The nutshell version:
I started my career in advertising during the digital boom and immersed myself in social and digital experiences, spearheading content strategy and helping brands tell stories across emergent media platforms. Then I went in-house for Jaguar and Land Rover, mastering the voice for two iconic British brands. My experience spans conceptual and traditional advertising to direct response, experiential and interactive.

Who am I, really?
I'm obsessed with stories. Movies, TV, books. I made a short film with a four person crew last year. When I'm not writing, I'm riding. In a past life I trained former racehorses after they came off the track. I live for the moment when people connect to something - a brand, an animal, another human.

My Origin Story:
Once upon a time, I graduated from college. It was 2008.

That August, two months after spending four years in Santa Barbara, CA, I moved to New York City. I had a little saved up and the idealistic perspective that after a few months temping, I would land an entry level position in public relations or advertising and live out my yuppie fantasies in the city that I had idolized since I was eleven years old. Not a month after that, the stock market imploded and my beloved Big Apple was at the epicenter. Actually, my dreams were at the epicenter. The two interviews I had lined up were canceled and New York quickly shed its glossy façade to reveal a desolate maze of skyscraper-tall walls. Having just sunk my savings (and some of my parents’ gifts) into a glorified closet that I would share with two other people, I panicked.

For a minute.

Then I walked ten blocks to the one place I could remember vividly from my childhood trips to the city: New York’s only equestrian tack store, Manhattan Saddlery. Amazingly, the owner was hiring a sales associate. He would pay 12.50 an hour, plus commission. I started the next day.

Well, you try selling largely frivolous specialty leather goods in the middle of the great recession.

At first, I was lucky to work a whole day without being sent home. But slowly, people came out of the woodwork. And, as it turned out, being the only equestrian goods supplier on the island made for some very interesting transactions. I watched as a stalwart community of urban horse lovers took shape.

The problem of abysmal sales still existed, however. The Saddlery had survived so long on being niche that the owner had never put any thought into marketing. So, I met with him after hours to write a marketing plan and devise a budget for email marketing, social media, advertising, SEO, and public relations.

Those hours resulted in a trade award, a partnership with the Foxhunting Ball, an actionable marketing strategy, and a plan to reinvent Manhattan Saddlery as a destination for the NYC equestrian community. The icing on the cake was a window display designed to illustrate a foxhunt after I sent out a craigslist casting call to local set designers. The window was done just in time for Christmas that year.

During a time when many storefronts were shuttered, this little store managed to honor the community that supported it. And I realized that I wanted to keep doing that - fostering community and creating value - again and again, for other brands that I was passionate about.