Dr. Emmanuel Sampene

I am a Professor of Biostatistics, but more importantly, I’m a dad — a dad of three very creative, very active kids who need a good story to go to sleep.

One night, at a loss for a new book to read, I was encouraged to come up with a story on the spot. I remembered the Looney Tunes cartoons I loved when I was little: how wild and wacky they were and how much joy they brought me. The name Turkey Pinky Pants popped into my head, so I went with it. And I found myself spinning a tale of a big-hearted, but obviously self-involved, devil may care personality — a dude with a pink motorcycle costume who was game to try any impossible stunt, as long as it was bigger than the last. Who was also—a turkey!

My kids thought he was weird (in a good way) and wild and wacky, just like my Looney Tunes heroes. And I thought: Maybe I was onto something?

As an immigrant, I am definitely the resilient, stubborn type. Once I get an idea in my head, I can’t let it go. I created four additional stories, and for months I retold them night after night, testing out the edges of TPP’s personality and cartoon mayhem. Turkey Pinky Pants was now my kids’ favorite character and they wanted more. From there, I began to learn about the animation business and production and eventually started a YouTube shorts series with (more than 70K followers and 100K views in 9 months). 

Since then, I’ve leaned into the “family” idea. One of my kids is definitely Tom Jr. Another is Jana, and the third is Kwaku who’s stubborn and has a strong personality.