Traci serves as general counsel, entertainment, media and sports attorney at Stinson. She focuses her practice on counseling media and communications clients on legal issues related to the entertainment industry. Traci is the co- chair of Stinson's Entertainment and Media Law Group and a member of the Sports and Outdoor Recreation Group.

Traci has decades of experience negotiating with entertainment venues related to artist performances and tour representation. Traci has negotiated several multimillion dollar entertainment agreements with worldwide entertainment companies, for publishing administration, merchandise, recorded music and performing rights organizations. Traci also works to closely protect her clients’ intellectual property content through social media influencer, option and literary rights, life story rights agreements and non-disclosure agreements. 

 
She provides legal counsel to leading communications and media clients by utilizing her multijurisdictional experience to serve the business interests of recognized names in the music, television, film and sports industries—including recording artists, independent record companies, music publishers, actors, authors, songwriters, producers, managers and production companies.

Traci previously served as general counsel for an internationally recognized recording studio where she advised on legal strategies for the business and entertainment entities.

 
Before joining Stinson, Traci practiced law in New York and California, where she was recognized by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors for her exceptional litigation skills. 

After assisting her employers manage the careers of A-listers like Halle Berry, Taraji P. Henson, Mariah Carey, Usher, and a host of others at some of the most notable talent management companies in the entertainment industry, DaVida Chanel Smith-Baker decided to follow her entrepreneurial endeavors.

“I’ve been fortunate to always work for people with strong entrepreneurial energy and that was not lost on me because I’ve always wanted to be my own boss,” Baker explains. “In this powerful time of women taking risks in the name of their career, I felt it was time to bet on myself. I took the efforts that I had been pouring into others’ businesses and focused on my vision for talent representation and production in this new era of entertainment.”

Launched in April 2018, Baker’s Etcetera and Company already boasts a robust and diverse roster of working actors, including Annie Ilonzeh, Daniel Kyri and Natasha Marc. Her clients have booked a number of features, have appeared on all network and streaming platforms and write, direct and produce their own projects.

The Louisiana native attended Southern University (Baton Rouge) where she held office in student government and with the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority. Baker earned a Juris Doctorate from the Thurgood Marshall School of Law and moved to Los Angeles in 2005 to pursue a career in talent representation and production, landing jobs at some of Hollywood’s renowned firms, including Brillstein Entertainment Partners, Handprint, and VCA. 

Samantha is Director, Business and Legal Affairs, in the Global Distribution group at NBCUniversal Media, LLC, where she drafts and negotiates a range of agreements relating to the distribution of film and television content for television and digital/new media clients in various media. Prior to this position, Samantha was an attorney in the Global Distribution group at BBC Studios, where she similarly drafted and negotiated distribution agreements, in addition to domestic content licenses for the streaming service “BritBox”, and provided support to the consumer products business.

Andrew is currently Senior Counsel for Sesame Workshop, the non-profit independent production company behind countless children’s programs including Sesame Street, Ghostwriter, and Helpsters. In his role at Sesame Workshop, Andrew handles a variety of matters including those relating to rights acquisition for film and television, as well as matters relating to the development and production of programs intended for varying media platforms. Before joining Sesame Workshop, he worked for Mattel, Inc. handling matters including consumer products and content licensing for popular properties such as Barbie, Barney, Thomas & Friends, and Bob the Builder. Andrew currently sits on the board of the Filmmakers Legal Clinic (formerly “The Indie Film Clinic” at Cardozo Law); serves as a board of trustees member for the Copyright Society; and is a current chair for the Copyright Society’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee, which he helped launch. Andrew Hannibal graduated from Cardozo Law School in 2012.