After college, Laybourne had various jobs. From 1969 to 1970, Laybourne worked at Wallace, McHarg, Roberts and Todd, an architecture firm in Philadelphia.[1] From 1972 to 1973, she worked as a teacher at Concord Academy in Concord, Massachusetts. Then from 1974 to 1976, Laybourne worked as a festival coordinator of the New York American Film Festival.[4]
In 1974, she co-founded the Media Center for Children, which she was involved with until 1977.[4] Laybourne said she founded the Media Center for Children because she was concerned about the media her children were watching.
From 1978 to 1980, she was a partner at Early Bird Special Company in New York.[4]
Nickelodeon (1980–1996)
In 1980, Laybourne was hired as a program manager at Nickelodeon, a year-old network with only five employees,[5] where she initiated a focus-group approach to programming.[1]
Laybourne was one of the first people to focus on television programming for kids. She spent 15 years at Nickelodeon, taking over the management of the network, and started accepting advertising for the network, in 1984.[1][6]
Laybourne and her team were responsible for creating and building the Nickelodeon brand, launching Nick at Nite and expanding the network by establishing it in other countries, developing theme parks and creating Nickelodeon magazine, movie, toy and publishing divisions.[citation needed]
On February 2, 2000 (a date which plays off the chemical compound of oxygen—O2/O2), the Oxygen Network premiered to 10 million subscribers.[5]
LVMH was an early investor, but left in 2001 when Laybourne changed strategy from being an Internet company to a television company.[citation needed]
Laybourne initially hired 700 people, but scaled down to 250. The company went on to become profitable in 2004. Microsoft billionaire Paul Allen, who invested in three rounds of Oxygen, forced Oxygen's sale in the late 2007 to NBCUniversal for $925 million. At the end of Laybourne's tenure, Oxygen had 270,000 prime-time weekday viewers in 74 million homes.[7]
Mentorship
Laybourne started the mentoring program Global Women's Mentoring Walks, which pairs established and emerging women professionals to engage in mentoring partnerships in communities across the globe.[9]
Personal life
In 1970, Laybourne married Kit Laybourne, a television producer, entrepreneur, author, and educator. They have been residents of Montclair, New Jersey[10] and have two children and four grandchildren.
1997–present: Vassar College, Board of Trustees; 2010-14: President of the Alumnae/i Association of Vassar College (AAVC); Co-Chair of Vassar Presidential Search Committee[16]
Laybourne, Geraldine (1993). "Chapter 23: The Nickelodeon Experience". In Berry, Gordon L; Asamen, Joy K (Keiko) (eds.). Children & Television: Images in a Changing Sociocultural World. Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications, Inc. pp. 303–307. ISBN978-1-483-32622-1. OCLC918558971.
^ abcdGunzerath, David (2004). "Laybourne, Geraldine (1947-), U.S. Media Executive". In Newcomb, Horace (ed.). Encyclopedia of Television (2nd (2014) ed.). London: Routledge. pp. 1331–1332. ISBN978-1-135-19479-6. OCLC870978716.
Gunzerath, David (2004). "Laybourne, Geraldine (1947-), U.S. Media Executive". In Newcomb, Horace (ed.). Encyclopedia of Television (2nd (2014) ed.). London: Routledge. pp. 1331–1332. ISBN978-1-135-19479-6. OCLC870978716.
