Lisa Frank was very hands-on in the early days of running her rainbow empire.

In the new documentaries from Prime Video Glitter and Greed: The Lisa Frank StoryLisa Frank Inc. employees reflect on their time with the company, including their work at their headquarters in Tuscon, Arizona.

Patty Sjolin, a concept artist, product developer and librarian for the brand from 1991 to 2000, remembers Frank himself running around checking people’s work.

“She was like a teacher. She would put a little red smiley face on your work if she liked it,” she remembers. “If you didn’t get a red smiley face, you had to work harder.”

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Sjolin recognized early on that Frank was “a complicated person,” but felt “I always understood her.”

“She was demanding. She wanted things a certain way. And when she was unhappy with you, it was like the clouds were coming in and giving her the cold shoulder. But when you made her happy, you felt like you were in the sun,” she says.

“All is right with the world. It was really like having a parent you wanted to please.”

Sjolin recognizes a similar dynamic when Frank’s former business partner and ex-husband James Green came on board.

Green rose in the career after being hired as the first full-time artist in 1982 and became Frank’s right-hand man in management as their relationship also became romantic.

Tony De Luz, illustrator from 1996 to 2000, says: “I would say that James was largely responsible for a lot of their success.”

Quentin Eckman, a graphic designer who worked for the company in two different time periods, agrees.

“He is a good artist. James was very involved in the art direction. To go to print it had to get past James. He was a real stickler…he was demanding. But he was good at what he did. He had that.” has a lot to do with building the brand.

Sjolin points out that although Green and Frank came together as a leadership team, they had different visions for the company.

“I think the way James looked at Lisa Frank was to make it more realistic and technical, where Lisa wanted the fantasy world to be,” she says.

“In those early years you could feel the tension between what James thought was good and what Lisa thought. There was no shouting, no shouting at each other or anything like that, but rather the question: ‘Who had more power?’ but it worked.

Learn the story behind Lisa Frank’s bright and edgy designs – and what went on behind the scenes – by watching the four-part docuseries Glitter and Greed: The Lisa Frank Storynow streaming on Prime Video.