by Amy Friedland | 16 Apr 2026
Biographies and Interviews
Keep up with Amy on LinkedIn!
When I took a school-mandated survey on interests, it pointed me to a field in horticulture or botany.
I was a communications major in college and took a PR class pass/fail. Ironically, I absolutely hated it, LOL, and barely passed. It was purely textbook study with no real world application.
After college, I tried to get a job in TV but was not successful. I ended up applying to PR and advertising jobs in New York and landed my first PR job. I figured I'd give it a shot and see if it was different from my college class and boy was it! You just never know, do you? :)
I made my way to Carve when they acquired Freeman Public Relations, as our CEO Bruce Maguire was ready to retire. The entire team moved over to Carve Communications in November of 2024.
I'm the EVP at Carve Communications, leading teams in the toy and consumer product space — from exciting media-worthy special events and trade/media shows, to high-level media relations and impactful influencer marketing. No two days are the same, and I love that!
It's a tie. The first was the Michael Jordan Space Jam press conference for Warner Bros. Consumer Products where we had an entire ballroom audience filled with media at the Licensing Show. It was a huge 'spectacular' special event that went off without a hitch.
The second was the National Donut Day press conference for Entenmann's donuts with former New York Giants Victor Cruz. It was a sweet moment on the streets of New York for this experiential consumer and media-filled event.
I'm most proud of the careers that I have helped nurture and grow over my 25+ year career. Seeing the successes of the people that I have trained is truly rewarding and brings me so much joy!
My superpower is my creativity. In brainstorming sessions, I'm always saying, "I have this crazy idea, I'm not sure if this will work, but wouldn't it be great if we could..."
I like to reach for the stars and start the conversation for thinking and expansion. I also like to show my teams that it's okay if every idea is not a great idea, but contributing and building on ideas is what it's about.
I'm very big into gardening and expanding my green thumb brings me great joy — plus loads of home-grown veggies! Win-win!
Baking a loaf of sourdough bread. It seems very complicated to most, but it's really quite easy if you follow the exact measurements and steps... and the reward of taking a fresh loaf out of the oven and enjoying that first warm slice is priceless!
Louis Marx and the 2026 Marx Toy and Train convention
Game Review: Garden Variety
Greg Hyman "The Man That Tickled the World" (A Tribute by Richard C. Levy)
Designing Play Across Worlds: A Feature Interview with Prapti Verma
Chicago Toy & Game Fair to Celebrate Star Wars’ 50th Anniversary
Game Review: Garden Variety
Greg Hyman "The Man That Tickled the World" (A Tribute by Richard C. Levy)
Designing Play Across Worlds: A Feature Interview with Prapti Verma
Chicago Toy & Game Fair to Celebrate Star Wars’ 50th Anniversary
Toy & Game Companies on TIME100's Most Influential Companies in the World List
Randy Klimpert Shares his Ukulele Collection
Steve Casino Peanut Art
Everyone's Talking about POP!
Princess Etch - a Multi-Talented Etch A Sketch Artist
Joseph Herscher of Joseph' s Machines.
Brent Bushnell talks Two Bit Circus, VR, & STEAM (Part 1)
Tim Walsh Celebrates the 30th Anniversary of Blurt!
Connie Vogelmann designed Apiary & Wyrmspan!
Bob Fuhrer... Is THE Crocodile Dentist!
Tom Dusenberry... Bought Atari, Wizards of the Coast, and Avalon Hill!
POPDuo: Richard Dickson, Mattel’s President & COO, and Kedar Narayan, Young Inventor Challenge AMB
POPDuo: Will Shortz and Josh Wardle
POP Duo: Elan Lee, Co-Founder, Exploding Kittens.and Jeff Probst, Host and Exec Producer, Survivor
POP Duo: David Fuhrer, MNG Director, Blue Sq Innovations & Shawn Green, past Dodgers & Mets MLB Star
POP Duo: Bob Fuhrer, Founder, Nextoy and Tom Fazio, Golf Course Designer