Every business decision I have ever made has had a geographic dimension to it. Where I live has never just been a lifestyle question. It has always been a business one.

This month, I'm moving to Los Angeles. It's the fourth continent I've called home, and the most deliberate move I've made yet.

Let me explain why.

How It Started: Warner Bros., Hollywood, and a Kid From Melbourne

Early in my licensing career, when I was working at Warner Bros. in Melbourne, I was lucky enough to accompany the team to LA ahead of Licensing Expo. It was my first time in the US. In my mid-twenties, wide-eyed and frankly a little starstruck, I did the Warner Bros. Studio tour. I stood on the set of Central Perk from Friends. I walked the Lot. As someone who had grown up loving entertainment and film, it felt like stepping into a movie - from the moment I landed at LAX.

That trip planted something.

Since then I've returned to LA many times. Most recently last month, when the entire Born team gathered for the Born Summit - a week-long alignment session ahead of Licensing Expo. That's a team of 13 people, spread across the US, UK, Spain and Brazil, coming together in the city that will now be my base.

The arc from that first visit to this one says a lot about how a business grows when you stop treating geography as fixed.

My first visit to LA in 2013 while working for Warner Bros.

four Continents, One Thread

My career has been shaped by movement.

Melbourne was where I started - Haven Global, working on Star Wars, SpongeBob SquarePants, Marvel. Then Warner Bros., where I worked across Scooby-Doo, DC Superheroes and Looney Tunes. Incredible properties. Formative years.

London came next - a 12-month contract as Head of FMCG and Promotions EMEA at Cartoon Network. It was my first experience operating outside Australia, navigating business across Europe, Africa and the Middle East. The scale of that market, the proximity to other major cities, the sheer density of industry relationships - it changed how I thought about what was possible.

In 2014 I came back to Melbourne to start Born Licensing. Home, family, strong industry connections - all the things you want when you're doing something risky. But I quickly felt the distance. The time zone friction with the major studios was real. The ceiling of focusing purely on Australia was real. Eighteen months later, I returned to London - this time to settle. To build. We bought and renovated a house during COVID. We found our favourite restaurants, our favourite parks. We built a life and a business there over six years.

Then Brazil. An unexpected move that was nothing like London. Different language, different culture, a genuinely different operating environment. But it was also where the business grew to a team of 14 people working remotely across four countries. That kind of distributed leadership doesn't happen without a certain willingness to sit with discomfort and figure things out from first principles.

Now, LA.

With Scooby-Doo during my Warner Bros. years, the Powerpuff Girls while at Cartoon Network and Bluey as CEO of Born Licensing

Why LA, and Why Now

I'll be honest: temperamentally, I'm probably more New York than LA. Six years in London will do that to you.

But this isn't a temperament decision. It's a market decision.

The US is increasingly the most important market for both Born Licensing and Born to License. Most of our clients are US-based. Most of our studio relationships are US-based. Born to License now works with close to 40 clients and does business with every major licensor, with six full-time team members already based in the US. The business has effectively been operating in the North American market at scale for years. It was time for me to be there too.

And if you're a licensing agency CEO who does significant business with the major entertainment studios, there is only one city. LA is the entertainment capital of the world. Entertainment represents the largest segment of the global licensing industry. The licensing community here - the studios, the agents, the brands - is concentrated in ways you simply cannot replicate from elsewhere.

The move also comes alongside two leadership appointments that reflect the seriousness of this expansion. Alyssa Gourlay has been elevated to President of Born to License, taking global responsibility for the agency's consumer products division, overseeing six direct reports spanning account management, business development, product development, marketing and compliance. Amber Cheung has been appointed Director of Licensing for Born Licensing, the agency's entertainment IP and advertising arm. Both are earned promotions. Both reflect what this business has become.

As I said when the news broke in License Global: "This is a business that has always operated globally. But the next five years are going to be transformational and the US is the market we're betting on to drive that exponential growth."

I meant that.

What Geography Actually Teaches You About Business

Living in four countries across four continents is not an impressive travel résumé. It's an education in how markets actually work.

You learn that proximity to decision-makers is not a soft advantage - it's a structural one. You learn that culture and context shape how business gets done, far more than most strategic frameworks account for. You learn that operating in discomfort sharpens your thinking. And you learn that the willingness to relocate - to actually commit to a market rather than service it from a distance - signals something to the people you do business with.

Every move I have made has expanded what was possible for this business. Melbourne gave me roots. London gave me scale. Brazil gave me resilience and a genuinely global team. LA gives us access - to the market, the relationships, and the next phase of growth.

On a trip before I moved to LA I attended summits at Warner Bros. Discovery and Universal Studios.

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The Bottom Line

Where you operate is a strategic decision. If you're serious about building something, at some point the market you're going after will demand that you show up properly - not occasionally, not remotely, but in the room.

That's what this move is. Twelve years after founding Born Licensing, the business is ready to commit fully to the most important market in our industry. I'm ready too.

I'll be sharing more about life in LA - and what it means for the business - in future posts. If you want the unfiltered version in real time, follow along on Instagram.

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The Born Perspective is one part of a bigger conversation. If you want more, you can find me on LinkedIn for industry commentary, Instagram for what's happening day to day, and YouTube and the Born to License Podcast for deeper dives into the world of licensing. Pick your platform. I'll be there.