Toy Fair NY - Panel: From Design to Discovery: How AI is Powering Creativity in Play

AI is unlocking new frontiers in creativity - from bold toy concepts to richer storytelling and smarter product discovery. This energizing panel brings together leaders from Hasbro, Mattel, Girls Who Code and ModOp to share how they’re using AI to accelerate design, expand play experiences and connect with audiences in fresh ways.

For more information and to sign-up head over to: Toy Fair University's panel list.

About the panelists: 

Carrie Buse, Senior Director, Mattel Innovation Ventures

Carrie Buse is Senior Director of Mattel's Innovation Ventures team, where she leads efforts to imagine and incubate the future of play. Her current focus is on harnessing artificial intelligence to fuel creativity, storytelling, and emotionally resonant play experiences that connect physical and digital worlds. During her nearly 20-year career at Mattel, Carrie has championed the intersection of physical and digital play through advanced concepts that put the needs of the user first. Her credits include Hello Barbie, a fashion doll powered by speech recognition and natural language processing; Hello Dreamhouse, a playset using the same technology, but for the purpose of giving the child more control over bringing their stories to life; and Barbie Video Girl, a doll inspired by YouTube trends in which kids made videos with their dolls. (Keep an eye out for Video Girl’s cameo appearance at the Weird Doll’s house in the Barbie Movie.) Carrie also co-created the content and curriculum for the Barbie™ You Can Be Anything™ programming experience on Tynker, teaching over 1M kids basic coding concepts via playful Barbie themes. In addition to the Barbie brand, Carrie has supported Monster High (both OG and the reboot), Hot Wheels, Mattel Games, and Fisher Price. Prior to Mattel, Carrie freelanced as a Writer/Producer/Experience Designer crafting award-winning interactive content for Universal Pictures, Women in Film, and Philips Media Games.

Justine Higueras, Global Director, Strategic Partnerships – IP & Innovation, Roblox

Justine Higueras serves as the Global Director of Strategic Partnerships – IP & Innovation at Roblox, where she focuses on the intersection of culture, commerce, and play. Her mandate is to bridge the gap between physical products and digital identity, leading the strategy for Roblox’s Premium IP, Toy verticals.

Known for her ability to create clarity in ambiguity, Justine works across product, creator, and business teams to build sustainable ecosystems where global franchises can authentically scale. She specializes in helping legacy IP navigate the shift to immersive commerce, moving beyond traditional media into community-driven experiences.

With over 15 years of experience, Justine has built a career helping Fortune 100 companies adapt to emerging platforms. Prior to Roblox, she held senior partnership roles at TikTok and Pinterest, where she led business and creator strategy for key technology partners. She holds a B.S. in Molecular Biology from the University of California, San Diego.

Roberta Thomson, CEO, Hasbro AI Studio

Roberta is an experienced executive with a background in brand, communications and finance. She sits on Hasbro’s Executive Leadership Team, having previously led Communications, ESG, and Events, and now as CEO of Hasbro’s new AI Studio. Roberta joined Hasbro from Notion, the collaboration software company, where she served as Chief Brand and Communications Officer, and built a team focused on brand, design, and storytelling. Prior to that, Roberta led the Product Communications and Corporate Communications teams at Meta, formerly Facebook, where she helped tell the company’s story both externally and internally for more than seven years. Roberta began her career as a chartered accountant with Deloitte and then spent more than seven years at critical issues and corporate relations agency Brunswick Group, where she advised on media relations, crisis, and issues management, and oversaw comms for high-profile M&A transactions.   

Roberta studied Classics at the University of Oxford.  

Tessa Burg, CTO, ModOp

Tessa has led both technology and marketing teams for 15+ years and, as Mod Op's CTO, initiated and now leads Mod Op's AI/ML Pilot Team, the AI Council and Product Innovation. Early in her career she spent time in internal IT, including desktop support, patch delivery systems and data analytics and management. She later followed her love for data and SEO into front-end development, where she paired data with the marketing tech to personalize and increase conversion in apps, website, social and email. She has held roles on both the consulting and client sides of the business for domestic and international brands, including American Greetings, Amazon, Nestle, Anlene, Moen and many more. She has deep skills in software product development and management, digital transformation and strategy, martech and engineering organizational architecture.

About the moderator:

Dr. Tarika Barrett, CEO, Girls Who Code

Dr. Tarika Barrett is the CEO of Girls Who Code, an international non-profit organization working to close the gender gap in technology. The organization launched Five by Five this year, a bold new plan to reach 5 million girls, women, and nonbinary individuals by 2030. Girls Who Code has served over 760,000 students and is at the forefront of equipping the next generation to thrive in emerging fields like artificial intelligence and cybersecurity. In 2024, Girls Who Code founded the Cyber Education Alliance — a coalition of organizations committed to safeguarding kids and students online through cybersecurity education.

Tarika started her career as an educator and has spent two decades building educational pathways for young people at organizations like iMentor, the New York City Department of Education, New Visions for Public Schools, and New York University's Center for Research on Teaching and Learning. Tarika is Chair of the New York University Steinhardt Dean's Alumni Advisory Board, a member of The New Visions for Public Schools Board of Directors, and task force member of ISC2 Global 50x50 Initiative Global Task Force. 

Tarika has received prestigious accolades such as an honorary Doctor of Letters degree from Medgar Evers College, CUNY; New York City Bar Association Huntington Bank's Her Hero Lifetime Achievement Award, is a PoliticsNY and amNY Metro’s Nonprofit Power Player, and named one of Crain’s 50 Most Powerful Women In New York. Under her leadership, Girls Who Code has been named The NonProfit Times' Best Nonprofits to Work For three years in a row and recognized as one of Fast Company’s Brands that Matter. Girls Who Code’s work has generated 14.9 billion impressions globally, with notable campaigns such as Doja Code, the world’s first codeable music video with Doja Cat.