Today we’d like to introduce you to Meaghan Dunn.
Hi Meaghan, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My story begins on Hongdo, a small island off the coast of South Korea, where I was born. I was adopted from an orphanage at nearly five and grew up in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, in a Jewish family. Navigating different cultures, I often struggled with belonging, but art became a language I could rely on. My childhood love of cartoons, comics, and storytelling eventually grew into a career in animation, graphic design, and visual media.
I’ve worked across television animation, motion graphics, commercial production, educational media, and immersive training, including an early role on A Kitty Bobo Show for Cartoon Network. I’ve also founded a creative business and led teams of artists. My career has taken many forms—animator, designer, creative director, business owner, instructional designer, and educator—but storytelling and helping others discover their creative potential have remained constant.
Teaching animation and storyboarding at Temple University, Rutgers University, and Moore College of Art & Design has deepened that purpose. My students’ curiosity inspires me, while their challenges have shown me the gap between classroom learning and meaningful industry opportunities. Many emerging Philadelphia artists struggle to find paid production experience and professional connections without leaving the region.
That realization led me to create AllDunn Studio, an animation studio and incubator designed to give emerging animators real projects, professional mentorship, compensation, and pathways toward sustainable careers. I’m also exploring an animation museum concept to celebrate the art form and connect it with the public.
I’m pursuing doctoral studies and researching animation pathways throughout the student life cycle because I want to help build stronger systems for artists, educators, and creative communities. At the same time, I’m developing Spectrum Planet, an animated documentary series exploring identity, neurodivergence, adoption, and the experiences of people who see the world differently. The project brings together many personal threads, including my return trips to South Korea and connections with my biological family.
Looking back, my career has been less about reaching one destination than about learning, adapting, and continuing to create. Today, I’m bringing those experiences together through animation, education, community building, and storytelling. I’ve learned that creativity has no expiration date, and that the most meaningful chapters can begin when we choose to start something new.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Not at all. My journey has been anything but a straight line, personally or professionally. I’ve had to reinvent myself many times, sometimes by choice and sometimes because circumstances left me no alternative.
I was adopted from South Korea at nearly five years old after being abandoned, homeless, and institutionalized in an orphanage. Growing up in a Jewish family and community where few people looked like me brought lasting questions about identity, belonging, and cultural expectations. Art became a way to express what I couldn’t always put into words.
The creative industry has been rewarding but unstable. I’ve experienced layoffs, technological shifts, changing expectations, and the pressure to remain relevant. Despite years of experience building businesses and managing creative teams, I’ve sometimes had to start over financially and professionally. I’ve learned that talent and hard work don’t guarantee stability in an industry where funding is uncertain, creative work is undervalued, and opportunities often depend on connections.
Starting AllDunn Studio brought those realities into sharper focus. I wanted to create the kind of place I needed when I was starting out—one where students could gain professional experience, receive mentorship, and be paid for their contributions. But meaningful work still requires funding, partnerships, and institutional support, and I’ve sometimes had to pause projects I believe in because the resources weren’t there to sustain them.
I’ve also faced health challenges, family losses, and periods when balancing teaching, running a studio, pursuing doctoral research, and developing independent projects felt overwhelming. Over time, I’ve learned to see differences I once viewed as shortcomings as potential creative strengths.
One of the hardest lessons has been accepting that progress doesn’t always look like success. Sometimes it means surviving a difficult year, changing direction, asking for help, or pausing without giving up.
What keeps me going is the work itself: drawing, seeing characters come to life, and watching students grasp something they’ve struggled with. I still believe animation can connect people who might otherwise never understand one another.
My setbacks have shaped me as an educator, artist, and person, and strengthened my determination to create opportunities for others. I know how much one opportunity, mentor, or person’s belief can matter.
I’m still figuring things out, and I think that’s okay. Resilience is often simply finding another way forward while holding on to what matters most.
We’ve been impressed with AllDunn Studio, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
AllDunn Studio is an independent animation studio and creative incubator based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded on a simple idea: talented emerging artists deserve more than classroom assignments and unpaid opportunities. They deserve real production experience, professional mentorship, fair compensation, and a meaningful pathway into the animation industry.
What makes AllDunn different is that it sits at the intersection of animation production, education, and workforce development. We’re not simply interested in producing animated content. We’re interested in rethinking how the next generation of artists enters the industry and how creative communities can sustain themselves.
My background in animation, graphic design, instructional design, and higher education has shaped the studio’s approach. I understand both sides of the equation: what students are learning in the classroom and what professional productions actually require. AllDunn was designed to help bridge that gap by bringing students, educators, working artists, and industry professionals together through collaborative projects.
Our creative work focuses on 2D animation, character development, storyboarding, visual storytelling, and original intellectual property. I’m particularly interested in projects that combine strong artistic voices with unconventional storytelling, humor, and subjects that aren’t always represented in mainstream animation.
One of our original projects is Spectrum Planet, an animated documentary series exploring identity, neurodivergence, adoption, and the experiences of people who see the world differently. The series combines real interviews with animated characters and environments, allowing personal stories to unfold in a visually imaginative way. It’s an example of the kind of work I want AllDunn to be known for: thoughtful, artist-driven storytelling that embraces individuality rather than trying to make everyone fit the same mold.
Another important part of the studio’s mission is strengthening Philadelphia’s animation community. Philadelphia has extraordinary artistic talent and several excellent colleges and universities, yet many emerging animators feel they must relocate to cities like Los Angeles or New York to find meaningful industry opportunities. I believe we can build something here that encourages artists to stay, collaborate, and contribute to the region’s creative economy.
The incubator model is intended to give students opportunities to work alongside professionals on actual productions while developing technical skills, communication, collaboration, and an understanding of the business side of animation. I want emerging artists to leave with more than a portfolio. I want them to have confidence, professional relationships, and a clearer understanding of how to build sustainable careers.
Like many independent creative organizations, we’ve faced funding challenges, and the incubator’s programming has had to evolve as we pursue additional support. But the larger mission hasn’t changed. I’m continuing to develop partnerships, explore grants and sponsorships, and find ways to make the model sustainable.
I’m also exploring the possibility of incorporating an animation museum and public-facing exhibition space into the studio. Animation has an incredible history, yet much of the public only sees the finished product. I’d love to create opportunities for people to experience the drawings, storyboards, production techniques, and creative processes behind the work. It could also provide another way to connect the community with the studio and support emerging artists.
What I’m most proud of is that AllDunn isn’t built around a particular animation style or commercial trend. It’s built around a philosophy that artists matter, their work has value, and creative education should lead to real opportunities.
I want AllDunn Studio to become known as a place where artistic experimentation and professional development coexist. A place where students aren’t treated as free labor, where unconventional ideas are encouraged, and where people from different backgrounds can bring their own experiences into the stories they create.
Ultimately, I want readers to understand that AllDunn Studio is more than an animation company. It’s an attempt to build a stronger creative ecosystem, one that connects education, industry, and community while making room for the next generation of storytellers.
I’m proud of the work we’ve started, but I’m even more excited about what it could become.
What would you say have been one of the most important lessons you’ve learned?
The most important lesson I’ve learned is that life rarely unfolds the way we imagine it will, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Sometimes the experiences that seem like setbacks end up teaching us the most about who we are and what really matters.
For a long time, I measured success by what I accomplished, the projects I completed, the positions I held, or the businesses I built. Working in a creative industry, there’s always pressure to prove yourself, stay relevant, and keep moving forward. But I’ve learned that accomplishments don’t define your worth, and starting over doesn’t erase everything you’ve done before.
I’ve also learned that you can’t always control what happens to you, but you can decide what you do with those experiences. Being adopted, navigating questions of identity and belonging, experiencing professional instability, and facing personal challenges have all shaped the way I see the world. They’ve made me more empathetic, more resourceful, and more aware that everyone carries a story you may know nothing about.
Teaching has reinforced another important lesson: success means very little if you aren’t willing to help create opportunities for others. Some of the most meaningful moments in my career haven’t been professional achievements. They’ve been watching a student discover their artistic voice, gain confidence, or realize that a creative career is actually possible.
I’ve also learned that it’s okay to change direction. We tend to think of careers and lives as linear, with certain milestones we’re supposed to reach by certain ages. But creativity doesn’t work that way, and neither does life. I’ve been an animator, designer, business owner, educator, and student, sometimes all at once. Each experience has informed the next, even when I couldn’t see the connection at the time.
Perhaps the hardest lesson has been learning that I don’t have to have everything figured out. I can be proud of what I’ve accomplished while acknowledging what hasn’t worked. I can believe deeply in something and still recognize when I need to pause, rethink my approach, or ask for help.
If there’s one thing I hope to pass along to my students and my daughter, it’s that you should never let someone else’s definition of success determine the direction of your life. Stay curious, keep learning, be willing to reinvent yourself, and don’t lose the parts of yourself that make you different.
I spent a lot of my life trying to figure out where I belonged. Now I’m much more interested in creating spaces where other people don’t have to ask themselves that question.
And through it all, I’ve learned that sometimes the most important thing you can do is simply keep drawing.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://Alldunnstudio.com
- Instagram: Alldunnstudio
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/17itQ6s3Cx/?mibextid=wwXIfr
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@alldunnstudio
