Let’s call ghosting what it really is …

I belong to an online group for freelancers in the ad industry. It’s on Facebook. Yesterday morning someone posted about a recent experience she had.

She’d been talking with someone about possibly doing some work together and suddenly the conversation just stopped. No reason, no explanation, no nothing. She wanted to know if “ghosting” is common in the industry — she’s spent a lot of time working in Europe, where apparently business is conducted differently.

This isn’t the first time I’ve seen posts like this. It’s an all-too-common occurrence. And I’ve got to

Why not travel light, even when you’re not traveling?

Have you been seeing all the ads on Facebook and Instagram for luggage?

I actually find them fascinating. Not the ads — the products themselves. All the different kinds of suitcases, knapsacks and packing cubes designed to let you cram as much as you can into a bag small and compact and lightweight enough to take on board with you — thereby avoiding the need to check

Good old days …

Amid all the ugliness last week, I did get some glimpses of sunshine; and I’m not talking about the  weather. Twice, I spent time with people I haven’t seen in years, and I do mean years, reminiscing about all the good times we shared.

The last several years I lived in Montreal I was doing advertising and PR in the fashion industry; and, after a couple of years at a tiny agency that specialized in the fur industry, I ended up working for a manufacturer and

What if …

Have you ever wondered what you’d be doing if you’d chosen a different path? I never have in the past, but I do think about it occasionally now.

For me it was easy. I was about 12 years old when I decided I wanted to work in advertising. Originally I wanted to be an art director and I did go to art school after high school. My mother wasn’t surprised because she used to say I was always doodling, that I didn’t have a notebook or school book that didn’t have sketches in it.

When I graduated from art school my first interview was

Still miss her after 10 years …

Last Sunday was Mother’s Day and, even after all this time, it’s tough — not that I only think of my mom once a year. Truthfully, I miss her everyday. I can’t tell you how many times a week I reach for the phone to call her.

It’s still an automatic reflex whenever I’m unsure about a recipe, or I’ve got news to share, or I’ve seen a movie I know she’d have loved, or some silly antic of hers pops out of my memory bank and into my consciousness.

She was a hoot. Feisty, funny, up for just about anything that didn’t involve elevators or heights.

In the summer of 2000 I became one of three founding

Grrrrr …

Yes, I’ve got a bee in my bonnet. But let me start with what I do love about Facebook.

I love that I’ve been able to reconnect with people I haven’t seen in years and years and years. I love that I’ve made so many new friends, folks I’d never have met any other way, but with whom, it turns out, I share a lot of interests.

I love that I’ve found former co-workers, some from my very first job. I love that I can, so quickly and easily, keep in touch with friends and family who live far away. For that matter, I love hearing about everything that’s going

Accentuate the positive …

A week or so ago I attended a fundraising event for Firefly Foundation,  a charitable organization that funds research and develops programs with a mission to prolong brain health.

It was started by a friend and former colleague, after she lost both of her parents to brain related diseases. Another friend of mine, who lost her mother to

A little shameless self promotion …

Forgive me, I don’t often do this (self promote). But I’ve wanted to do more
editorial writing for years. And as many of you know, it’s easier said than done for all kinds of reasons.

What I’ve discovered is, there’s a separation between church and state — in other words, the editors of most magazines and newspapers don’t care how long you’ve been writing advertising copy, it doesn’t make you a

Jack of all trades …

A couple of weeks ago I had a meeting with a prospective client.  As soon as we all sat down around their boardroom table the senior client in the room asked me to tell them about myself.  As I took them through my various jobs and experiences I realized something:

I always talk about how lucky I am to have worked for the global ad agencies I worked for, on the blue chip accounts I worked on, all the smart and talented people I was exposed to — the ‘bigness’ of everything.

But what I tend to overlook are the small agencies where I also worked.  Where I cut my teeth.  Where I had no real defined job.  Where each and every member of the staff, all four or five or eight or ten of us, had a myriad of jobs we had to do.

We didn’t have the luxury of broadcast producers or multiple layers of account

If I had it to do over again …

Have you ever wondered what you’d do for a living if you hadn’t followed the career path you did?  It’s not something I’ve ever really dwelled on.  Probably because from the time I was a kid in school I wanted to work in advertising.  Which I did, successfully.

Worked for some of the best and biggest agencies in the world, on the bluest of blue chip brands.  Learned from and worked with and for some of the brightest, most talented folks out there; and I’ve won more than my fair share of awards over the years, as if the thrill of doing the work wasn’t enough.

So why wonder what else I might have done.

Except sometimes I do.  Not that I have any regrets, so don’t start going down that road, ya