The new year has brought new faces to important roles at HPA! After several years of visionary leadership, Kari Grubin and Loren Nielsen have handed the WIP chair batons to Payton List, General Manager of Dailies and Media at Picture Shop Los Angeles, and Belinda Merritt, Director, Media & Entertainment North America, pixitmedia. We asked them a few questions about their history with HPA and their vision for the future of Women in Post.
1. How did you first become involved with HPA and WIP?
Payton: I was encouraged early on in my career by my mentor to attend the WIP events, and participate in the Tech Retreats. While still a shy newbie in the industry, I learned a lot and gained confidence in my networking, organizational, and leadership skills by attending and eventually participating in these events. In 2017, when encouraged again by the same mentor, I decided to give back by joining the Young Entertainment Professionals committee as a Co-Chair. It was then that I grew close to the amazing folks in both the HPA and WIP.
Belinda: I can't ever recall a time when I wasn't involved as an attendee of the many Tech Retreats we've done over the years and before that, the ITS. About 10 years ago, my then-client and always-friend Kari Grubin, myself and another friend went to dinner. Kari said I think I'd like to put together a group that will support the women in post-production. If I do, would you like to be part of it? I said yes and never looked back!
2. What have you gotten out of your time as a WIP member?
Payton: The benefits of participating in WIP have been endless. I've gained amazing and everlasting industry relationships, mentorships, and personal friendships. I've gained confidence in myself as a leader, and have learned a lot about the industry and, beyond that, life itself. Most importantly, I've learned the value of participating and giving back to the community that has given me so much. I hope to give back to the community that continues to inspire. Participating reminds me of why I love filmmaking and technology, and also the people behind the magic.
Belinda: I have met and become friends with so many wonderful women in our industry, and those friendships have lasted through the years. We count on each other for information and support. I've given a lot of time to Women In Post but the return has been unmeasurable. It's an honor to work with an organization that gives back to the community, fosters knowledge and diversity and gives our members the opportunity to learn from each other.
3. What are you looking forward to as you begin as co-chair?
Payton: Learning from and getting to know better all the amazing people that are a part of this organization. Also, hopefully bringing more new faces into the community!
Belinda: I think we reached our goals during the first decade of WiP, post covid. Payton and I are looking to bring some new ideas on how we connect with each other and we are also looking forward to interacting with other women's organizations within the M&E community. As well as our sister (or is it brother?) committee NET - Networking, Education and Technology. We've already been discussing co-producing a summer event with them to bring the two committees together so we can learn even more from each other.
4. Any exciting WIP plans for 2022?
Payton: I hope to continue the trend of creating a more inclusive and equitable environment in the industry through collaboration, and bring new ideas to build upon the already amazing WIP group that Kari and Loren have created.
Belinda: We are very excited to kick off the new year at the HPA Tech Retreat in Palm Springs next month. We've always had an overflow crowd at our WiP lunch at the Tech Retreat and although I can't reveal the speaker just yet, it will be a lunch you won't want to miss!
Join and follow HPA Women in Post on LinkedIn so you can stay up to date on WIP gatherings - and reach out to Payton and Belinda if you'd like to be more involved!
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
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...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
02/05/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
01/05/2026
January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...
21/04/2026
Rohde & Schwarz to host Power Electronics Online Conference From Design to Vali...
21/04/2026
MAS and Lockheed Martin partner to establish an F-35 depot in Canada, enabling in-country sustainment and creating high-skilled aerospace jobs....
21/04/2026
Advertising strategies shift as competition grows for a large, active and qualit...
21/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
21/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
21/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
21/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
21/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
21/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
21/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
21/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
21/04/2026
Layercake Deepens Bitmovin Integration to Power End-to-End Media Orchestration w...
21/04/2026
Cobalt Digital Announces Launch of blueCORE at NAB Show 2026: Compact Powerhouse...
21/04/2026
On-Premise AI Suite from Studio Network Solutions Debuts at NAB Show 2026
Melanie Ciotti April 21, 2026
0 Comments
Unlimited processing, no cloud depe...
21/04/2026
London, 21 April 2026 IBC today announced the appointment of Tim Banham as its first Chief Commercial Officer (CCO), a newly created role that reflects the or...
21/04/2026
Motion Design Tools - April 2026
Roland Kahlenberg April 21, 2026
0 Comments
Within 2 days, Maxon and Canva announced pro-level motion design apps - A...
21/04/2026
Chaos and Zero Density to Showcase Real-Time Ray Tracing for Virtual Studios and...
21/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
21/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
21/04/2026
Cinema 4D brings professional 3D workflows to iPad. The return of Autograph now free for individual users. ZBrush expands to Windows on Arm. See it all at NAB...
21/04/2026
Software version 1.6 extends enterprise functionality to place Buttons at the heart of media operations at any scale
Bitfocus, the Norwegian software develope...
21/04/2026
Cobalt Digital Announces Launch of blueCORE at NAB Show 2026: Compact Powerhouse Signal Processors for SDI and ST 2110 Workflows
Compact, multi-function stan...
21/04/2026
Applications open for 2026 AISF and Screen Australia Writer/Director Virtual Ses...
21/04/2026
Tuesday 21 April 2026
A first look at The Cathy Newman Show, live from 27 April
Everything you need to know
Sky News has announced The Cathy Newman Show, a m...
21/04/2026
Tuesday 21 April 2026
Sky Sports to make ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2026 available to all
The opening matches for all the home nations plus final will be a...
21/04/2026
Comscore Continues Building Momentum in Local Measurement Through New Agreements...
21/04/2026
Summer is nearly here and Super Garden is returning to our screens to spark some gardening inspiration. The new series kicks off on Thursday 23 April at 7pm on ...
20/04/2026
At the 2026 NAB Show, Sony is showcasing a broad slate of innovations across liv...
20/04/2026
At the 2026 NAB Show, Canon is doubling down on its commitment to live sports pr...
20/04/2026
Fujifilm is sharpening its focus on core broadcast production with a new wave of...
20/04/2026
This upcoming summer in North America is going to be a busy one. The 2026 FIFA M...
20/04/2026
Glookast (Booth W1661) announced a series of product updates at NAB Show 2026, c...
20/04/2026
Matrox Video and Amagi announced a collaboration to integrate the Matrox ORIGIN ...
20/04/2026
Riedel Communications (Booth C4908) announced that the Asociaci n del F tbol Arg...
20/04/2026
Ikegami (Booth C3819) announced the VFE-P07D monocular OLED viewfinder at NAB Sh...
20/04/2026
International Association of MediaTech (IAMT), formerly known as IABM, announced...
20/04/2026
Harmonic (Booth W2831) announced that DIRECTV is updating its US direct-to-home (DTH) video platform using Harmonic's VOS Media Software.
The deployment is...
20/04/2026
Wasabi Technologies announced that it has acquired the Lyve Cloud business from Seagate Technology. As part of the agreement, Seagate received equity in Wasabi ...
20/04/2026
EVS (Booth N1841) has launched Choreon, a robotics controller for media producti...
20/04/2026
The NAB Show is in full swing, and the SVG and SVG Europe editorial teams are chasing down the hottest stories from all over the Las Vegas Convention Center. He...
20/04/2026
Skyline Communications announced the availability of its DataMiner xOps platform...
20/04/2026
Studio Network Solutions (Booth N1129) introduced a set of new products at NAB S...
20/04/2026
Dell Technologies is showcasing its Dell AI Data Platform with NVIDIA at NAB Sho...
The new year has brought new faces to important roles at HPA! After several years of visionary leadership, Kari Grubin and Loren Nielsen have handed the WIP chair batons to Payton List, General Manager of Dailies and Media at Picture Shop Los Angeles, and Belinda Merritt, Director, Media & Entertainment North America, pixitmedia. We asked them a few questions about their history with HPA and their vision for the future of Women in Post.
