Hillary Tran is thrilled to join CMA’s Bay Area team as Director of Operations. She brings experience in program management, learning and development, and community-building, having worked behind the scenes to create meaningful participant experiences across corporate and educational settings. Her work has included supporting leadership development programs for new and mid-level managers, coordinating professional development experiences for interns and new graduates at Zoom, and facilitating cultural identity and community-building programs for Southeast Asian youth through the Southeast Asian Student Coalition (SASC).
Her passion for children’s media began at a young age, from watching Saturday morning cartoons with her siblings to admiring children’s book illustrations and spending hours on arts and crafts projects. During the pandemic, she discovered Sky: Children of the Light, a game centered on wonder, humanity, and community that introduced her to lifelong friends around the world and inspired her to explore interaction design, experience design, and the role of play in building connection.
Today, Hillary is especially interested in how visual storytelling, game design, and interactive experiences can spark curiosity, creativity, empathy, and belonging across generations. Through CMA, she has had the opportunity to learn from an inspiring network of educators, researchers, creators, and innovators working across children’s media. She is excited to support CMA’s mission and help create opportunities for collaboration, learning, and meaningful connection.
