Welcome to Brazen Careerist!

About Me

Caleb Chen is a strategically minded business development and planning manager in media/entertainment. He most recently worked at Paramount Pictures' London offices in the International Home Entertainment group supporting the head of Europe and the local European local management teams to achieve bottom-line growth in a planning and business development capacity. In 2008, he embarked on a lifelong dream to traipse around the world on a photographic and culinary journey documenting his adventures and tasting local cuisines.

Caleb's love for the entertainment/media industry and insatiable appetite for technology (digital / social media, mobile / gaming platforms, etc) developed from a very young age - the former began out of a rebellious curiosity as a result of strict and conservative parents who forbade movies and television and the latter began when his parents bought him his first computer in 1985. Ever since then, his fascination has only grown and he has diligently followed the latest developments in both industries to the point where his friends now often refer to him for the latest movie releases/box office statistics, internet/social media trends, or mobile/gadget news.

Following his sabbatical, Caleb has returned to Los Angeles to be closer to family and is currently searching for exciting opportunities in the digital space. Caleb brings an enthusiastic, passionate, and personable approach to both work and life and is able to cultivate and grow strong relationships with people at all levels and of all cultures. He is fluent in Mandarin and Taiwanese with working knowledge of Spanish and Japanese.

Work History

• World travel
• Global nomad
• January 2008 to Present

• Pursued lifelong dream to traipse around the world on a photographic and culinary journey.

• Independent Consulting
• Consultant (London)
• July 2008 to August 2009

• Concurrent to my world travles, worked on various media consulting projects in LA and London.

• Paramount Home Entertainment International (PHEI)
• Manager, Planning & Business Development (London, United Kingdom)
• April 2005 to December 2007

• Selected by Sr. Management in 2005 to relocate to London to bring LA head office expertise to assist SVP Europe and bolster European subsidiaries, licensees, and London-based operations and marketing teams in areas of business planning, development, and operations support in addition to facilitating better communication and overall relationship management between territories and head office.

• Paramount Home Entertainment International (PHEI)
• Manager, Planning & Licensee Development (Hollywood, CA)
• June 2004 to April 2005

• Contributed to the growth and expansion of the acquisitions and licensee businesses (revenues over $120M) across PHEI's international territories.

• Paramount Home Entertainment International (PHEI)
• Financial Analyst (Hollywood, CA)

• Started as an analyst in 2002 in the international home entertainment division overseeing the budget and forecasting for LatAm/Asia.

• Disney Consumer Products
• Undergraduate Associate (Burbank, CA)
• June 2001 to January 2002

• Internship in the Cost Center Finance group to support the Marketing and Creative Arts (MCA) function with project accounting and management. Streamlined reporting processes to allow more time analyzing weekly reports tracking project cost expenditures (including labor and material costs). Additionally, assisted with month-end close activities including clearing general ledger and project accounting suspense accounts.

• Guess?, Inc.
• Financial Analyst Intern (Los Angeles, CA)
• July 2000 to June 2001

• One-year internship (nearly full-time whilst attending UCLA) within the Corporate Finance group with exposure to various finance functions including the planning and development of the company's fiscal 2001 budget and sales forecasts, preparing new retail store pro-formas, sales and payroll goals, quarterly retail performance evaluations, and capital expenditure projections.

Education

• UCLA
• Economics
• 1996 - 2001