A New Chapter

The room was grey, and I sat on a black chair waiting to go into the recording studio. At least this is how I remember it. I was two, and my legs were barely long enough to dangle off the edge of my seat. My dad the Creative Director coached me in reciting my favorite nursery rhyme into a microphone the size of my face. And that's how I got my start in advertising. 

The journey continued with a video for the St. Louis Visitor's Bureau when I was six. My job was to sit and eat ice cream. Take after take, I took a bite with my hands like this, my legs like that, turning the cup, sitting like so. Perhaps I should've realized my dream then, but I continued in advertising with tons of take-your-daughter-to-work-days (which, for me, happened more than once a year). I played pinball in the lounge and did arts and crafts in style, drawing with Prismacolor markers and collaging with old issues of Communication Arts. 

I felt so comfortable in an ad agency, so it made sense. Years later, I graduated college and got my first job in the industry at Arnold. A girl who loves going to farmers markets and cooking for friends, I found myself working on McDonald's (remember this?). When I joined the team, I was the only person there who had never tried a Big Mac.

Two agencies later and twenty-six years after my advertising debut, I've gained mentors and friends. I've learned a lot, grown a lot (ate a lot, and drank a lot), and now it's time to try something new. So, I'm trading creative briefs for recipes and handing in my jeans for an apron (well, not exactly...I have to wear something underneath). It's the end of a chapter -- or at least a bookmarked one.

Today's my first day in the kitchen.