When interviewing for my first agency job, someone said to me “You know it’s direct, not general?” I didn’t even know what they were talking about. And that’s how my love of OEs, response rates and data all began. 

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The internet came along and changed advertising forever. But for me, this new channel and data were made for each other – and for me. The leap into digital while keeping my direct roots was a no-brainer. Years later, I made it to KBSP and began to create integrated campaigns across all media: TV, digital, social. I’ve gotten pretty damn good at helping clients acquire customers and keep them, while building their brand at the same time. And I’ve taken on a leadership role inspiring my teams to do the same.

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In 2012, Grey came to me to help turn their traditional creative department into something... not so traditional. I began to partner with ECDs and strategy to craft creative platforms which take all channels into account and tell a story across all touch points – above the line, below the line and everywhere in between. I then built a team to specialize in all those non-traditional channels – OLA, email, CRM, social, UX/UI. Speaking of UX, I helped create that discipline at Grey. I led Grey’s first digital-only win in 2013 with Alli (GSK) and then Grey’s first CRM win with Volvo in 2015. We helped win new business, build brands and enrich consumer relationships with smart, integrated campaigns using the right media, at the right time, to the right consumer. My team became essential to most of the brands at Grey and were named the “Gold Standard” when it came to social. 

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After more than 20 years of agency life, I wanted to try something new. So in 2019 I did something crazy – I went client side. Capital One had been a client for 8 years and they tapped me to run Consumer Bank. I knew it wouldn’t be easy but once I got there, I realized what an immense challenge it actually was...

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I found the creative was extremely fractured, the team was totally unmotivated, relationships with partners were broken and relationships with the Design team and Mass Ad didn’t even exist. I started with a creative audit. I taught the team how to do creative and be excited about it! I brought on new talent. I built relationships all over the place. I managed budgets and external agencies. I learned more about Sales Force Marketing Cloud than I ever thought I wanted to. Within the first year, the creative transformation and integration was noticed by top leadership and how I did it was documented. The model was then rolled out to the other LOBs. I was invited to join the Marketing teams LT. We surpassed our desposit goals. Not too bad for an agency person. 

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And after all this time, and all these clients, and agency to in-house, one thing hasn’t changed. I still heart direct.