My name is Mark DePace. This is my website.
I am an entrepreneur, creator, consultant, educator, and coach based in Hudson, NY.
These are my companies and little more about me.
A constantly evolving creative company.
My main jam since 2005.
A storefront studio in Hudson, NY.
Exploring the space where community, creativity, and commerce intersect.
An actual ferry company. With boats and stuff.
The result of a lifelong obsession with the Hudson River.
Full Bio
Mark DePace grew up in the Hudson Valley and developed an early fascination with film, music, and the many ways media shapes culture and communication. That curiosity led him to New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, where he began making work professionally while still a student.
What started as making music videos for artists he admired soon became the foundation for a company. Alongside collaborator Zachary Mortensen, Mark co-founded Ghost Robot, helping lead the studio’s early growth in the emerging world of short-form digital content.
Ghost Robot gained recognition producing music videos for artists such as Björk, Grizzly Bear, Killer Mike, and Yoko Ono before expanding into commercial work during the shift toward digital media that followed the 2008 recession. Under Mark’s leadership, the company evolved into a creative studio offering integrated strategy and production, developing work for companies including Google, Netflix, Mailchimp, and Shopify.
In addition to running Ghost Robot, Mark had the opportunity to serve as a visiting professor at Pratt Institute, adjunct faculty at New York University, and a fellow at the Pratt Center for Economic Development. Teaching and mentoring have allowed him to share what he’s learned while continuing to study how creative and commercial systems actually function.
In 2018, Mark and his family relocated to Hudson, New York. He was elected to the Hudson City School District Board of Education and began coaching youth soccer. His interest in the intersection of community, creativity, and local commerce led him to found Friendly City Creative Club, a storefront studio exploring how creative work can connect businesses, culture, and place.
Working closely with entrepreneurs and organizations in the region has expanded his focus beyond creative production to the broader systems that allow companies to grow. Today, Mark works with organizations to help align marketing, sales, creative work, and operational structure so that good ideas can turn into sustainable outcomes.
He is endlessly curious about how things run, why certain systems succeed, and where momentum gets lost between vision and execution.
He also likes to fish.
