But if you really want to know…

A motivated journalism major at University of Florida, I took an elective in advertising, saw a reel from glass box on Madison Ave full of bros with their feet up on desks, tossing a nerf ball back and forth with dogs by their sides and thought, “wow, that’s it.” I threw myself into it: changed majors second semester of junior year, did a summer program at Creative Circus in Atlanta, logged time on Quark in the studio and otherwise busted ass to complete the Bachelor of Science in Advertising on time, magna cum laude while also holding director positions in my sorority (it was my Elle Woods era).

I showed my senior portfolio to a contact at Crispin Porter + Bogusky (hot shit, this was 2003!) who very kindly told me it wasn’t good enough. So: Miami Ad School where I found home. Miami is, coincidentally, home… but I mean, spiritually — met some of my best friends here. I considered both art and copy and interned at Saatchi & Saatchi London and CP+B while there, and finished with a diploma in copywriting.

A dynamic guest teacher (think: Professor Moody from Harry Potter) hired me right after graduation, luring me to Dallas with box seats at Cowboy Stadium (again, who was I?) a title that didn’t begin with “junior” and a great salary. The agency, Targetbase, wasn’t sexy and was not a glass box full of bros — in fact I was immediately paired with a female creative director to concept and present to Honda-Acura in LA on week 3 — but it taught me about direct channels and using consumer data and multiple touches n a clever, engaging way.

Within a year, I left for New York, hired again by Professor Moody, who did in fact turn out to be possessed by a Death Eater, at a smart-as-hell digital shop called RMG where my first partner was a former-RGA creative director who taught me to concept and write for interactive experiences and digital marketing for clients like Diamond Trading Corp, HSBC, The United States Marine Corps. We shared a floor with JWT and not long after were merged in. In these days, digital and traditional advertising hadn’t yet figured out that they were parts of one whole, so my boss and I helped JWT leadership create their digital practice. Then I wrote a LOT of billboards and did so many new business pitches I forgot what weekends were. My partner and I had the winning concept for Bloomberg and I worked on that for a couple years.

The ideas I loved most were the ones that never got bought: nontraditional, experiential… some called them “stunts” but it wasn’t what clients came to JWT for. So I left for an experiential agency, a tiny offshoot of DDB, Fathom. I joined as an ACD and over five years grew the creative team from 3 (including me) to around 30. My office was a glass box: one pane overlooking the long, family-style reclaimed wood table we had custom built for the space and the adjoining pane on — you guessed it — Madison Ave. We made experiential work with a focus on social media — before there were influencers available for purchase on every corner. Clients included PepsiCo (Propel), Farrow & Ball (IYKYK), and Amaro Montenegro (the bar tab on this account…)

In 2013, my dad was dying of cancer. I worked through it, 1300miles from home, going home when I could. But I remember being asked to write headlines whlie at his bedside because the copywriter on the account wasn’t hitting it in my absence. Worse, it was for a Dick’s Sporting Goods campaign about backyard family fun. Seriously, guys?? When I got back to the glass box, leaving dad at home in a coma, I got the call that he had passed. I was shattered. I saw out one last pitch for PepsiCo and left.

At the same time, I was working on creating a restaurant, The Runner. I’ve loved interior design since elementary school, when I would go to cocktail parties with my parents and sit in the corner sketching and reimagining their friends’ rooms. I earned a Certificate from Parsons / The New School during my time at Fathom and was putting my love of branding and interiors together. My husband Andrew was the executive chef.

Freelance felt right next, and in addition to taking some typical ad agency gigs, I wrote copy and provided creative direction for hospitality through agencies like The Rockwell Group and in-house with growing local brand Jalapajar.

One of these gigs was not like the other: I was hired to write on-stage content defining Yahoo’s value proposition for a 2000-person live event. I wrote scripts for celebrity talent and Yahoo’s Chief Revenue Officer, Chief Marketing Officer, Chief Media Officer — all badass women — crisply articulating the iconic brand’s relevance in 2015. I got to sit with and interview each of the company’s leaders, hear their perspective and strategy, and craft a narrative that would inspire millions in revenue. This 1-month gig, and another following, led to a fulltime offer and seven more years at Yahoo. Most recently, I was a group creative director co-leading creative development and campaigns for the Yahoo brand, Yahoo Mail, Yahoo News and more. We worked across channel and across the marketing funnel: defining the overall Yahoo brand and how each of its product campaigns laddered up to it. We served across business units, too, creating for the company’s three primary audiences: consumer, advertisers and employees.

Throughout my career, I’ve loved work for brands that champion women and give them voice: from the diamond right hand ring campaign (2006) to an award-winning music video for Tank & the Bangas (2020).

My teams’ work has been acknowledged by Clio, ADDYs, Shortys, Creativity Magazine, EventMarketer, Apartment Therapy, the New Yorker, the Infatuation, etc.

Next I’ll take my passion for equity, inclusion, conservation, sustainability and wellness to a purpose-driven brand that serves those in need.