BELLEVUE, NE

I was born in Oslo, Norway. I was a military brat and spent most of my childhood as a pool rat at the base pool.
 
UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA OMAHA

When I started in communications, I wanted to be C.J. Cregg from “The West Wing.” I interned for Congressman Lee Terry as his press secretary intern and quickly learned it wasn’t my niche.

I dropped my political science major and finished with a Bachelor of Arts from the School of Communications. My focus was advertising and public relations, and I also minored in marketing.

I took an international communications course and studied abroad for four weeks. It was the best crash course in confidence, humility and problem solving.
 
MEDIACOM INTERACTION – PROJECT EXECUTIVE

Every year, throughout the holiday season we would re-release kid’s holiday movies with very small budget plans. I suggested we pool it all together and create a “Holiday Hub.” I was given 20 minutes to share my ideas after spending weeks of working, strategizing, coordinating creative with approximately 17 different creative shops and speaking with different vendors. After I presented, the VP executive said, “I don’t hate it.” I was disappointed. I wanted cheers, love, a crack-some-champagne-for-this-brilliant-idea type of reaction. But it was a huge lesson for me. You have to be driven by your passion, and you can’t rely on others for validation.

In typical Hollywood form, we were treated to the star-studded grand opening of STK – an upscale steakhouse. When we were ready to leave, I asked the valet to park my beat-up college car a few blocks away. There were paparazzi and celebrities everywhere, so I was hoping for a stealthy exit. Instead, he brought it to the front and parked it right behind a purple Lamborghini. I decided the best way to handle the situation was rolling my windows down, blasting country music and waving out my shitty sunroof that didn’t close all the way. I later saw the back end of my car in a TMZ photo of Reese Witherspoon leaving the restaurant. Definitely a point of pride.

We were promoting “Twister” on weather-related sites by running a cursor ad that looked like a twister destroying the page. The morning of launch a category five twister tore through Asia, and my ads were destroying the headlines. I had no backup plan and it took twelve hours to pull all the ads. I was mortified. My boss told me, “This is a learning mistake; learn from it, and don’t make it again.” I still think about that incident to this day, and now I always have backups and contingency plans in place. Mistakes happen, but I don’t let them happen twice.

I once ran into Heidi Klum. Physically. Then I said, “You’re Heidi Klum!” and she just smiled this beautiful smile and said, “Yes.” Not embarrassed.

42/ROUNDSCAPES – PRESIDENT AND COO

42/Roundscapes was a digital agency that was all about doing things that hadn’t been done before. No one wanted to replicate what everyone else was doing just so we could make a bunch of money. The entire team thrived on that mentality.

I was 24 when I started as President and COO. It was sink or swim, but sinking was not an option.

When we were tapped to create an interactive textbook for West Point’s course The History of Military Warfare, they were teaching with atlases the size of half a banquet table. But by utilizing digital tech, we simulated a general’s point of view during battle by dropping the user into the scene. Consequently, the experience became a strategic exercise in understanding why the generals made the decisions they did, and how a different decision could have saved more lives. Once the digital textbook was implemented we saw a jump of 45% more A’s. Once, while on a tour of the campus, Colonel Ty Seidule had solemnly stopped us in the West Point cemetery and said, “This is going to be the most important job you’ve ever done, because it will literally save lives if done well.” As a former military brat, I couldn’t agree more.

They call it social entrepreneurship; the idea that you give back with the talents you have. I started volunteering with Habitat for Humanity after buying my first house and learned of a family of immigrants also working hard for their first home. The family had two small kids, both the parents had put themselves through school and they were living in a one-room basement with mold on the walls. I was appalled. People working that hard deserve a safe home. While I didn’t have much money to give, Habitat needed help with marketing and fundraising, and that I could do.

BOZELL – CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER

After working every waking hour, deciding it was time to move on from 42/Roundscapes was heartbreaking. I decided to take some time to get back to the core of what made me passionate about marketing, and I’m happy to say I found that at Bozell. I have never felt more like I was in the right place than here.
 
Words to live by: If change were comfortable everyone would do it.