​What happens when a creative director burned out by campaigns and content calendars pivots to making a claymation kids’ show—with AI?

In this candid and visually rich talk, Laura Cortes shares her journey from 15+ years at the intersection of advertising, interactive media, and emerging tech to launching History Hacks, an irreverent, imaginative AI-powered claymation series for kids. Born out of a desire to escape the churn and reconnect with meaning, the project blends handcrafted stop-motion with generative tools to reimagine how history is told to young minds.

Laura unpacks how her experience designing immersive campaigns for Google, CERN, and NFB laid the foundation for a new kind of storytelling—one where imperfection, play, and automation coexist. She’ll walk you through the founding of Spoonful Studios with Mikko Martikainen, the creative principles that drive History Hacks, and how burnout, motherhood, and a passion for impact seeded a fresh creative language.