainted. www.monsterfactory.net

We are blown away by Rhya’s endless creativity and envious that everyday she gets to play with monsters and invent some zany creature. That said, with her monsters being carried over 70 Canadian retailers, including the recent addition of Indigo, there’s a lot more going on here than playing with toys.

What does a typical Thursday look like for you, starting from when you wake up – to heading to bed?
I usually wake up around 8.00am, shower, get ready for work, feed my kitties Koshi and Noodles, and then get on my bike and cycle to the Monster Factory. Before starting work I grab a coffee with one or both of my business partners Adam and Bliss, where we catch up on non-related work things.

Once back at the Monster Factory, coffee in hand, my partners and I start our workday with a morning meeting, where we go over our goals, deadlines and schedule for the day. I love these meetings because they really help to keep us all updated on what each other is doing.

After our morning meeting it’s time to hunker down and get to it. Now a typical Thursday at the Monster Factory for me can look very different from week to week. It could involve me prototyping new monsters all day, or managing and updating our website, or spending an afternoon brainstorming the character traits of a new monster, it really just depends on what is going on at the time.

This Thursday I will most likely start by doing my daily responsibilities, like checking to make sure there are ‘character tweets’ ready for the day. Character tweets are basically our Monster Factory characters tweeting on Twitter. Right now you can follow our monster Buddy on his road trip through the states. Afterwards, I check up on our website, making sure all the content is up to date and that everything is working as it should.

When my daily work is done I will continue my research into online marketing, an area we are trying to learn more about. I will then move into working on some animation graphics for the sixth episode of our new Monster Factory online series that will air on Novemeber 1st via our Youtube channel (Check out the first five episodes there as well at: youtube.com/monsterfactoryvideo ).

Once the graphics are completed and lunch has been eaten, my afternoon will begin with a monster photo shoot, specifically for our new limited edition Halloween Ghost monsters. It should be noted that Monsters make the best models, as they are very easy to work with and never throw tantrums on set! When the shoot is complete, I will move on to putting together some notes from a brainstorm we had about potential monster video games. I will finish my workday with the completion of some promo ads for our website, that will feature our upcoming ‘Movember Campaign’ and the next ‘Monsters Everywhere’ ad.

After work, I cycle home and since it’s Thursday, I hit the pool for some lengths. Then dinner, this Thursday I am aiming to make soup so I can try out my new immersion blender that I got for my birthday. Then I like to take some time to journal each night before I go to sleep as it helps me to stay creative. By the time I get to bed, it’s probably 1.00am.

What was your first job out of school?

About a month or two after I finished film school, I landed a great job working at a Toronto wool shop called Romni Wools. The owner, Marilyn was very good to me and always encouraged me to keep up with my creative pursuits. While working at Romni’s I was introduced to the wonderful world of knitting and one of my favorite parts of the job was restocking the aisles and aisles of wool and dreaming about all the things I would could knit next! My time at Romni’s inspired me to start working with textiles, which ultimately led to me making my first monster.

What are the 3 skills you require most to do your job well?
1. Being a designer. That is what we do at the Monster Factory, we design characters, we design worlds and we design products. Designing is essential.
2. Creative Thinking – As a small company we need to be able to think creatively in everything we do from our design to business strategy to marketing and sales, we need to figure out how to do things well and stand out in a crowd using the limited resources available to us.
3. Organizational Skills – This may seem obvious, but being organized is important when you are running a business. For me having deadlines and goals and lots of lists keeps me focused, keeps me on track and ultimately leads to getting things done!

What do you love most about your career?
I would say these are the top two things I love about my career:
1. Getting to work with the incredible team of people at the Monster Factory. I have learned so much from my partners and staff and I am very proud of what we have created all together.
2. Making monsters, creating beloved characters and building a world for them the live in.

Do you have any warnings?
Make sure you do your homework before starting your own business!

Running a business requires a lot of resources like time, money and connections. A lack of these things can put real stress on a new company. If you haven’t identified what your resources are and how to get them it will be a struggle to make your business a success.

If you could try a different career on for a year, what would it be?
A professional tap dancer! I absolutely adore tap dancing, though it is a fairly new passion of mine, (I’ve only been dancing for a year now) so this career may first require another lifetime of training on my end before it’s a reality.

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