The Sphinx’s Gaze: How Did I Wind Up Here… Why I Do What I Do!
The Sphinx’s Gaze
Column by Elysabeth Galati
It all happened in one night. I was about 8 and my mom played regularly in a friend’s weekly Dungeons and Dragons game. I would normally color or read in a corner as the friend had an extensive book collection. On the night in question, I remember vividly holding in my hands the leather bound foil edged edition of The Dark Knight Returns. I read it in one sitting and the ferocity was intoxicating. Moments after finishing it, my mother said “Lizzie, your math has been getting a lot better. Why don’t you come sit with the adults and play.” In one night, I could feel my DNA twist. “Normal” just wasn’t for me. It didn’t have the color or depth of the intense fantasy worlds I had been introduced too.
I grew up near Diamond Comics and always knew I wanted to work for them. That was my way in to the good stuff. You see, unlike many who strive to write or create comics, I have literally no spark or ability. I always considered myself a “non creative” until a recent friend corrected me and pointed out that I was quite the creative problem solver, nevertheless my creative talents end there. But I could use that problem solving!.While at Diamond I was blessed to work my way up to buyer and there I got to know professionally and personally numerous creators of a cornucopia of products. They were brilliant folks who often lacked the time, energy, or talent to get their goods to market. On my way up to buyer I spent a few years doing nothing but working with comic retailers. Sure the Simpsons’ got some parts right but in my experience, comic retailers are a passionate hardworking bunch. They may be extra vocal but they usually speak the truth and I had learned how to get through to them. Personally I have a language fetish and words, how they are used, and how much tone changes everything fascinate me. I knew only one thing; I could help connect the creators to the retailers. I could be of good use to folks who deserved help. No one told me growing up that public relations was even a job option. If only guidance counselors had that choice in a box at the end of the career quiz! My life would have been so much easier.
My company Sphinx started in 2000. In the past 14 years we have worked with the best and the brightest of the comic and gaming worlds. We have expanded to all areas of pop-culture and handle public relations, sales and marketing. How we have done this? Simple: we know how you say something and when you say it matters just as much as what you say. Our definition of communication is not just putting a message out there. It’s putting a message out there and having it be received in the manner you intended. There’s no brain surgery to it, but it is a skill that must be polished over time. You know that old guy who can skip a rock multiple times to skid a crazy length of water; that’s us. You have to pay attention to all sorts of variables and smooth out a rock and then well you can hit just about anything. My pond is vast and filled with heroes and villains, foreign lands, far out galaxies and occasionally the simple beauty of the human mind. Skipping rocks here is the best gig in the world.
About the Author
Elysabeth Galati Lys Galati (formerly Lys Fulda) has reigned as dictator for 13 years at Sphinx Group a boutique public relations, sales and marketing firm who works exclusively with pop culture clients.
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