Leaders From Versus, Rezonate and Mass FX on Managing Disruptions in Media and Entertainment

Building something smarter—not just bigger

Samantha Louise, Katwo Puertollano and Shawna Schultz are founders of creative studios Versus, Rezonate and Mass FX, respectively. 

We spent two minutes with Samantha, Katie and Shawna to learn more about their backgrounds, their creative inspirations and recent work they’ve admired. 

Samantha, Katie and Shawna, tell us …

What were and remain your challenges building a creative shop?

• Samantha: Initially, our biggest challenge was proving that a creative studio could thrive without putting profit above all else. We set out to build a space where original thinking and high-caliber execution could coexist without compromise. Today, the challenge is different: protecting that culture as we grow. The stakes are higher, expectations are greater and it’s easy to slip into a transactional mindset. We work hard not to.
• Katwo: In this industry, what you stand for only matters if you keep moving. The challenge isn’t holding onto a vision—it’s evolving. We ask ourselves regularly: Are we still useful? Still provocative? Still necessary? Because relevance isn’t a static achievement. It’s earned, over and over, by listening harder, adapting smarter and never mistaking conviction for rigidity.
• Shawna: The biggest challenges in our industry right now are the tectonic disruptions of industry unrest through strikes, the impact from streamers and the effects of rapidly advancing AI technologies. The only thing predictable is that things are going to be unpredictable. Building a sustainable team to weather the storm is nearly impossible. The skills you’ve been building for over a decade are becoming obsolete. I think about when the computer came out, and all those cell animators were slowly pushed out of a job. They either needed to learn how to animate on a computer or get left behind. The challenge is building a team for your needs now, but also a team that can face what’s coming is both an art and a science.

How/when did you decide to embark on this journey?

• Samantha: I co-founded Versus over a decade ago. Not because I had a lifelong dream of running a studio, but because we saw a gap between creative ambition and operational reality. My background in business and hospitality shaped the way I approached it. I didn’t come from “the industry,” which ended up being an advantage. We built the company from the inside out, focusing on infrastructure, accountability and people-first leadership.
• Katwo: Rezonate started as a conversation between me and Nico, 17 years ago in Manila, as the local design industry was coming into its own. We wanted to treat design as craft—not decoration. I spent a decade in bands, shaped by Manila’s underground music scene and surrounded by critics, filmmakers and artists who lived for culture and made things because they had to. That urgency and joy still fuels us. The challenge is keeping creative ambition and business reality in sync.
• Shawna: My husband and I started Mass FX in 2011 out of necessity. We wanted to take on a project and had to quit our jobs to do so. We took the leap and never looked back, growing organically and staying true to our first love: the craft of visual storytelling.

What has been the most gratifying part of owning and building your business?

• Samantha: Sustaining long-term partnerships with our clients. There’s something incredibly rewarding about earning a client’s trust over time, not just for one project, but across years. It means our work resonates, our team delivers and we’re seen as true collaborators.
• Katwo: It hit me recently when another parent pointed out that I can pick up my kid at 3 p.m.—I built that freedom. After nearly two decades of running this business, I realized the independence I fought for wasn’t just about leadership. It was about being present for moments I’ll never get back. I’m also incredibly proud of our team—watching them grow not just in craft, but in ownership, in care, in how they show up for clients and for each other.
• Shawna: You get to choose who you work with and who you work for.

How have your goals changed from when you set out to build your company compared to present day?

• Samantha: At first, the goal was survival: Can we make something good, consistently and keep the lights on? Now, it’s about staying relevant and growing with purpose. We’re exploring new creative arenas and looking for spaces where our mix of creative ambition and operational rigor can really thrive. It’s less about volume, more about impact, and building something that lasts.

• Katwo: At the start, the goal was to do cool work with good people. Simple. Over time, the question evolved: How can we create the biggest impact with the least friction? That’s leverage—and that’s the new goal. It’s about building something smarter, not just bigger. Designing systems where creativity scales, where the business runs without burning people out and where decisions have real reach. Legacy comes later—if we do this right.

• Shawna: One of my mentors said that as an owner, you come to a cliff every seven years. And you need to decide if you’re going to leap or turn back. The world changes enough in that time that you need to make the conscious decision to keep going. Here we are at the 14-year mark, and we’ve reinvented our companies about three times. In fact, we even call the current iteration Mass FX 3.0. We started as a little row boat, then chose to get an engine, so we could carry more people, and it got harder for us to be able to simply throw the rope over our shoulders and swim the boat to shore if things got scary out there on the ocean. We now have an expedition ship that requires a certain team of specialists to run it. The longer you’re in business, the more you learn you’re capable of. And frankly, you get bored, so you mix it up and try new things. There are years that you get lost floating out to sea. But you find that north star again, and it’s always an excellent feeling to get to build again.