EMPLOYER: TAXI Toronto
POSITION: Copywriter: I conceptualize, write and create ads.

1. What does a typical Thursday look like for you, starting from when you wake up – to heading to bed?

9:00 AM – Leave the house. I don’t have time to hit the gym anymore, so I try to walk.

9:30 AM – Arrive at the office. Read my emails, read the paper, read my horoscope.

9: 45 AM – Put my feet up on my desk and try to write some radio scripts.

10:00 AM – Stare at a blank page for an hour or so.

11:00 AM – Write down all the words that rhyme with ‘hack’.

11:03 AM – Brainstorm on another project with my Art Director (my partner – writers and art directors work in teams) we put some initial ideas and scripts on paper.

12:30 AM – Break for lunch.

1:00 PM – Meet with a commercial director regarding our latest TV project and discuss the logistical implications of starting a shoot at 6am. In Scarborough.

2: 00 PM – Resolve to start our next TV script with: “Open on sunny, tropical beach…”

2:01 PM – Back in the office. Back to brainstorming.

4: 00 PM – Present our new ad concepts to Creative Director (my boss) and pray he doesn’t kill them all.

4: 30 PM – He does.

5: 00 PM – My AD and I run out for a quick Starbucks/bitch session.

5: 30 PM – Back to the drawing board. Back to brainstorming new ideas.

7:00 PM – We order in dinner (after a lengthy debate whether FRESH is healthier than Sushi).

10:00 PM – We finally decide to call it a night. If I still have some energy left, I’ll hit up Fionn McCool’s on King West or an industry party. If not, go home and watch So You Think You Can Dance (god bless timeshifting)

2. What was your first job out of school?

Copywriter intern at TWBA/Toronto by day. 606 Bartender by night.

3. What are the 3 skills you require most to do your job well?

A thick skin.

A sense of humour.

An understanding boyfriend (not sure if this counts as a ‘skill’ but keeping a boyfriend while working in advertising most definitely is).

4. What do you love most about your career?

My job is never boring. I never do anything twice. Each project is a completely new problem needing a never-been-done solution. It can be very hectic and thankless, but coming up with cool ideas, executing and then seeing them on TV or billboards around the city is very exciting. There’s something rewarding about seeing a project through from beginning to end.

5. If a woman wanted to get into this business, what are your recommendations of how they should start?

Make contacts. Meet with as many advertising creative people as you can. It’s an incredibly incestuous industry and you never know who is going to end up where and in a position to hire you.

Oh yeah, and don’t forget to follow up. Just getting your foot in the door is often the hardest part. I landed my first internship courtesy of a contact I made while still bartending. I finally graduated, put my portfolio together and gave him a call. He remembered me and liked my work, so I got the gig.

6. Do you have any warnings?

Advertising, particularly the creative side, is tough. You need to be a fighter. There are lots of long hours and lots of criticism of your work. But you can’t take things personally. At the end of the day, you’re creating advertising, not saving lives. No matter how many ideas get killed, you have to suck it up, pick yourself up and keep swinging. There are days when I wonder if I’m really cut out for this job. But I try to have as few of those days a year as possible, and when I do, I know it’s just a bad day and the self-doubt will pass. Then I go shopping.

7. If you could try a different career on for a year, what would it be?

There are so many things I would love to do. I’d be an interior designer. Or an author. Or a teacher. Maybe a published interior design professor?