lali…back in the day…

here’s a little throwback soundtrack to set the mood for this post:

la and i were killing time at a shoot recently and were inspired to peruse our old myspace accounts (luckily, we still remembered our passwords!)

i came across an image of me answering phones at arnold worldwide, my very first job out of college and a fortuitous first step toward a career in advertising.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lscribbly/6767090661/in/photostream
wide-eyed, i watched talented creatives in action and even got thrown a creative bone here and there. and it was during those 10 months i learned that my liberal arts degree sans advertising portfolio wouldn’t get me very far in my quest to become an art director, so i decided to move to LA and change my fate.

when la caught a glimpse of me answering phones, she hilariously pointed out a similar image of her answering phones as a creative assistant at RPA where she, too, got her start and first creative opportunities.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lscribbly/6767090799/in/photostream
if i remember the story correctly, la was promoted to jr. copywriter after 1.5 years and was called “the posterchild of integration” by an executive there.

it just goes to show that humble beginnings really CAN lead to your dreams. the great margaret keene used to tell us stories of her days as lee clow’s assistant, doing grunt work by day and creative assignments by night, sleeping on bean bag chairs at the office because she didn’t have a bed at home (or something like that), and saying yes to date invitations just so she wouldn’t have to spend her tiny little salary on dinner. and now she helps to run saatchiLA. you go, girl.

in an effort to not jinx things (if you’ve been reading the blog over the past two years, you know our luck here at chiat can change on a dime) la and i have not gone into detail about the awesome things that have been happening for us lately. as you read this, please knock on wood, but it looks like we will be launching a big, fun campaign this may. we’ve been spending our days vetting talented directors, tweaking this brand’s all-new packaging, writing lines for gigantic billboards, concepting media arts stunts, and helping to develop an app/microsite which currently has 127 pages of wireframes and counting.

sometimes we still answer phones, but not for other people anymore :)

xo and stoked!
li

PS if you’re interested in knowing more about how to go from NOT being an advertising creative to being an advertising creative, check out this post which boils it down to 9 easy steps!