Judy Hahn (The Short  Version )

Judy Hahn is the interactive producer and venture capitalist responsible for two successful new media companies and hundreds of web sites, flash movies, applications and branding ventures. She has provided outstanding sales, project management, creative direction and hands on development for over ten years.

"I am very proud of our accomplishments in the interactive arts. But we are never satisfied and continue to stay on the cutting edge; keeping our fingers on the pulse of new media. Brian and I are always looking for new and exciting ways of delivering the projects entrusted to us. It's never the same old, same old here."

Her time building Vertigo Studios and Metro DMA into highly successful content providers has given Judy the experience to handle anything from asset research to complex project time lines.  Never afraid to get her hands dirty, Judy has also been known to work on crunch time tasks that no one wants to do.

In short, Judy Hahn is a woman that brings dozens of skills to the table.  Most importantly she is a wonderful producer that cares about every project as if it were her own.  Some have even said that Judy is the "Executive Muse."

More about Judy Hahn (The Long Version )

Growing up in rural New Jersey,  Judy was a highly creative and imaginative young girl. Her favorite things to do were drawings of people and animals.  As time went on, art became a childhood obsession that Judy perfected into a very unique style.

"I can vividly remember childhood summers of lying in the branches of a huge willow tree in my front yard... With paper and pencil in hand...daydreaming was also part of that time. It has been a thrill to come back to my roots and find a place for my creative ideas."

All through junior high and high school, Judy continued to take on creative activities. She would create her own prom dresses and even made a dozen home-sewn cheerleader outfits for her junior high squad. 

"My neighbor, was a fine Korean seamstress and taught me to sew. The junior high thing is funny in retrospect. We wanted uniforms, but there was no budget from the school. I asked the squad to trust me to make the uniforms as cost effectively as possible. Drawing the pattern, and with Janet's help, I made adorable felt skirts and school letters for everyone in time to march in the community parade!"

After graduating from Watching Hills High School in New Jersey, Judy went on to put herself through nursing school and quickly entered into the health care system.  Working as a nurse was very rewarding time for Judy but her creative gifts were left behind for many years.

"I have always loved helping people, so nursing seemed a natural choice. I spent years working in physical rehab and personal training. In between all of it I raised my two sons and was elected to the Board of Ed."

Judy continued to work as a nurse for many years,  later moving on to become a highly respected personal trainer for
 executives and personalities in Hunterdon / Somerset County New Jersey .

"It was a great experience. I became their friend and confidant. My clients ranged from Goldman Sachs execs to stay at home moms. One of my clients sons even turned us on to Macromedia Flash. Thanks S.I.!"

It was the holiday season in 1994 when Judy met Brian Stark.  They connected almost immediately.  A chance meeting had blossomed into much more than she ever imagined - a wonderful personal relationship coupled with a business partner. Most people would never take such a combined risk but she was already a believer.

Brian demonstrated such natural talent and explained his long term vision to Judy. -  She wanted to be a part of it.  Indeed Judy had a lot of catching up to do. 

Within months, Brian's creative spirit had infected Judy and reminded her of how much fun creative projects can be.  With their mutual love of progressive music, Judy boldly backed their first corporate venture... Vertigo Studios.

"Working on music creation was so much fun. Brian and I really enjoyed creating moods with our music- from tribal to orchestral - we loved it! One of our close friends is a fantastic professional drummer, Bobby Alt of Street Drum Corps. He would come by and lay down tracks with us. But our best session by far we foolishly didn't record. Christmas Eve 1996 - the throw down to remember!"

In the late '90s, Vertigo Studio produced original music for companies like Silicon Graphics and The Digital Entertainment Network.  While its was Brian creating most of the music tracks, Judy played a critical role in the style and direction of the music that was produced and released.

"I was exposed to so many genres of music growing up. My parents were into Country but my aunt had access to all types of music for her player piano. As I've grown, so has my taste in music. My spectrum of taste remains broad, from Bocchelli to Slipknot live, but some my favorites are Enya, Chris Botti and Sting."

As time went on, music became a more difficult sale for Judy and Brian.  They were using a new media format called MP3, and while the Vertigo Studio web site received 100,000s of downloads, actual paying work became harder and harder to find. Fearing that they were not going to be able to control the usage of the music, or profit from it, Vertigo Studios shifted gears and started providing web site design services.

"The writing was on the wall. It was time to broaden our services and our image to stay afloat. We were aware of the increasing demand for web services. I knew Brian possessed the skills necessary to enter this arena. We paid our dues and learned a lot about the emerging internet."

Vertigo Studios continued to provide web services for the next several years.  Bringing Flash to the mainstream, working for Streetwise, and landing DreamWorks were pinnacle achievements for the small interactive boutique.

In early 2000, Riding on the success of Vertigo Studios and Streetwise, Judy knew it was time for a rebrand of their growing company.  The word "Vertigo" was great for the progressive techno and ambient music they were know for, but  they were now building web sites and needed a company name to reflect the professionalism of a big agency.  After much debate, Metro Digital Media Artists became the new brand for Judy and Brian's creative works.

"Big name for a little shop.... We wanted to grow into the company as large as our name. Soon, we hired employees and good freelancers. Business was brisk. From the beginning, Brian and I knew that eventually we wanted play with the big boys, so when we believed the time was right, we packed it up and headed to NYC."

Moving Metro to New York City in September of 2001 was very bad timing. Judy found herself in whole new world.  Unable to retain clients for obvious reasons, Metro quickly drained most of its operational capital. Just getting through the year after 9/11 was the most difficult times in Judy's life.  It wasn't until the following August when the bright lights of Broadway would save Metro from from certain closure.

"Unfortunately, our timing was bad - just before 9/11. Business dried up, clients even pulled their accounts but we didn't give up. I kept searching the job boards, throwing our info at as many projects as I could find, hoping business would pick up eventually.  Brian kept building his skills."

"Things were looking really dark for the world let alone Metro. The one brief ray of sunshine that fall was going to the Pledge of Allegiance tour to meet up with the guys from Streetwise.  It was Halloween night. Hanging out backstage with the guys from SlipKnot and System of a Down made for a great break from doom and gloom of the world. - We call it our "almost famous night."

Producing several high profile projects for Broadway gave Metro a new platform of expression. The La Boheme web site was a tremendous success for Metro and Macromedia. Judy's work was reviewed personally by Baz Luhrmann and Catherine Martin and was awarded Site of the Day by Macromedia.

"Brian got a choppy cell phone call one day about building a web site for a new Broadway play. He asked me if I ever heard of "Lava Lamp." It wasn't until the next day when we received an email about the project that we realized it was Puccini's La Boheme on Broadway! What an honor - and to take a commercial, so beautifully filmed and embed it into the site - it was groundbreaking at the time."

The La Boheme web site was the first flash site to use high quality streaming video in a seamless environment. Before then, video was only available in ugly pop-up players and everyone took notice.  Macromedia quoted Brian Stark in two separate press releases. Sorenson Media (the creators of high-end flash video codecs) also quoted Brian on the use of technology and showcased La Boheme on their web site.  Five years later, people still check out the La Boheme web site daily.

"I'm always amazed when I check our stats - which is a daily habit. Boheme continues to draw an audience every day of the week. Too bad the play didn't last!"

Several months after the La Boheme buzz had worn off, Metro had the unbelievable good fortune to land the infamous Stephen King as a direct client. Working hand-in-hand with his team, Judy and Brian built a Flash Site for the renowned Dark Tower series as well as the official web site for his collective works.  StephenKing.com was later awarded Macromedia Site of the Day and Judy could not have been more thrilled.  While she was not a fan a Stephen King's horror fiction, she was a devoted fan of his stories like Stand By Me (The Body) and Shawshank Redemption.  (Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption)  - Judy's favorite Movie

Things continued to go well for Judy and Brian.  Landing clients such as Unicef, Mos Def, Incubus, Donald Trump and
E-Harmony were great achievements. However, the overhead in New York became too much for the small boutique to bear. After much much debate, Judy relocated Metro to Somerset County New Jersey, cutting operational costs in half.

"One thing I will never forget... shortly before we left New York... we were invited to go to a Notorious BIG memorial concert as a guest of Mos Def.  What a great show!  But this was a rough crowd. I mean a really rough crowd. I'll never forget going backstage...8 mile comes to mind. - I guess that's a good example of how Metro has taken us places we could not dare to imagine."

Once relocated, Judy found new interest in Metro.  While still maintaining a solid New York City client base, Judy was able to secure new clients such as Corego, Terry Goodkind, Fan2Band, The Real Estate Group NY, and The Knight Agency to name a few.

Through it all, Judy Hahn and Metro provided exceptional services to dozens of outstanding clients. Closing its doors in December of 2006, was a wise and deliberate decision by Judy.  After 10 years of growing and downsizing,  The Stark Agency is now in a position to remain a small and accessible agency with truly outstanding next generation capabilities at its finger tips. Judy looks forward to a bright future for her and her clients.

By: Amy Lauren

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