I learned marketing by selling eternal life…..

I was born at Saint Agnes Home for Unwed Mothers.  My mom gave birth to me and left me at the orphanage while she went to California.  There she met (a wild love story) the man who became my dad.

I should be crazy but I’m not.  I am ambitious, relentless and opinionated but definitely not crazy.

My childhood was nice, normal and quite idyllic. Raised in the San Fernando Valley of southern California, I enjoyed a loving two-parent home, a dad in aerospace and a mom who worked full-time in a number of jobs (extraordinary for the time.)

The Early Days….

The oldest of three, I learned to lead (or dominate if my siblings are asked.)  I was certainly “parentified” and assumed my role as the one “who knows” so my parents, both youngest kids, could work full-time and I “held down the fort.”

Sometime around middle school, through the efforts of neighbors, I joined a church that promised salvation and friends.  The salvation part was weird.  The friends really mattered.  It was here, at the church, where I really learned to market and sell. Proselytizing god every Wednesday evening was amazing.  And, after selling god and eternal life, selling stuff on earth was a breeze.

College and Higher….

My formal education began with a degree in Communications.  Then I completed a Master’s degree in Organizational Psych. There I wrote my thesis on change.  That thesis and its findings still form the basis of my career today.

Work…

Very early, I chose to be seriously entrepreneurial — preferring to live/die and succeed/fail by my own design.

I have created, launched, worked and retired several companies, including JH Artist Representative, A Change of Direction and Film You Wanna Eat, Inc. Each business I have built has expanded my skill set and prepared me for the creation of and work in Marketing Creatives.

Teaching….

Nearly 10 years ago, I was hired to teach college, as Brooks’ Institute went searching for the perfect person to teach marketing to their creative population.  I taught all the students — photographers, filmmakers, graphic designers and photojournalists.

As faculty I worked with the emerging creative students, helping them achieve more than they imagined by providing them with practical marketing skills, honed by my real life business experience.  Named “Teacher of the Year,” I continued with Brooks’ for over 8 years.  I was respected as an exemplary teacher in every venue:  classroom, seminar, one-on-one.  Although I have stopped teaching full-time, I am called by my colleagues to “guest lecture” many times a year.

Strut Your Stuff Begins….

I began the business of Marketing Creatives because I realized that “creative types” needed help handling the business side of their careers.  It seemed they struggled a great deal attempting to get and keep business strong.  I loved the creative arenas — film, photography, design, music and many more — but was saddened by the numbers of people who were talented and grossly unsuccessful.  It was such a waste.

Marketing Creatives is a consulting and coaching business that serves emerging, developing and established businesses.  Today’s work environment has forced everyone to become “creative” in getting and keeping work.  The successful development and use of the Custom One Year Plan by hundreds of creative and professional businesses has shown that a time-tested, custom organized PLAN makes all the difference in doing great business.

Taking my message on the road, I created several seminars, including Marketing Is A Contact Sport, a presentation stressing relationship building for business success.  I host, teach and lead seminars featuring industry professionals and dealing with the marketing of entrepreneurs — creatives and professionals — in many related fields.  Often referred to as “extreme marketing makeovers,” these seminars work with the best people to achieve the highest results.

Marketing Creatives is expanding, thanks, in part, to the upheaval brought on by this recession, to include many businesses of all kinds.

Gone forever are the days when a person could “just do their work.”  Today, each individual has the personal responsibility to understand how to position (or brand) him or herself. Staying in the game is much more demanding.  And all business, whether “creative” or “professional” is required to compete in an entirely new way.

Today’s Truth…..

Life is fast and furious.  My husband shoots TV commercials, our daughter rides NCAA Equestrian in college, the dog does tricks and the cat begs for treats.

We like to say we work twice as hard for half as much!  I love this work.  John Wayne sums up my philosophy saying, “Courage is being scared to death – but saddling up anyway.”