News at St. Catherine's
Monique Cheng Joe ’90
Joe recently took a new position as Head of Trademarks, Intellectual Property at DreamWorks Animation. She was inspired by an alumna speaker at Career Day when she was a student who taught her that being a lawyer did not just mean going into court. She shared this story and more about her career path as a spearker herself at Career Day 2015.
While working on securities litigation and corporate counselling at a law firm in New York City, Monique Cheng Joe '90 started to think about her next career steps. She found herself reflecting on the words of an attorney on Career Day at St. Catherine’s. “Way back when I was little, I used to watch “LA Law,” and then “Law & Order” and other TV shows like that," Joe said. "From those shows, everyone thought that being a lawyer means going to court and arguing in front of a jury, including me.“When I heard the attorney from Citibank speak (at Career Day), I realized that law was not just going to court. There were other options, like working in-house at a company. That was enlightening.”
Joe returned to St. Catherine’s in April to inspire students as a Career Day speaker herself. Originally from West Virginia, Joe attended St. Catherine’s as a boarder for four years. "My freshman year, I had to work really hard to even feel like I was on the same playing field as the rest of my classmates, but my eventual success in high school with the help of the wonderfully supportive teachers at St. Catherine's really helped shape the person that I am today," Joe said. And Career Day undoubtedly shaped Joe. The words she heard as a student led to a decision to move to California.
She first worked in-house at Fox Family Worldwide, which was bought by Disney. Joe worked for Disney for two years supervising and protecting trademarks and intellectual property and then moved to NBCUniversal for 11 years where most recently, she was Vice President, Trademark Counsel. In this position she helped to take logos to new and unexpected places, including using the recognizable “minions” from “Despicable Me” to promote “Despicable Me 2.”
In her newest position at DreamWorks Animation as Head of Trademarks, Intellectual Property, Joe oversees a variety of intellectual property issues, including Shrek. She is also finding that maybe her rusty Chinese that she started learning at St. Catherine's, as one of the first students to take courses in the language, is finally coming in handy. DreamWorks is among the studios trying to enter the Chinese market.
Located in the heart of Richmond, Virginia, St. Catherine’s School is a private, all-girls pre-K, kindergarten, elementary, middle and high school. We provide a well-rounded educational experience for girls from communities across Richmond, Chesterfield, Henrico and all of central Virginia. St.Catherine’s all-girls educational experience is rooted in more than a century of history and tradition. From our revolutionary past to our dynamic present, St. Catherine’s has always focused on preparing students for a boundless future.
