A story from Kim Matilla...

My name is Kim Matilla, and I’m one of Dom’s partners in crime at Mattel.

Work can easily become a home away from home. If you are lucky enough, the people who surround you every day at work become like a surrogate family. I have been so lucky to find such a family.

In this fine company of people, Dom is like the big brother I never had. The older bro, by a little bit, that is also a close friend, trust worthy confidant, mentor, tormentor (he liked to chase me with his Preparation-H ), inspiring competitor, and most creative and talented peer.

It’s an interesting dynamic, one’s work-place family. Close quarters, tight deadlines, early mornings, late nights and of course some major dysfunction from time to time. However, it’s these tough bits which make the collective triumphs so incredibly meaningful and personal.

At Mattel, Dom has a reputation that supersedes him; everyone knows he is a Renaissance man. So a year and a half ago when I was the newbie on the Girls Electronics team, and he was the veteran, I was naturally a little intimidated. Immediately I was placed on Dom’s monster of a project, the Pixel Chix Roomies, (quite the trial by fire) and we hit the ground running and never looked back. Needless to say, the intimidation quickly turned into a creative partnership I’ve never experienced before. I’m not sure I can verbalize the ease of our working together- but you know when it just clicks?...and then you create something wonderful, with sincerity and respect for the other’s contributions? With Dom, it was just that simple and it was so freaking cool!

We got through some crazy schedule crunches. During storyboarding (which Dom has a love-hate relationship with) we would begin every morning by checking in with each other to count how many frames we had finished the previous day. I never came close! He would finish at least double the frames that I had completed and a couple of other tasks on the side. “This guy is a machine”, I would tell myself, “and I’m totally inadequate!” I figured out Dom’s trick soon enough. After work he would run 6 miles and then he would honker down on his couch and draw Pixel Chix storyboards for another 3-4 hours!!! I liked to tease him about it and the fact that he always showed up to work a half hour early. He would call my desk in the morning around 8:20, and if I wasn’t there, leave taunting messages “What a slacker, Matilla Gorilla, you’re late!” It was just his way of saying, good morning, and it always made me giggle.

I believe that Dom has a similar effect on all of his friends and family. His selflessness, determination and talent push us towards our full potential at an accelerated speed. You only have to watch him and you want to be better. Maybe it’s because you want to stack up next to him. Or maybe it’s because you want to be better for him. Either way, it’s because of the way he lives his life, at work, at home, at the gym, in his sketch book, and with his family and friends.

I am so fortunate to call him my friend.
I love you Dom.

k.