When I was 11, I would spend entire bus rides critiquing transit ads in my head, contemplating how I would make them better. I'm not telling you this to impress you with how early I discovered my calling. (Truthfully, I just wasn't a popular kid and no one would talk to me on the bus.) Instead, in a fit of upper-middle-class rebellion, I actually ended up going to theatre school. I realized that probably wasn't going to work out for me when one of my professors said to a classmate "David, I see you projecting the IDEA of purple-- but what is it to BE purple?"
Purple didn't strike me as a viable career path.
I was working at an ad agency as a receptionist when I accidentally wrote a play and realized I was a writer. So I Peggy Olsen'd it: from receptionist, to copywriter, to Creative Group Head. Since then, I've worked on a range of clients—across finance, auto, retail, and packaged goods industries—won a few of those awards people are always talking about (CMAs, AToMiC, Marketing, a One Show merit and a pair of Young Lions shortlists), dabbled in strategy, and helped my agency, BIMM, land the Silver Digital Agency of the Year in 2017.
And I can still "BE purple" if the situation demands it. Which happens more often than you might think.
I like getting email the way most people like getting real mail. So send me a nice note. Or a mean one. That could be make for a good story.
sarahann.cody@gmail.com