One of my big personal initiatives for 2008 is to become more entrenched in the design and marketing community. There’s nothing like getting your face out there and rubbing elbows with whom may one day be your peers. As I’m getting closer to completing my BFA in graphic design at the Academy of Art I’ve decided to seek out working creatives and pick at their brain to get a better understanding of the industry at large.
A few months back I picked up the advertising annual of Communication Arts magazine. Various ad and design houses large and small from around the world submit their work to be judged by an extremely talented set of panelists; the ads range from radio, tv, print, and web. One of the panelist members is Apple‘s creative director Mimi Cook. She’s an amazing woman who has had an equally amazing career. Mimi Started out as a copywriter at Chiat/Day. She then worked her way up the corporate latter to become associate creative director at Goodby, Silverstein & Partners which, up until that point, was primarily a boys club. Mimi has also worked for firms such as FCB and Hal Riney & Partners.
She’s worked on campaigns for beer, wine, airplanes, cars, fashion and an electric toothbrush that performs 31,0000 brushstrokes per minutes. In addition to being recognized by Cannes, The One Show, the Clios, and D&AD, her Levi’s Jeans for Women work has been selected as one of the “50 Best TV Commercials in 50 Years of Advertising” and Ad Age has honored her with being “A Woman to Watch.”
I emailed her after reading about her in Communication Arts and set up a lunch interview here in California. I am by no means a morning person and our meeting was at 10am at Peaberrys in Rockridge. She is remarkably insightful and just plain nice. We only talked for an hour but she was able “size me up” and give me a larger view as to where I found fit in such a vast industry. She is a wealth of knowledge and advice and was really responsive to all my questions. Mimi and I will continue to chat in the future and she has been kind enough to suggest pairing me up with more creatives here in bay area. I took a lot away from our chat and it really inspired me to continue pushing forward in my own career.
Previous Post: chiara bautista – hunting for ilka
Next Post: Good Things Are Coming
ShareThis
1 response so far ↓
I never realized the importance of networking till near the end of my school career so it’s awesome you are branching out now! Any interaction helps people to remember who you are and you never know who you will run into these days. I guess it also goes along the line of “Be nice to everyone.”