This Charming Creative
 

I'll never forget my first art professor at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. Sarah was a talented artist with a wild head of hair and equally wild opinions, such as her conviction that corporations were intentionally putting toxic chemicals in art supplies to stifle creativity. Her class, Visual Fundamentals, was one I took as an elective during my freshman year. All my electives were in the art school; it had never occurred to me that you could actually major in the subject. While reviewing my final portfolio of work, she simply asked, “Why are you in the business school?” That simple question marked the end of my time as a marketing major.

I landed my first job in the design department of the agency Northlich Stolley LaWarre in Cincinnati. The incredible collection of designers and art directors there were the ones who ignited the advertising flame within me. Over the years, I've had the good fortune of working for some very talented creative directors: Spencer Deadrick at Hill Holliday in Boston, Matt Eastwood at DDB in New York, Tony Bennet at TBWA/Chiat/Day in New York. I've also been fortunate to have worked for some not-so-great bosses as well.

It's these lessons—the good and the bad—that I've brought with me into my role as an ECD. All the ways one can guide a department of creatives to do their best work, the tools, technologies, and initiatives that set them up for success, the things we need to foster our best ideas, and the things we don’t. Working out problems with them side by side, as peers, as fellow creatives—just as those who taught me did.