Rebeca Méndez: Very Anything

The stories behind the nominations for The One Club 2017 Creative Hall of Fame laureates

The One Club Creative Hall of Fame recognizes and honors innovators who represent the highest standards of creative excellence, and whose lifetime achievements have made significant contributions to visual communications. Combined with the ADC Hall of Fame, the organizations have paid tribute to more than 200 individuals over four decades. This coming Monday, September 18, we are proud to add five more worthy names to that list.

Before a creative legend can be inducted into the Hall of Fame, he or she must first be nominated. Ahead of the gala, we spoke to the people who championed their inductions. In our latest story, Brian Collins, CCO and Co-Founder of COLLINS, shares his earliest memories about renowned artist, designer and 2017 Hall of Fame laureate Rebeca Méndez.

VERY. 

The late designer Tony Arefin pulled me aside in my second week at Ogilvy & Mather. 

"Brian, you must meet my friend ​, the designer ​Rebeca Méndez. You'll ​love her for your team. She's very intense. But she's very talented. Very." 

Now there’s a word we use for people who don’t fit neatly into boxes. 

Very. 

Very curious. Very passionate. Very picky. Very quiet. Very brash. Very serious. Very funny. Very demanding. Very smart. Very odd. Very...anything. 

And while these kind of people can be very scary to those who aren’t very anything at all, we recognize how necessary they are. Because people who are very are the same people who can look at the truly scary things — the unknown, chaos, change — and tease out meaning, logic and ideas.

They’re the ones who respond to questions not with answers, but with more questions. They take the kind​ ​of ​actions that expand our understanding of the world. They create big things. Great things. New things. New words. New codes. New tools. New ideas. New worlds. 

Things that add depth to our lives. Open doors. Inspire the rest of us who talk and work with them. 

The only problem is, people who are very tend to be hard to find. Unless, of course, you know where to look. 

And when you do, you'll find ​Rebeca Mendez right in the middle of them.

The One Club 2017 Creative Hall of Fame takes place in New York City on Monday, September 18, and will induct industry luminaries Tom Burrell, Susan Hoffman, David Lubars, Rebeca Méndez and Diane Cook-Tench.

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