Our Team
Andrei Mincov
Founder & CEO
Whether helping his father enforce his copyright or helping you secure your trademarks, Andrei's passion is driven by the fundamental belief that those who create something that hasn't existed before deserve to not have it stolen from them. Business owners deserve not to be ripped off by unscrupulous copycats, pretentious lawyers who only care about covering their asses, or fake-cheap online trademarking services that file your trademark applications for next-to-nothing then leave you out in the cold if something goes wrong.
For Andrei, Trademark Factory® is not just an exciting business opportunity. It's personal.
- I was 21 years old when I first got to be in a courtroom as a lawyer—virtually self-taught—representing my father, a famous Russian composer Mark Minkov, who caught a radio station stealing his music.
- My wife moved in to live with me after we’ve known each other for an hour and a half.
- I coded the first version of Trademark Factory website myself — and it worked!
- I was singing on stage with my father since I was 5 years old.
- I wrote 7 books on intellectual property, of which one is an international bestseller. I explain law so that a 9-year-old can understand.
- I told my wife that I’d propose to her after she gets pregnant with our first kid. We now have three amazing children: Masha, Patricia, and David.
- I used to record and mix music for my father. You could hear my recordings on CDs, in theaters, and on TV.
- I moved to Canada to start everything from scratch after being a successful lawyer in Russia, to seek a new challenge, to be in a place that respects intellectual property, freedom, and entrepreneurship.
- I write music and play the drums. In fact, I first visited the U.S. in 1989 because I wrote a song that was shown on national TV in Soviet Russia.
- I was an intellectual property lawyer in 2 countries for 20 years before I voluntarily gave up my lawyer license to offer guaranteed, all-inclusive flat-fee trademarking services to clients worldwide.
Amanda Cheply
Head of Legal Team
Amanda joined Trademark Factory® at the end of 2017.
Having previously worked in various industries, including fitness and woodworking, a career change was imminent after exploring a career in intellectual property law and realizing this was going to be her goal.
On her way to become a registered trademark agent, and under the mentorship and guidance of Andrei, she is an integral part of handling client files.
When she isn’t focused on client needs she is probably out hiking with her dog and his buddies or reading a book while enjoying some down time.
- Decayed architecture and urban exploration fascinate me. There are so many questions I have.
- Everyone has a phobia. I have a few. My #1 is Trypophobia (don't Google it! I warned you!)
- The best foods are caviar and lobster, and I would happily live off of those. And Nutella.
- Even though I didn’t know what to do with him at first, I wouldn’t trade my awkward, sometimes too big, mix breed dog, Leo, for anything.
- Reality TV is my guilty pleasure. Give me ‘Housewives’ any day!
- My pet peeves are lack of consideration for others, mouth breathers, and limp handshakes.
- I am fluently bilingual in English and French.
- Never do I go anywhere without my jug of water. Tap water scares me.
- Every bit the Cancer, I can be stubborn but tenacious and loyal, and I love the ocean.
- D is brown and A is red. I have Synesthesia, with my associations occurring in a few different combinations. This helps me remember things, which can be both good and bad!
Angelique de los Reyes
Director of Operations
Angelique joined Trademark Factory® as a virtual assistant in May of 2017. Immediately, "Angel" demonstrated heartfelt dedication to providing an exceptional customer experience. So in just a few months, we promoted her to Administrator. In 2019, Angel's organizational expertise and impeccable attention to detail earned her another promotion. She became our Director of Operations.
Angel names our culture of celebrating each other's successes as the main reason for her daily drive and long-term commitment to the Trademark Factory® family.
- I love traveling and appreciate both nature and city adventures. I enjoy exploring local and foreign art, culture and cuisine.
- I have won 2 local beauty pageant crowns.
- I enjoy scheduling, planning, and organizing everything, including my tasks, finances, and even my DIY travels.
- I value friendship and family and enjoy cooking pastries & dishes for them.
- I'm a sucker for amusement and water parks!
- I am a proud member of Singles for Christ, a community where we serve towards evangelization and working with the poor.
- I enjoy volunteering as a tutor for public school kids during weekends.
- I am an animal lover and support our local animal shelters.
- I am slowly embracing a more eco-friendly and sustainable lifestyle.
- I aspire to become a successful entrepreneur and have now invested on a small-scale transportation and real-estate business.
Maris Gabornes
Paralegal
Maris shares Trademark Factory®’s dedication to growth and learning. After earning her Bachelor’s degree in Social Sciences (major in Political Science), she went on to study law and eventually obtained a Juris Doctor degree.
While studying law, she juggled working as a freelance writer and researcher, legal aid intern, paralegal at a general practice law firm, and the EIC of her law school’s publication. Equipped with her drive and diligence, Maris is excited to help brands get protected through her paralegal role at Trademark Factory®.
- My earliest childhood memory is from when I was 18 months old.
- I graduated valedictorian in high school with 2 presidential, 4 leadership, and 11 academic awards.
- At 15, I was elected to a 3-year term as a youth council official in my town then.
- My dad, an international ship captain for 30+ years, got to attend my graduation for the first time in college, and placed the cum laude medal around my neck. It was a special moment for both of us.
- I have lived in 5 cities. Wherever I went, I served the community.
- I pursued my law education to fulfill my parents’ dreams for me.
- I have received 3 national distinctions: 2 for academic excellence and community involvement, and 1 I share with my family (Model OFW Family of 2012).
- I love nurturing kids, plants, and animals.
- I seek adventure + peace through mountain climbing and traveling.
- I enjoy consuming creative works: I am a completist reader and music listener; I attend live rap battles and poetry performances; I finished a 365-movies-in-a-year challenge for 2 years in a row
Marko Nikolic
Searcher
Marko joined Trademark Factory® team as a searcher in early 2017. He graduated with his LLB from the Faculty of Law in Belgrade. He completed his Masters degree in Civil law with his thesis, “A Child’s Best Interest and The Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction”. During the studies he was engaged in numerous part-time jobs, while also being involved with growing fruit and beekeeping. He also organized exhibitions for the preservation of traditions and ecology and participated in the international debate camps as a contester.
Marko has worked in a legal department of a wheat trading company and as intern in a lawyer’s office, while he worked for over 30 different employers from all over the world as a freelancer, which gave him a status of a top-rated Upwork community freelancer. In 2016, he was hired by the legal department of Serbian Ministry of Defense until he chose to leave the uniform behind and started working as a legal secretary for an elementary school.
- I am an author of the science paper, "The need for the introduction of ecological Ombudsman—example of Balkan Mountains", publicly defended at the Faculty of Law in Belgrade (Serbia) in 2012.
- I am spending every free moment of my time fishing, mountaineering and studying mushrooms.
- I am an author of one short novel and couple of short stories.
- I never gave up bees and cherry plantations, and I am constantly investing.
- After 11 years out of my home town, I am considering settling in with my family back there, being that it's the EU eastern border area.
- I ran my first vertical kilometer last year
- Motto that I value the most is, "Time has no price."
- I am a bit possessed with history, history books and mythology.
- I'm hoping my future will allow me to combine outdoor life close to nature and to develop my law career—all at the same time.
- I've edited 20 collections of legal articles, all published in Gulf countries.
Rafael Valdivia
Chief Operating Officer
Rafael joined Trademark Factory® in 2018 as a Strategy Advisor and became our COO in 2019.
He believes in the same values Trademark Factory® does.
He also believes trademarks are a great way to help entrepreneurs facing their fears and taking action to make a long-term commitment to their dreams and protect them.
Rafael loves the team he works with and enjoys reading every message we share.
- I have spent at least a month in over 20 countries and all continents except Africa.
- By age 15 I had made over $3K winning math, grammar and public speaking contests and wanted to buy a Kawasaki Ninja motorcycle.
- My mom took the money from the contests and bought herself a car. She argues she was trying to save my life
- I was raised Catholic, but no I have no particular religion now. I use stoic and budhist principles to face situations.
- My first business venture took me from Lima to Guangzhou where I went bankrupt and had to eat cheese and bread for 20 days.
- My first name used to be Emerson, but I ditched it because it did not represent my heritage and frankly I never liked it.
- Before Trademark Factory I use to be a Data Scientist (top 20 in Kaggle) for the SMB division of a large corporation, working with the marketing team. I hated it.
- I love the ocean, it makes me calm. I've always tried to live very near it. I walk over there everyday and meditate for a bit.
- I'm a sucker for all artificial intelligence, singularity stuff.
- I'm married to a beautiful dentist who dislikes my dressing style and likes my sense of humor.
Vitaly Polukhin
Director of Infrastructure
Vitaly Polukhin decided to become a programmer in the late 1990s, straight after secondary school. A physics and mathematics major, by that time Vitaly was already proficient in electrical engineering and had some experience writing computer code on old Soviet computers. He got his first job as a programmer while still attending high school. He has since worked for the government, telecom companies, and outsourcing companies. He has also worked as the head of Gazprom's IT department.
Vitaly joined Trademark Factory® as a full-time web developer in 2014 and became our Director of Infrastructure in 2019.
- I wrote my first program when I was 8.
- I assembled my first electrical circuit when I was 11.
- While still a secondary school student, I won a physico-mathematical competition organized by the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (a Russian version of MIT).
- I had an unforgettable 7-day trip to Kazakhstan when I traversed across the entire country by train with innumerable stops and change-overs.
- I made a 3-day trip Thailand for only $50 (including air and hotel)—and fell in love with the country.
- I go to the Altai Mountains several times a year. This is a very beautiful place.
- I still play Quake III and first Starcraft.
- I go to the gym. I'm proud of my personal record in bench press, 6x100kg.
- I helped create Harvard's River City Project, a unique multi-user virtual educational environment.
- I am learning Python and machine learning and can't wait to implement this knowledge in Trademark Factory® projects soon.
Bronson Picket
Senior Strategy Advisor
Bronson Picket joined Trademark Factory® as a Strategy Advisor in 2018.
Bronson has previously worked in entertainment, real estate, software development, and telecommunications. While his other professions have taken him all over the world, and he very much enjoys traveling, his favorite place to be is home with his family.
In joining Trademark Factory, Bronson not only loves the sense of family the company brings to the entire team, but to the clients whose dreams he is excited to help grow.
- I was asked to run for the U.S. Congress by the leader of the Rules Committee (I turned it down).
- I was a high fashion model in New York City and Milan, which jobs included runway shows for Armani and Ferre.
- I was lead singer of hard rock band, Pull in New York City, playing in venues which included The Continental Divide, The Mercury Lounge, and CBGBs.
- I originally planned on being a physics major until I discovered the joys of singing in a rock n’ roll band, which led to my becoming a theater major instead, despite having zero desire to become an actor.
- I became an actor:
—and this is the link to my IMdB page. - I am married to author and journalist, Lynn Snowden Picket.
- I was on the Oprah Winfrey Show with my wife
- I politely declined to come back to the Oprah Winfrey Show, despite repeated offers to return.
- I co-wrote several patents for databases and software.
- I have two amazing children and a pit bull.
Victor Nguyen
Strategy Advisor
Born in Lancaster, PA, Victor grew up knowing the small town could not hold him. Always improving himself, Victor has a passion for personal development, copywriting, web design and leadership.
Since joining the Trademark Factory family as a strategy advisor, Victor has been lending his skills and knowledge to the team. With his strong medical background, Victor naturally listens and helps those he speaks with, decide where to take their business.
- I have a dental degree.
- I was on a rowing team for 3 years and we placed gold all 3 years for the head of the Ohio race.
- I am a LEGO enthusiast.
- I possess a large collection of boardgames.
- I was MVP of my chess team in high school.
- I have a varsity letter for chess.
- I am a foodie and I want to try all the best food in the world.
- I Love Spicy Foods!
- I volunteer at my local food bank.
- I have watched every horror movie known to man, including the ones with a $6 budget and made in their mom’s basement.
Adam Ford
Strategy Advisor
Adam Ford is a Bachelor of Commerce graduate from Memorial University. He splits his time between Process Improvement at a major Canadian insurance company and as a Strategy Advisor at Trademark Factory®.
Adam is committed to personal development and getting the most out of life. He is a big believer in the Trademark Factory mission and loves helping small business owners protect their brand.
- I play guitar.
- I write and record music with my band, Strictly Naboo. Here’s our song about Keanu Reeves.
- I have a blue belt in Taekwondo.
- I have been a member of Toastmaster for 7 years—I used to be extremely shy, and this is one of the main things that helped me break out of my shell.
- From time to time, I do stand-up comedy.
- My favorite band is the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and I met their drummer briefly in Montreal.
- I usually travel about once a year to visit friends and see concerts—mainly in Canada or the United States, but I’ve also been to Japan and Thailand.
- I am very social—I love meeting new people and make an effort to stay in touch with close friends.
- I have two younger sisters, Sarah and Emma.
- I have approximately 5000 allergies.
Cody Ell
Strategy Advisor
Cody was born and raised in Hawaii, where he still lives today. He loves to travel and see more of the world but always knows his way home.
When he joined Trademark Factory® he found a way to help business owners that he never considered before and enjoys the opportunity to make sure they have a brand they can be proud of that nobody can take away.
- I earned the rank of Eagle Scout in 2013. It’s the highest rank a Boy Scout can achieve.
- Was certified as a hypnotist at the University of Toronto, St Michael’s College.
- I’ve been running a D&D campaign for over 3 years.
- I dance Swing, Blues, Fusion, and Zouk.
- After 6 months of dancing Zouk, I was asked to be part of the local performance team.
- I’m a certified Lifeguard and have been since I was 15.
- I’m the head coach of a local swim team.
- I’ve read entire 1,000+ page books in one day several times, you could say I get addicted to a good story.
- I used to work as a summer camp counselor in Hawaii and was one of the front men for songs, skits, and enthusiasm in general.
- Within two months I had to call an ambulance twice for people who got hurt in front of me. One was my neighbor who fell off his roof and landed face first, the other was a camper who went over a guard rail while biking and cut open his abdominal cavity. Thankfully, they were both okay.
Kristine Cabico
Indispensable Assistant
Kristine had worked as a Financial Analyst for the Philippine government for 6 years before she joined Trademark Factory as a General Virtual Assistant in March of 2018. She was on maternity leave when she applied to TMF but later on decided not to go back to the office and stick with Andrei and Trademark Factory® while taking care of her kids.
With Kristine's impeccable attention to details, she handles all sorts of projects—from bookkeeping to social media management and from client follow-up to research.
- I am a lady Civil Engineer.
- I graduated 2 degrees (Accountancy and Civil Engineering).
- I'm one of the boys. I do carpentry and plumbing.
- I run marathon twice a year and I won 2 gold medals (2012 & 2015) in the female category.
- Zumba is my stress reliever.
- I am one of the organizers of "Chairs for School Movement" - an org that provides arm chairs to schools in remote & mountainous areas.
- I am an active member of Alpha Phi Omega International Service Fraternity & Sorority. We do more than 20 community services annually.
- I design and make our furniture and closets at home on my own.
- I can't sleep without blanket even if it's too hot.
- Mountain climbing is my adventure. I have climbed 8 mountains and peaks already, and counting...
Jorge Benito
Copywriter
Jorge did a million things in this life… until he left everything behind and started a new life in the highlands of Guatemala.
Done another million things since then… and now he loves copywriting for Trademark Factory®.
- I’m from Spain but came to Guatemala 8 years ago with just a backpack and my dog… and now I’m a proud husband and a father of two beautiful Guatemalan girls.
- I lived in the jungle for 6 years.
- I’m an expert at catching scorpions by the tail with my bare hands. I was stung only once, and it’s not even my fault. I was drunk.
- My wife is an Aj’qij’, a Mayan spiritual guide (shaman). I’ve seen some crazy shit.
- I lucid dream regularly since I was a child. I actually discovered it’s called lucid dreaming when I was 20 years old. Before that, all I got from my parents when I asked them about it was: “What are you talking about?”
- I founded my own theater group and traveled across my country for 10 years (I even have a best actor award!).
- I love researching about the mind-body connection and my YouTube videos on this topic have 9million+ views.
- My favorite video game is Final Fantasy 7. It’s the best video game ever. Not my opinion, just stating facts.
- I wrote the book Healing Education.
- Someday I will do a Terranigma remake. Someone has to do it, and that someone has to be me!
Andres Garcia Romero
Data Guy
Andres is our data guy. He focuses on marketing helping Trademark Factory® reach our customers in the most efficient way. Thanks to his background working for an Inc. 500 company, Andres has the ability to gather and organize data in a way that people can understand.
He enjoys the entrepreneurial spirit and the team work of Trademark Factory®.
- I went to Culinary School after high school and worked on one of the most famous hotels for a year.
- I love music, especially rock and blues .
- I worked for am Inc. 500 company for years, but quit because of the bureaucracy and lack of innovation.
- My girlfriend is a sexy Colombia señorita.
- I’m Colombian born and raised, but strangers doubt that.
- I play the electric guitar. I call my guitar Tabata.
- I love to travel. My favorite place in the world is Cartagena de Indias: great weather, beaches, and food.
- I love fútbol and basketball.
- I really like animals. I own a dog and a cat.
- My favorite movie is Shawshank Redemption.
