How did your upbringing, family, or culture shape you as a creative?

One of the most formative experiences I had growing up was in my mother’s boutique clothing store in Ottawa, Ontario. As a kid, I fell in love with fashion and had a unique experience of being so close to it all the time. I would go to her fashion shows, spend the day at her shop, and even venture off on buying trips with her occasionally. I had no idea how much marketing I was exposed to at such a young age until I got into the industry.

But it wasn’t just any family business. Her store focused on an overlooked consumer in fashion – 40+ year old women. She understood firsthand how, when women hit menopause, our bodies change significantly. That often means we can’t fit into most clothing stores, because they all cater to the youngest customer base possible. Because of this, all we can find are frumpy, aging clothing stores that sacrifice style for fit.

Her whole business was to fill this gap in the industry and bring comfortable, quality style to this overlooked segment of women – the epitome of “zigging” when everyone else is “zagging.” And it worked! I try my best to apply that lens to everything in advertising now. Looking for the overlooked and finding clever ways to bring attention to it, serve it, leverage it and make it into something unignorable.

What’s the most creatively inspiring part of living in Toronto?

Toronto is a melting pot of cultures and interests. You can find something for everyone. Because of this, creative inspiration is around every corner – you can go to new cultural festivals, different concerts, and find hidden restaurants, all in one day. And if you approach it with the right mindset, you’ll learn something inspiring at each stop.

What leadership or creative skills do you think are the most critical in the AI era?

I think the AI tools we use in advertising give us a really interesting chance to hone our creative direction and leadership skills in small ways. Instead of being expected to just build the image, art directors are learning how to coach a machine through the process. Similarly, copywriters are also learning how to guide AI platforms to feed them the right information to write creatively. We are learning how to communicate our feedback to a portal and guide the vision we have in our brains. That’s a phenomenal opportunity to strengthen communication skills in a field where communication is everything.

“Instead of being expected to just build the image, art directors are learning how to coach a machine through the process.”

What “best practice” would you happily throw out the window? And what should replace it?

Only using formal media buys is a rule I’d happily throw out the window. Advertising has evolved so much that it doesn’t need to live exclusively in a billboard or fit a 30 second broadcast timeslot. The best work I have seen always breaks down the barriers between corporations and consumers in a respectful way. Of course, don’t break laws, but also don’t feel the need to live exclusively in spaces made for advertising content.

“The best work I have seen always breaks down the barriers between corporations and consumers in a respectful way​.”

What’s your best hack for overcoming a creative block?

Go for a walk. Talk to people. The idea will hit you in the most random way.

What does leadership mean to you?

When I think of leadership, the biggest words that come to mind are courage, candor, and kindness. You need to have a nice balance of all of them. Courage to do things differently and set new precedents, which keeps our industry moving in the right direction. Candor to reflect honestly about what’s working and what isn’t with your team, clients, and yourself. Kindness to do everything in a way that makes people love Mondays as much as they love Fridays.

“Kindness to do everything in a way that makes people love Mondays as much as they love Fridays.”