It’s not also not short for “a dude.” But both seem to be everyone’s top two guesses before meeting me. (Spoiler alert: my full, typically-only-used-for-tax-purposes name is Melissa.)
That’s also not a very accurate picture of me up there (I have more hair and all ten fingers).
But according to my daughter, it looks just like me, and I’m only her mom and the subject, so
who am I to tell her otherwise?
I grew up an Army brat and moved six times before the 3rd grade. I’ve since moved only once as an adult and I’m sure some therapist somewhere has a thought about that.
I spent most of my childhood in Germany (9 years) and most of my adulthood in Chicago (22…so far). And yes, Ich kann nür ein bißchen Deutsch sprechen.
“Most of my adulthood” also translates into “all of my careerhood”—Chicago’s been my ad town since Leo Burnett took a chance on me straight out of portfolio school.
And I’ve loved it.
From small, scrappy start-ups to giant, storied agencies, it’s given me the skills and chops needed to work on and lead nimble, bootstrapped teams as well as big, complicated accounts. Think Hallmark, US Army, Kellogg’s, Starbucks, Disney, P+G, Kimberly-Clark and State Farm.
That last one there—State Farm—is where I’ve found myself since 2015. Executive Creative Directing a team fueled by the smarts of 25 creatives along with eight multi-disciplinary partner agencies. It’s big (the agency’s biggest). It’s humbling (an account that size invariably is). And, thankfully, it’s a lot of fun (I like to win, and we have. A bunch.).
It’s also remarkably similar to another account I run, where, along with my husband, I serve as
Executive Parental Director, overseeing our equally humbling and fun team of two small children. Both of who call me by my most preferred name of all: Mom.
I told you had more hair.