Helena Fruscio is the Creative Economy Industry Director for the Commonwealth of
Massachusetts. She has held the position since October of 2011 and in this roll will help
advance the state's $1 billion creative economy industry, which currently employs over
100,000 Massachusetts workers. Helena has been widely praised for her leadership as
Director of Berkshire Creative Economy Council in western Massachusetts since 2009. She
has also has provided excellent leadership and input into the work of the statewide
Creative Economy Council and, more recently, as a gubernatorial appointee to the
Economic Development Planning Council. That work also gives her a running head start
into the issues that face creative businesses across the state. Helena's priorities include
working with the Massachusetts Creative Economy Council to aggregate governmental,
non-governmental, regional, and private resources that are available to the creative
industry statewide. Helena also hopes to enhance the connectivity of the industry through
the use of social networking, this blog, and other internet tools.