LINCOLN, NE

Despite its fly-over status, the Midwest college town has the perfect balance of interesting community culture, affordability, non-chain restaurants and coziness. If it had mountains it would give Boulder a run for its money.

UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA – LINCOLN

This might be old school, but I went to school to be a copywriter and have always been employed as a copywriter. (Amazing!)

The title of the degree has a little more gravitas: bachelor of journalism.

I started out as a runner for a local ad agency. I had the glamorous task of routing mail, emptying wastebaskets and being a stand-in model for a lawn mower catalog.
BAILEY LAUERMAN – COPYWRITER

My first real job inside the wizarding world of advertising. I also interned here. The mounds of mulch created from #2 pencils and sketch pads was impressive.
THE M GROUP – SENIOR COPYWRITER

We were a small shop in Colorado that specialized in getting small clients off the ground. Everything we did had to generate results. We had just as much skin in the game as our clients, which is a perspective everyone in marketing should have.

Once, we ran a foster care awareness campaign that resulted in 800+ orphans finding new families. It’s proof that advertising can be used to directly impact lives.

I eventually got Colorado out of my system and moved back to Nebraska to be closer to nieces and nephews.

BOZELL – SENIOR COPYWRITER

During the Great Recession, I freelanced and launched an online art store selling vintage wildlife art. I owned and operated every aspect of the venture. Despite being featured in Outdoor Life magazine and selling through Cabela’s and Orvis, it still failed.

Going through the entrepreneurship process and learning those lessons have improved client success ever since.

Words to live by: Hard work creates luck.