Veronica Pickett, Head of Original Video for Amazon Kids, lives to tell entertaining stories that have a positive effect on young audiences. Her career has been defined by unique gigs that combine science and creativity. Veronica currently oversees original video programming for Amazon Kids+, Amazon’s digital media subscription service for kids aged 3-12; she covers original series and development across scripted, unscripted, live-action and animation. Veronica first joined Amazon as Creative Lead for Alexa for Kids, creating kid-friendly interactions for Alexa and content initiatives for Alexa devices and accessories. Prior to Amazon, Veronica worked in the wacky world of kids’ media in NYC, where she developed and produced content for Nickelodeon, 9 Story/PBS, Silvergate/Netflix, and Sesame Workshop, and spent hundreds of hours in research testing with kids.    

Veronica began her storytelling career writing for the theater, her whimsical plays featuring child characters produced by venues including The Kennedy Center, New York Stage & Film, Actors Theatre of Louisville, and the McCarter. She studied screenwriting and psychology at Princeton University where she was the 3x recipient of the Francis LeMoyne Page Award for achievement in the arts and her stage adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland received the Alan Downer Prize for a thesis of exceptional merit. 

Post-grad she teamed up with The Hasson Lab, a department of the Princeton Neuroscience Institute focused on human behavior, to develop experiments on audiences’ responses to storytelling techniques. Veronica understands narratives as not just how human beings entertain but package information and communicate culture. She is passionate about innovating to be in closer conversation with kids and discover the storytelling formats of the future. 

Featured in: In Conversation with... Veronica Pickett, Amazon Kids