Fri Forjindam, the chief development officer of entertainment development company Mycotoo, spoke about building the company at an event on campus Tuesday.
Mycotoo, which specializes in theme park design and immersive experiences, is the company behind Stranger Things: The Experience, The Mandalorian Experience and Prince’s Paisley Park studio.
“We are a bunch of Peter Pans that just chose never to grow up,” Forjindam said. “We are theater people at our core and we make worlds out of nothing.”
Despite freezing temperatures, students and faculty packed into a lecture hall in the Frances Searle Building for the event, which kicked off NU’s Master of Science in Leadership for Creative Enterprises’ Creative Connect speaker series.
MSLCE Faculty Director Noshir Contractor said the program focuses on training the next generation of creative industry business professionals in fields ranging from film to theater and beyond.
“One way of doing that is to help give you an opportunity to be in dialogue with some of the thought leaders in those creative spaces,” Contractor said.
Though Mycotoo is considered a leader in entertainment strategy today, Forjindam spoke about the company’s humble beginnings.
Then pregnant with her second child, Forjindam initially worked out of a garage in southern California with the company’s co-founders.
“It was two white guys and me — the optics of it felt like a sitcom,” she said.
Eventually, the team received a call from a client with a vision for a Dubai-based theme park and were tasked with figuring out the logistics to make it happen. The idea would grow into the former Bollywood Parks Dubai, a park based on Bollywood cinema.
Forjindam also noted how her experiences as a Cameroonian immigrant gave her unique insight that shaped the design for the park.
“The only movie theaters that were in Cameroon throughout my entire childhood were Bollywood theaters,” she said. “So I grew up watching nothing but Bollywood — it’s a random superpower that I have.”
Mandi Glowen, the assistant director of External Programs, Internships and Career Services at NU and a career coach, said she resonated with Forjindam’s idea of “random superpowers.”
“What really resonates with me is that students (are) sitting here, thinking about what’s next for them, really looking inward and thinking, ‘what’s my superpower that’s gonna set a new trend?’” Glowen said.
Looking forward, Forjindam hopes to expand the scope of entertainment, taking inspiration from Taylor Swift’s “Eras Tour” and Beyoncé’s “Renaissance World Tour.”
She said events like these emphasize the value of community in creating truly immersive “experience products.”
“It wasn’t just about going to see a show — you were going for community,” she said. “If you’re a Swiftie, there’s a vibe and there’s rules of engagement … that’s also what makes it its own ecosystem that has high value.”
As Mycotoo expands globally, Forjindam looks forward to working on story development in Africa and South America.
“I’m excited about new markets that are not American, and … leveraging the stories that are already there as opposed to (trying) to force Western narratives or stories onto civilizations and cultures that have been there for way longer,” she said.
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