Donna Thomas, executive vice president, Vubiquity talks to TVBEurope about how nurturing an early entrepreneurial streak paved the way for her career
By Matthew Corrigan
Published: March 26, 2025 Updated: March 27, 2025
Donna Thomas, executive vice president, Vubiquity talks to TVBEurope about how nurturing an early entrepreneurial streak paved the way for her career
target=_blank title=Share on LinkedIn class=share-linkedin>
Talk us through an average day in your role No day is the same in my role, which is one of the reasons that I love what I do! Much of my time is spent in the field with our studio partners. It could be lunch discussing upcoming production schedules or locked in a conference room whiteboarding solutions to meet challenging upcoming launch dates.
Vubiquity is a team environment, so much of my time is spent cross-functionally with my operation and product development counterparts. We are in lockstep when it comes to meeting our objectives of providing world-class service to our customers, and we work together on the company's product roadmap and strategic direction.
Donna Thomas, executive vice president, Vubiquity I also feel allocating time to my team's development is essential. In this post-Covid world, finding mentorship or even a senior in the office to look to for advice is much more challenging. I've given this much thought lately and have committed to stewardship in my role. I had great role models and nonofficial mentors who helped me grow in my career, and I see that this new hybrid office/home environment is lacking. So, I try to allocate part of my day/week to be available to my team or anyone in my company looking for a sounding board.
How did you get started in the media industry? I was still in college and got a 20-hour-per-week temporary position at Discovery Networks in the satellite office in Atlanta, GA. Three weeks into that job, they told me they were closing the office and moving back to Maryland.
When I'm asked about this time in my life now, I say this is one of the most defining moments of my life. I just knew that I had to go with them to Maryland to have the life I wanted. So I asked my boss of three weeks, Kim Martin, to move me too. She laughed and said, You don't work here; you are a temporary employee. I don't remember exactly what I said, but I told her that I wanted to work for her, that I would never let her down, and that she would not regret it. A part of me thinks she saw some of herself in me. We were both beauty queens from South Georgia.
She fought for me to be hired as her administrative assistant. They paid to relocate me to Maryland, and within six years, I was senior vice president of affiliate sales and marketing.
What training did you have before entering the industry? The only training I had before getting that temporary position at Discovery Networks was a Word Perfect and Lotus 123 class. I know, hilarious right?
Why do you enjoy working in the industry? I love everything about our industry. It marries two of my great loves: TV/Movies and sales.
I made my first sale when I was 5 years old. My mother and I were at a gas station, and I asked her for $1 for some candy. She told me no. When I got home, I sat down at my desk and wrote a poem. I then put on my best Sunday dress and my patent leather Mary Janes, and walked down to Mr. and Mrs. Ferguson's house. They were an older couple that lived in my neighbourhood. I knocked on the door, and Mrs. Feguson answered. I said, Hi Mrs. Ferguson, I've written a poem for you and Mr. Ferguson. She said, How lovely. Bill, come to the door. Donna has written us a poem. When he got to the door, she said, Go ahead and read it, to which I responded, That will be one dollar.
TV and movies have been my escape since I was little. I didn't know it was my dream to work in the industry, but I'm lucky to do what I love. I'm also a writer and comedian, so it's a gift to serve my clients by day and fuel my creative interests in my free time.
What piece of advice would you offer someone looking to explore a role similar to yours? The advice I would give is twofold. First, if you can get your foot in the door in your desired role, you should work harder than anyone else. Always raise your hand for new projects, volunteer to work on that team, and, to quote my father, leave the campground better than you found it. Those are table stakes.
Second, find a company that values the gifts that YOU bring to the table. Discovery was a company that valued hard work, scrappy fighters and an entrepreneurial spirit. That was me. Had they valued Wharton/Harvard MBA recruits (for example) then I wouldn't have been a fit and wouldn't have been able to thrive like I did. I think it's critical to find the right company fit, especially in your early years. It can make the difference in having just a job vs. finding the role of a lifetime.
Bonus: Give back. The Thomas Angel Foundation, which I founded in 2001, was initially dedicated to empowering young women from my hometown of Warner Robins, GA, through education. In 2012, the Foundation partnered with the Upright Citizens Brigade in Los Angeles. Our mission focuses on providing scholarships to talented and deserving young women pursuing careers in the entertainment industry. As a woman working in media and entertainment, I wanted to create a programme that not only offers financial support but also fosters opportunities for women pursuing their passions in our field. I'm proud to say that in the last 20+ years we've given away hundreds of thousands of dollars in scholarships to women pursuing careers in the media industry.
The foundation's mission has always been to support women in the performing arts and foster a sense of community. During my car
Europe Stories
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
01/07/2026
New AI Assistant, Multi-channel Audio, ARA2 improvements & more
Tracktion's DAW software has just received its latest major update, gaining a selection ...
01/07/2026
Stammering, stuttering, strangulated tones
The Crow Hill Company's latest creation promises to be the most original sound set they've produced to d...
01/07/2026
Exclusive run of limited-edition modelling pedals
Sweetwater and Andertons M...
01/07/2026
UKTV has today announced the appointment of Matt Berry to the newly created role of General Manager - Marketing, effective 1 July.
Matt will take on this senio...
01/07/2026
Sky Zero Footprint Fund-backed TV campaign featuring Deborah Meaden challenges consumers to rethink everyday bathroom wasteWednesday 1 July 2026
Fussy asks Bri...
01/07/2026
Constituency-level analysis reveals where girls miss out most on sport - and where targeted action could unlock more than £640 million in economic and health be...
01/07/2026
Wuppertal July 1, 2026
Riedel and SKAARHOJ Expand Collaboration With SimplyLive IntegrationRiedel Communications today announced an expanded collaboration wit...
01/07/2026
Apple today introduced power-packed updates to Apple Creator Studio, a groundbre...
01/07/2026
Nectar360, the Retail Media, Loyalty and Insights business of the Sainsburys Gro...
01/07/2026
9.2 million streams on RT Player between 11 and 28 June
Reach of 2.9 million viewers during Group stages of FIFA World Cup on RT 2
23 million video views acr...
30/06/2026
Could your journalism reach an international stage?
Entries are now open for the Thomson Foundation's Young Journalist Award 2026, one of the most prestigi...
30/06/2026
Brings together saturation & lo-fi effects
Following on from the release of their Voxcraft vocal-processing plug-in, UJAM have announced the launch of Retro...
30/06/2026
New IR reverb engine, Juno-inspired chorus & more
The latest version of Rapid Flow's hardware-emulation synth plug-in expands on its predecessor with a ...
30/06/2026
Excels at heavy-handed VCA compression
For their latest release, Shy Audio have recreated the crunchy' sound of a rackmount compressor that found its w...
30/06/2026
Component scarcity drives cost increases
Shortly after Apple's CEO Tim Cook acknowledged that cost increases would soon be inevitable , the company hav...
30/06/2026
Hitachi and Bank Pekao S.A. have completed the installation of the first Hitachi...
30/06/2026
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({ content_source:......
29/06/2026
Four-layer instrument aimed at dark electronic music
Excite Audio's latest software instrument has been designed with dark drum and bass, atmospheric te...
29/06/2026
New AI Assistant, Multi-channel Audio, ARA2 improvements & more
Tracktion's DAW software has just received its latest major update, gaining a selection ...
29/06/2026
Details environmental policies & results
The Focusrite Group have just announced that following a long audit process, they have published their 2026 sustain...
29/06/2026
Arvato Systems Achieves AWS Cloud Operations Competency
The team behind the AWS Cloud Operations Competency (from left to right: Philipp Hellmich, Johanna Bod...
29/06/2026
RT today announced that Ger Gilroy will join the RT Podcasts team to present a daily sports podcast. Launching later this year, the new show will set the spor...
29/06/2026
RT Commercial announced OUTsurance as sponsor of the Oliver Callan show on RT Radio 1 from Wednesday 1 July.
Oliver Callan doubles the fun, delivering two ...
28/06/2026
Half-size model joins Console 1 line-up
Shortly after the release of their new Flow Studio controller, Softube have announced the launch of another new surf...
28/06/2026
New EXO Series DSP control software announced
EVE Audio's EXO Series monitor range has just gained a new software element that provides remote access to...
27/06/2026
Brings together saturation & lo-fi effects
Following on from the release of their Voxcraft vocal-processing plug-in, UJAM have announced the launch of Retro...
26/06/2026
Virtual session musician plug-in gains new percussion options
Celemony's latest update for their virtual session musician platform complements the exist...
26/06/2026
Half-size model joins Console 1 line-up
Shortly after the release of their new Flow Studio controller, Softube have announced the launch of another new surf...
26/06/2026
ELT Group and Rohde & Schwarz sign a cooperation agreement to explore commercial...
26/06/2026
Flicker Productions to produce five-part docu-reality series following women who have fallen for men in prison and have become TikTok sensations, with brands an...
26/06/2026
Catch up on the latest developments across Baselight and Daylight v7, Nara and F...
26/06/2026
26. June 2026 News
DFT is pleased to announce that a second Polar HQ film s...
26/06/2026
A fresh look at how the Irish helped shape the foundations of the United States
...
25/06/2026
Six free workshops across two days
Global music education platform Music Production for Women (MPW), have just announced a brand new and highly anticipated ...
25/06/2026
Popular pedalboard PSU gets an upgrade
The DC7 v2 is a new and improved version of the renowned effects pedal PSU from CIOKS, and is said to be the thinnest...
25/06/2026
Optimised for lush, enveloping sounds
Described as an instantly rewarding reverb , the latest addition to Arturia's range of creative effects plug-ins ...
25/06/2026
27 June 2026, Westminster University Harrow Campus
GearExpo UK is now upon us, with just two days to go until 150 of the worlds top pro-audio brands and ind...
25/06/2026
alt= data-nectar-img-srcset=https://www.antonbauer.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/0...
25/06/2026
Thursday 25 June 2026
Read all about it! The Paper will return for a second sea...
25/06/2026
Thursday 25 June 2026
How to watch the 2026/27 EFL season on Sky Sports
Which EFL matches are Sky Sports showing on the 2026/27 opening weekend?
Sky Sports w...
25/06/2026
Launching today (Thursday 25 June), new RT podcast Ramble with Joe McGucken is a series of curiosity-driven conversations where actor, writer and comedian Joe ...
24/06/2026
Plus: VoiceAssist Basic now available to UA LUNA users
NoiseWorks Audio have just released an update that adds a new Mouth De-Click module to the Advanced t...
24/06/2026
New heavy-duty mic stand joins range
The latest arrival to Gator's Frameworks family introduces a new heavy-duty boom stand that's been designed for...
24/06/2026
Latest major plug-in update goes live
Waves have just announced that the latest major update for their hugely popular plug-in range is now officially availa...
24/06/2026
When assessing cellular coverage, many people look at the signal bars displayed on a smartphone, router or modem. More bars are often assumed to mean better per...
Donna Thomas, executive vice president, Vubiquity talks to TVBEurope about how nurturing an early entrepreneurial streak paved the way for her career
