Amanda Greer, Trend Hunter (INTERVIEW)

Amanda Greer has found some seriously disturbing drawings that are sure to lead to a ruined childhood. Created by illustrator Dan Luvisi, these drawings show iconic children's characters in gory, adult situations. Titled 'No Country for Old Muppets,' this drawing shows one Muppet strangling the other in a scene reminiscent of 'No Country for Old Men.'

When she's not purposefully destroying her innocent childhood, Amanda loves performing, writing, and finding the best treats in the city.

1.What’s your favorite trend at the moment?

My favorite trend is ‘Murderous Puppet Illustrations,’ by Dan Luvisi. He is an illustrator who takes classic children’s characters, like Muppets and Sesame Street characters, and puts them in situations from adult films. My favorite Dan Luvisi creation is called, ‘No Country for Old Muppets.’ It shows two Muppets, one of which is strangling the other, directly out of a scene from ‘No Country for Old Men.’ The juxtaposition of a classic children’s character with this gory film makes for a hilarious drawing. This is a trend that I’ve seen all over the place, recently, as kids born in the late ‘80s and ‘90s are growing up, and they’ve decided to just destroy their entire childhood.

2.Describe the environment at Trend Hunter.

The moment you walk through the doors at Trend Hunter, it’s clear that it’s one of the most supportive work environments in the city. Everyone works together. You’re working alongside editors, which is really awesome, because they’re giving you constant feedback. They’re really invested in making you a better writer, so it’s an amazing experience.

3.How do you go about finding and writing about trends?

When I go to write trends, I first look at a lot of blogs that I follow on Trend Hunter, or through Netvibes. A trick that I have is to look at blogs from Japan or Australia, where everything’s posted hours beforehand, so it’s all new, fresh, and exciting.

4.What did you do before you came to Trend Hunter?

All my past jobs have involved working with kids, at summer camps and daycares and stuff like that. So, Trend Hunter is a little bit different, but not as different as you might think, come Friday. But yeah, Trend Hunter’s definitely low-key, it’s much more supportive than other work environments, and everyone wants to see each other succeed.

5.What’s been the most important thing you’ve learned so far at Trend Hunter?

The most important thing I’ve learned so far is how to market my personal brand, using things like social media and SEO. I didn’t know anything about SEO before I came to Trend Hunter, so now I know what makes for a good SEO, and what can get your trend to the top of those Google results pages.

6.What did you want to be when you were younger?

When I was younger, I really wanted to be a scientist, but to me at that age, that just meant looking through a microscope a lot. So what I would do is I would take my toy microscope, from Toys “R” Us or something, and make my siblings and my friends cut their fingers and put blood on those little slides. I would look at the slides through the microscope and tell them that they were going to die… so it’s probably good that I didn’t follow that dream.

7.What’s been your greatest accomplishment so far?

My favorite accomplishment was being chosen to be a jury member for the kids’ version of the Toronto International Film Festival. I got to see all these international kids’ movies, and I got a lot of free swag. It was pretty ballin’.

8.Any last thoughts on Trend Hunter?

Trend Hunter is an incredible place to work. I’ve never been in a work environment that’s so supportive, and so bent on getting you to that extra level, and making sure that when you leave Trend Hunter, you’re prepared for the digital and millennial-driven workplace.