How I Got Started in Advertising | A Creative Director & Copywriter's Career Path

Thank you this was super helpful 🫶🏾

I love that you shared your non-traditional track to CD. My story is non-traditional as well. I have no degree (but I do have 3 years of college completed), worked 10 years in healthcare administration, wiggled into network development where I got to showcase my marketing & creative skills, moved into an office manager role for a chain of childcare centers, pivoted into business development in tech and they saw my knack for marketing. Became a Marketing Coordinator where others saw my value and I was poached to become a Director of Marketing at an agency. Been here for nearly a year. It is like a creative director, customer success, social media, strategy, finance…all rolled into one. And our customer retention has been excellent since I came on board- I was even able to get one of their own clients back via a targeted campaign. I’ve realized I can make my own path, influencing the right people, and doing great work that speaks for itself. When people find out I never finished school, they are shocked. But I am going back in the spring (paying off what I owe) to finish my final year. I owe it to myself.

I was looking for information about jobs in advertising, and found your channel. Great stuff
It would be awesome if you made a video going through the hierarchy in an advertising agency

im an arts management major but i took an internship for ad agency xD i wanted to create an ad someday for TV or a billboard, im currently in my 3rd week and im struggling at the fast pace haha but i can still finish outputs

Very informative, thank you! I have some questions if you don’t mind answering them. Do you have a LinkedIn or some place where we can have a virtual coffee chat?

Thanks for that inspirational story

Pharmacists make money and are in very high demand.

I resonate with this immensely , it’s so crazy

Thank u so much for sharing 🫶🏽

You should def go to portfolio school... how else are you going to get your first job as an official copywriter or art director? Her path was extremely filled with good fortune but all agencies that are hiring require a portfolio.

hello there, litterally came across your video just now this so informative thank you for sharing your journey with us, do you somehow know any advertisng agency that hire interns at the moment ? or any advertising vacancies

Thank you so much I got great notes from this video to help me 😊

thanks

Hi Ashley just landed to this video while searching for someone to guide in my career path to become an CD. Your journey is so inspirational hoping to get more insightful content on advertising from you. Already subscribed. 🙌

So glad I came across your channel! I'm doing in-house creative for a company right now, but I am starting my search for a job in an agency. I don't have a ton of friends in the field, so I really appreciate you sharing your journey!

HI! The beginning of your story really resonates with me- I still have a thousand different aspirations and went to school for accounting. I realized in school that I absolutely hated it except I stuck with it. I am now a certified public accountant and want to switch careers- looking into advertising, which brought me here. How do you recommend I get started? Can I start out as a copywriter or is that something I work my way to? I truly have no clue where to start.

I'm currently a Digital Content Manager. I'm coming from a Marketing background though hoping to be an in-house Creative Director for a company some day.

Can you please share your portfolio link with us

Hey Ashley! I have been a fan of your platform and advertising resources for years now, and I love seeing how your journey has evolved. I'm at the start of my own with graduation around the corner--as a Florida State student in the School of Communication. I first tried for the college’s interior design program, where I realized hand-drawn floorplans and cardboard cutouts were not for me. I landed on advertising because of my love for writing and strategic thinking. As I got further into the curriculum, I found my place in copywriting and landed my first internship at an agency called Chemistry in ATL last summer. I'm excited about where my career will take me next. Hopefully, it’s away from FL.

Thank you for making these videos and giving clarity to entry-level advertising professionals like myself. Your transparency regarding the industry makes a world of a difference. I'm very type-A myself and had to stumble upon this career in my own time. Hearing other people’s stories that are similar helps me feel reassured that I'm heading down the right path.

Moral of the story: Please keep making content! It is simply inspiring. 🫶

Hi, Ashley. I am looking into advertising as a career and I’m more into branding and being creative. Work with photographers and coming up with ads and seeing it through. I run a small business and coming up with concepts for photoshoots and colors and places to shoot is what I like to do the most. I am a junior in college coming this January and I would like to enter at an entry level job or something. Can you help. I wanna know what I should apply for.

Hello Ashley! Just saw you several days ago on Tiktok and now you have become my biggest source of motivation. I'm actually still a university student, majoring in International Communication. I live in Vietnam and tbh agency is a dream workplace for many people here. My vision is to become copywriter for creative agency (I have creativity and I also have the capability of writing so I believe this job is for me). Do you have any advice for students like me, what should I learn, what should I do to have myself equipped with every fundamental thing?
Further context about me: I'm still a first year uni student so I haven't really learn anything about Marketing/ Advertising or PR yet, most of my free time I still read about successful campaign, learn stuff about Marketing myself

Hi Ash, my path is comparatively boring because it is long, straight and entirely predictable. Got my bachelor's degree in advertising and my diploma in copywriting while kicking off my career in advertising. Went from one agency to another for the next 20 years while getting my master's degree in integrated marketing communication before finally finding myself ready for the CD role. Really enjoyed producing a thesis on the role of olfaction and autobiographical memory in branding. I was considering continuing the research at the postgraduate level before being lured out of the world of ad agencies to set up and run an in-house creative department on the client side. It's mostly management work now, a lot of planning and sitting in strategic meetings, although I still bear the burden of brand authorship and custodianship for the company while guiding my creative teams. Sometimes I miss the simple days when I only had to crack briefs, ideate and immerse myself in copy work.

When providing career advice to my staff, I always tell them that at the copywriter/art director level their goal is to master their craft. At the senior creative level, their goal is to leverage their mastery to guide and lead a team while developing an understanding strategy. At the group head level, their goal is to lead multiple teams and apply strategic thinking to guide them while developing organizational management skills. At the CD level, their goal is to leverage their organizational skills to solve problems and lead the entire department while providing creative vision and strategic input to the business. At every level, their secondary goal is to teach those under them the skills needed to rise to their level.

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Hi Ashley, I am studying advertising in India and your videos have definitely helped me see a clearer picture of the industry. Please keep uploading more. Thank you.

Hey Ash, inspirational as ever! I will get to your present career one day even do I haven't done so.
For me, I began as a teenager working in McDonald's as a Cashier while getting a BSc in Physics -> Changing my major into Maths & Economics while working in Starbucks --> Working in a Recruitment Company after getting a degree as it was a "stable sales job" but didn't fulfil my creative needs--> Leaving to become a Cocktail Bartender for Three Years (got the experience of long hours here) --> Finally deciding to become a CW after many years of ignoring the creative capitalist muse within me, but unfortunately, the Covid Pandemic set in so I was forced to work for Amazon (oh gawd) then became a Phone Salesman just as I finished Ad school and got a spec portfolio. Not going to lie, Imposter Syndrome is high when nobody around knows anything about advertising as a career and it definitely slowed me down. But I will do this (watching Tom Cruise movies helps with the confidence). Thanks, Ash for the guidance so far!

Hi Ashley!! Thank you so much for sharing your advertising journey, it's comforting and encouraging to hear the variety of ways that people find where they are meant to be. As someone who has been working hard to jumpstart their advertising career, your content has always been a source of inspiration. Thank you!