Gaby Goldberg left the country to explore other professional opportunities and today she is the creative mind of the renowned basketball player’s company
Gaby is 39 years old and has been creative director of The SpringHill Company for 2 years, the global media company created by LeBron James and Maverick Carter with the aim of creating content and products that empower and generate greatness in all people. The company includes SpringHill Entertainment -producer of Space Jam II– and Uninterrupted, the brand to empower athletes to be and show all that they are on and off the court.
Most recently, he led Space Jam’s product design team for Uninterrupted, with a series of T-shirts to mark the launch of the new movie starring James. He also spearheaded, in partnership with Jp Morgan Chase, “Kneading Dough”, whose main mission was to interview athletes and their way of handling money and investments with the aim of breaking down preconceptions about the handling of money by athletes.
“I left Argentina almost ten years ago, although the first 4 I continued working intensely for the local market,” he tells iProfesional. “With my producer Raymond we did work with clients in fashion, beauty, culture that allowed me to explore creativity to the fullest. It was only after the fourth year that I began to think about working here, abroad.”
Today Gaby Goldberg is the creative mind of the company of the renowned basketball player Lebron James
Los Angeles was chosen because of the enormous possibilities that exist in everything that is arts, entertainment, media and advertising. “It is one of the largest hubs in everything related to visual art and creativity.“says Gaby.” The possibilities are practically endless. It is a very multicultural destination, beautiful to absorb and learn. ”
At first, for her it was like an unconscious adventure. “I didn’t think about it much,” says Goldberg. “It was a bit of the possibility of exploring and experimenting from opportunities that arose. Living in another culture, another country, opens your head to new ways of seeing and thinking. You have to work hard on adaptability and resilience.” And as the years went by, he found opportunities to grow professionally, to learn from another perspective.
Along that path, it was very important for her to meet people who were in a professional circuit similar to hers. “Starting to build a ‘network’ from scratch is not easy and takes time“, he assures.” Also learning and understanding a new culture in terms of work, absorbing everything I could with each new experience. The first step for me was to build that network, to have that base of people, friendships that function as a kind of family when you don’t have your family by your side. ”
Be part of a project from scratch
Gaby started working for Uninterrupted as a consultant and creative when the brand was very young. “There were about 10 people working,” he says. “The culture of the brand captivated me, the people, the energy and the potential that I saw in the project made me make the determination to leave behind my own creative studio and producer Raymond in Argentina and give 100% of my time to Uninterrupted” .
“Maverick Carter, our CEO, had a lot to do with it,” continues the creative. “His spirit and desire to do things in a different, unexpected way, the desire to take risks to find something new to say and communicate, I identify a lot with his rebellious spirit, with focusing on seeing that tiny opportunity that if it materializes can be in achieving something gigantic. That is how we put together the Uninterrupted brand from its conception, its strategy, its visual identity, its tagline “More Than An athlete”. All this made us grow in a completely disproportionate way. Of these 10 people in less than 4 years we became more than 100 people and part of this conglomerate that is now The SpringHill Company “.
According to the interviewee, what distinguishes the company is its culture. “The desire to generate change, to give rise to new voices, to new discourses. To generate ideas from an idealistic place, starting from phrases like” it wouldn’t be great if … “and to dream big. We are a company that is distinguished by the intention of empowering people through all our initiatives, to be a voice for change, a space that proposes a different, honest, intuitive and fun vision “, he emphasizes.
Lebron James, Los Angeles Lakers player
Work in another country
For Gaby, the biggest barrier when arriving in Los Angeles was the cultural one. “The way we communicate professionally in Argentina is very different from the way we communicate in the United States,” he says. “I had to learn and I continue to learn to do better every day and it is something that I am very excited about and I feel that it makes me grow and adopt new perspectives.”
Another thing that is very different according to what he says is the relationship between company and employee. “Here an employee sees himself as a fundamental part of the company’s team and the company sees the employee as one of its main assets and differentials,” he says. “Another important change was adapt to bigger budgets and more rigid processes and long-term timelines“.
“A huge benefit of working for The SpringHill Co. is the ability to come together and pitch ideas for top-tier CEOs, CMOs and athletes,” says Goldberg. “Many times I see myself from the outside after one of these meetings, I see the opportunities that I am in and I can only say WOW.” The development of creative processes is something that is becoming more and more exciting. “How, through generating a clear structure and organization, creative work and resources can be promoted to unimaginable levels, helping to solve problems is something that I am passionate about,” he says.
When it comes to taking stock of what he has won or what he has lost by leaving Argentina, it is difficult for Gaby. “You can’t really know,” he says. “What is certain is that being immigrant It takes a great level of sacrifice, of starting life from scratch, without a network of friends, family, work relationships and, at the same time, this made me grow in a way that I don’t think could have happened if I didn’t leave. I had to learn to enjoy instability, risk, living more day by day. ”
In our country, the creative lacks passion, the desire to do with very little, friends, family, but economic and political short-termism is not surprising. “It seems to me that it generates a very great damage to the growth of the country and to entrepreneurs“, he assures.” Hopefully at some point a plan can be sustained for the country that exceeds the governments of the day for the benefit of all, “he concludes.
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