Production dinners are a big part of the advertising industry. But I often see the same players at those dinners - agency producers & creatives sitting with production company EPs & reps. The expectation coming out of those dinners is a linear relationship. The production company hopes that the agency producer will invite them to triple bid for their next big shoot.

I asked myself - what if we brought people from the industry together where the only intention is to learn from each other? I care deeply about connecting people from different parts of the industry. I find so often that many people don’t understand what other people do, just because they’ve quite literally never witnessed it. As someone who has worked at (many) ad agencies, brand-side, and in production, I’ve seen this happen time and time again, but I’ve also realized the benefits I have from knowing how each team operates. It allows me to answer questions more thoughtfully because I know the layers from experience.

Crybaby Kingdom organized an impromptu hang with the intention of bringing people together who normally wouldn’t be.

At our table we had -

• a broadcast director

• a reality show director

• a strategist who works brand side at Amazon

• a freelance social strategist

• a photographer / social director

• an agency producer

• a creative director from a PR agency

• an account director from a PR agency

• a creative director from an ad agency

I looked around and thought about the fact that there are very few times all of these people are ever in the same room together. But there are, however, a lot of times they’re all working on the same project.

We all touch the same product, campaign, shoot, and even deck and half the time we have no idea what the other person is actually doing, or how it adds up to the thing we’re all making.

I’ve been on plenty of sets where someone leans over and goes, “Who is that and why are they giving feedback” then it turns out the person they’re asking about is the creative director from the agency… one of the most important contributors to the project yet the person asking has never had a reason to talk to them

I want to create a space for more well-rounded storytellers

Something I want to keep using my network for is building spaces where people learn what the person next to them actually does. Not a panel. Not a pitch. Just a room, some questions, and a floor open enough that someone can ask something honest.

Because I don’t think the industry has a talent problem. I do think there is a context problem.

We all specialize so hard that we never see the shape of the whole project. And you can’t be a well-rounded storyteller if you’ve only ever seen your own corner of the process.

With that I want to keep building an (integrated) production company that’s less about doing everything in-house and more about actually knowing the people who do the other parts. Bringing ad agency people and production people and brand side people into the same room, intentionally, regularly, so that each one can do their job better because they understand the whole picture. And maybe, hopefully, they can work together more along the way.

Before you close this tab —

• Crybaby Kingdom will be hosting another event very soon! Stay tuned!

• A founders event I went to recently (hosted by @nat.lucyy of Lucine) was so nice and she will be hosting more so be on the look out if you’re into IRL

✮ thanks for reading! if you’re interested in more from me you can subscribe below, or follow me on Instagram, or reach out to chat!

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That’s my biggest question to the universe right now.

We have big dreams at Crybaby Kingdom. A vision of where the company is going and what we want to focus on. But we’re moving toward it slowly. Intentionally slowly. We’re building all on our own. No investors. Just the work that comes in, funding the initiatives we care about.

The dream world includes a bigger team, community building, and original content. I’m choosing to believe that by writing this down everywhere it’ll come to fruition (we are major manifestors).

But it’s a chicken-and-egg situation. What comes first? Investing in the people and initiatives we want, or waiting for the projects to come along to then be able to build those things out?

This year we’ve had a rhythm. We’ve worked on major projects and we’re growing rapidly. Which is amazing. But that rhythm has come with whiplash. We get five projects awarded at once, burn ourselves out, then hit a two week lull where we try to implement process and lay some groundwork. Then the projects flow in again and it all goes on pause. It’s like every two months we lay 10 bricks, but never the whole path.

So the question stands, what do we do first? Where we landed is that we’re going to invest in all of it, and take it seriously. Here’s where our heads are at -

A bigger team. We’re looking for a few key people who already exemplify the ethos of Crybaby Kingdom. Which is hard. Instead of relying on random recos, we’re posting to job boards with a proper job description, interviewing thoroughly, and making sure we choose people who actually get it.

Community. We’re starting small. Small coffee meetups, small gatherings, small budgets. The dream is to go bigger. Eventually hosting events that maybe even brands want to sponsor one day. For now, we’re gathering the community we have and opening doors for everyone. We’re even considering a group chat where people from the brand side, agency side, and production side can connect, ask questions, and trade advice in an open forum. More to come on that.

Our own content. This one is a slow burn. For now, we’re treating ourselves like a brand client we need to create for. No more putting case studies and social on the back burner. CBK is its own brand, and we’re treating her like one.

So is this the right move? We’ll see. Things move fast around here. So if it doesn’t work, we’ll pivot.

Before you close this tab:

• On the topic of scaling - the book, Who Not How, is really helpful in shifting your mindset away from doing everything yourself

• Do service-based companies even get investors? Real question

• PR & publicity is also on my mind… Stay tuned

• Manifestation: Crybaby Kingdom will be just as much of a community builder as it is a production company by 2028 ⊹ ࣪ ˖

✮ thanks for reading! if you’re interested in more from me you can subscribe below, or follow me on Instagram, or reach out to chat!

What started as a casual coffee turned into one of those conversations that stayed with me.

I went to coffee with a friend’s coworker, Sam. (My friend thought we would hit it off & she was right!) What I learned is that Sam is the kind of person who gets things done, who sees what needs to happen and makes it happen. She’s been at her company for a year and a half, managing their client’s social media and really managing it all. Planning posts, writing captions, sourcing footage, tracking metrics, deciding what angles will resonate. It’s the kind of work that looks simple from the outside but is actually a hundred small decisions every single day.

A year into the role, she brought up in her review how she wanted to think bigger. The company is producing major events, merch and video production projects and she saw an opportunity to add a social lens to that work. She wanted something bigger than day-to-day posting and she had a vision.

Andddd her boss said no. Keep doing what you’re doing.

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Moving slowly is really hard

So she started freelancing on the side. She’s picked up social media management gigs on the side but it’s not enough yet to replace her job.

She asked me - Should I freelance or start a company?

I told her what I actually believe as someone who has done both: freelance first.

Once you layer on the business details like the LLC, the taxes, the employees you have to pay, the weight of other people depending on you there is a much bigger risk. And honestly, I know from experience you have the ability to make way more and you have the ability to make wayyy less.

BUT you can operate your freelancing like a company. Get the LLC. Test the model. Take on multiple clients, bring on an assistant. Grow slowly, deliberately, and intentionally.

And here’s the thing about specifically slow growth that I’m still learning myself… it’s hard.

The Slow Burn Lesson I Keep Learning

For my company, Crybaby Kingdom, I want everything at once. lol

I want community. I want PR. I wan the big team doing all the things I’d ever dreamed of. I want it literally right now. Because I have a vision.

When you’re driven and entrepreneurial and you see the vision right in front of you, you want to sprint toward it. You want to build the whole thing overnight. You want to hire people and launch campaigns and become the thing you’re imagining.

Except you physically can’t move that fast.

The better path (unfortunately) is the slow burn. Piece by piece. You build the foundation before you add the second floor. You grow slowly and sometimes it doesn’t even feel like you’re moving, but then you look back and realize how far you’ve come.

Sam has the grit (something she actually said is her best quality). She has the vision. What she needs now isn’t permission to start a company tomorrow. It’s the space to build something real, deliberately, without the pressure to be everything at once.

What Leaders Should Do IMO

As someone’s boss it’s not technically wrong to protect your own needs. You have a role that needed filling, and you have someone to fill it. But I believe if someone is good, you should pour into them.

What that looks like is noticing opportunities aligned with what they actually want to do and jumping on them. It means giving them real feedback and helping them grow. It means trying toeven if that growth might eventually take them in a different direction entirely.

Because here’s the secret: the bosses who pour into people, who make space for ambition and growth and bigger thinking, those are the ones who build the best teams. The ones who attract people who want to do real work. The ones who create environments where ambitious people want to stay, because they’re being developed.

And the bosses who keep people small keep themselves small too.

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The Real Choice

So when Sam asked me about freelancing versus starting a company, what I was really saying is find an environment that believes in you.

That might be freelancing, building your own thing slowly and intentionally. That might be a different job at a different company with a boss who actually wants to develop you. It might be creating that space for yourself while you’re still employed somewhere else.

The best move isn’t always the fastest one.

You just need to give herself permission to let it be a slow burn.

And maybe I need to keep reminding myself of the same thing.

✮ thanks for reading! if you’re interested in more from me you can subscribe below, or follow me on Instagram, or reach out to chat!

Everyone at Cannes was talking about the importance of connection, but the most interesting conversations weren't happening on the Croisette.

I spent last week in France at the Cannes Lions and my biggest takeaway was a single overwhelming sentiment… the value wasn’t in the big activations. It was in the intimate, curated spaces. The brunches, the small dinners, the off-schedule coffees.

And the people filling those rooms? Mostly creators.

It's easy to fly to the south of France and end up with the exact same people you could see in New York or LA. Same people, different country. I watched it happen over and over. Meanwhile, creators were getting invited into rooms that could actually lead to something.

Cannes was built for an era when advertising was the center and brands, agencies, media buyers had the budgets and the access. But that center has shifted and consumers don't trust ads the way they used to. They trust people. They want to be entertained. Brands know this, which is why the smartest ones aren't just sponsoring panels anymore, they're pulling in the voices of the industry and treating them like the strategic partners.

As a founder of a production company, this isn’t just an interesting observation it’s directional.

Going to Cannes made clear to me that the people who understand this and who are investing in community and intimacy over flashy promotions are the ones winning.

I’m coming back to New York thinking & dreaming even more about what it looks like to prioritize community more intentionally. Not just attending, but creating spaces worth showing up for.

If you were at Cannes, where did you find the most value? And if you weren’t, does this track with what you’re seeing in your corner of the industry?

Before you close this tab:

• The Stan brunch was one of my biggest highlights, I got to see Maggie Sellers Reum speak IRL after listening to Hot Smart Rich religiously every week

• Yes, it was just as hot in Cannes as everyone said

• Crybaby Kingdom villa is already on the vision board for next year. See you there ⊹ ࣪ ˖

✮ thanks for reading! if you’re interested in more from me you can subscribe below, or follow me on Instagram, or reach out to chat!

Every week I go to coffee with at least two people or more and it’s become my favorite activity. Often, they reach out to me seeking advice. Sometimes I reach out to them seeking connection. Every time I learn something from the conversation. The learnings are typically ideas I realized I already knew but the conversation brings them to the surface for the both of us. Then I run home and tell my fiancé “I just had this great conversation and we talked about xyz” so many things.

So, I’m starting this series called Coffee Chat Recap so it’s not only my fiancé who gets to hear about my conversations <3

This week, the conversation was about confidence.

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A conversation with a dreamer thinking about her next move

A few weeks ago, I met Kara at a networking panel in New York hosted by The Marketing Groupe. We were in a group of people talking about careers, freelancing, what’s next. I spoke pretty openly about why I thought one specific person in the group would benefit from freelancing. In a very matter-of-fact way. This is what I do. This is why it works. This is what I think.

Later, Kara and I met up one-on-one to reconnect and chatted about her next move as she just quit one of her jobs. She has a second job, but her real passion is in vintage sourcing, selling and community. My gut response - go for it!

She also told me something that surprised me: “I really appreciated your confidence,” referring to when we first met.

In my head, I wasn’t being confident. I was just being clear. I am often told I speak very matter-of-fact. And sometimes I think it’s a blessing and a curse.

But as we talked, I realized most people don’t struggle with skill but with how they talk about themselves.

Networking is a starting place

If I hadn’t gone to that panel, I wouldn’t have met Kara in the first place. So my first statement is go and do the things! Buy the ticket. Go alone if you have to. Embrace feeling awkward and introduce yourself.

BUT showing up isn’t the only accomplishment. It does, however, create proximity and an opportunity for the future.

Going to the event didn’t make Kara reach out to me. But the way I talked about myself there did.

Refine how you talk about yourself and be specific about what you want so you can make it easy for someone to remember you for something.

Networking only opens the door.

Branding yourself

Something I hear often is people venting about work, being overwhelmed, posting about the chaos, joking about drowning all in efforts to be relatable. Which don’t get me wrong, it is.

But…

Perception is reality. Relatable doesn’t necessarily mean reliable.. eek!

But…

You don’t have to lie. You don’t have to pretend everything is perfect.

The way you talk about yourself is personal branding from the jump. You are positioning yourself. When someone hears “I’m slammed. I’m exhausted.” etc, they don’t think “wow this person is in demand” they think “this person doesn’t have capacity”.

This comes up in networking, work meetings, and more. At the end of the day, to each their own on this topic. How you present yourself on the internet may be different than how you present yourself at work.

But, the way you narrate your life becomes how other people view it.

TLDR: You are branding yourself every time you talk about yourself. And people only know what you tell them.

P.S. Kara inspired me to write this series ☁︎

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The brands who are making a real impact are the ones who are entertaining their audience.

This isn’t new

Last year, a new account popped up on TikTok / IG called roomiesroomiesroomies (shoutout @cyrusstudio & team). It was a series of videos depicting a narrative iteration of what it looks & feels like to search for an apartment in New York City. The scenarios were realistic and the story reminded me of the time I was scrolling through “Gypsy Housing” looking for my first apartment (iykyk).

Come to find out, this wasn’t a clever TikTok creator posting this. It was produced by the credit card company, Bilt.

But here’s the thing… Bilt was never mentioned (it’s only in the bio). Neither were credit cards. Points. Anything about the company. Bilt capitalized on the idea of entertaining their consumer with a topic that was relevant to their brand and their audience - rent. Bilt’s whole shtick is that you can earn points for your biggest payment per month, your rent. So what better strategy than telling a story that feels relevant to every single person in their target audience?

But it’s growing

Just this week I saw two more brands tap into this concept.

#1 - Reformation in partnership with Submit Your Ick

Humor first. Clothes second.

#2 - Crocs in partnership with ReelShort

Verticals have taken over!!! And frankly, I’m addicted.

Now we have a world where Crocs exist naturally.

These brands aren’t interrupting your scroll. They are the scroll.

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Entertainment is here to stay

More than likely, this idea will evolve, and probably quickly. The brands that don’t jump on this now will be late to the game come, I give it… fall. But the idea of entertaining your audience instead of selling isn’t going anywhere. Ads are everywhere. So breaking through is harder than ever. The best branded content is integrated into the content we’re already watching without the heavy-handed call to action.

Out of curiosity - what branded content made you forget it was branded?

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For some reason the word “resolution” feels too matter of fact to me. By definition, it is a “firm” decision and anything firm doesn’t sound fun. (Is this more chill or less chill?)

So instead, here are my intentions for 2026. Less pressure.

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1. Be a better gift giver

My love language has never been gifts. Gifts were not a common thing my family exchanged except for at birthdays, Christmas, etc. We always gave them but it’s never had that much thought behind them. Every year, my siblings and I give each other and our parents combined gifts.

This year felt especially lackluster around gifts because even my fiancé and I weren’t very thoughtful.

Around Christmas, we each shared a link to something we wanted and then the other person bought it using our shared bank account. I laugh saying that out loud.

I started noticing how much I admire people who are genuinely good gift givers. The kind of people who listen all year. Who remember something you mentioned in passing six months ago. Who give gifts that make you feel seen, not obligatory.

I want to practice that kind of thoughtfulness.

2. Be intentional with my relationships

Somewhere along the way of running a company and planning a wedding, it became way too easy to let my relationships run on autopilot. And so many times I hear people say that they don’t speak to half the people they invited to their wedding even one year later…

I don’t want my relationships to be built on convenience, proximity, or the assumption that “they know I love them.” I want to actually show it. To reach out first. To make plans instead of saying “we should” and never following through. To check in without needing a reason or a group dinner planned.

I want to be more present with my relationships like living things. I want to put in effort, even when life is busy (because it always is).

3. Slow down

I have a really bad habit of feeling like I need to move quickly at all times. I often find myself waking up, immediately looking at emails, already feeling behind, rushing to get ready, rushing to make coffee, then sitting at my desk all day. Then I rush to respond to people, rush to finish a chart, and if I have any sort of plans outside of work, I’m rushing to those as well. I’m in a constant state of chaos… for no reason.

I am literally in charge of my own schedule and yet I still make it the most stressful it could be?

I want, no, need to stop confusing speed with importance.

I want to live in a walk rather than a sprint.

4. Let go

I think a lot.

About past conversations. About decisions I already made. A LOT about work. I even dream about work. I replay things over in my head more times than I’d like to admit.

This year, I want to practice letting things be done.

Let go of needing everything to make sense immediately. Let go of over-explaining myself. Let go of guilt for choosing rest. Let go of the idea that holding onto something longer somehow makes me more responsible or more prepared.

Some thoughts can just… pass.

I want to leave more space for quiet.

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How do I show up on the internet when it feels like the world is crumbling around me?

I feel a pressure to post my thoughts about the situation (and I do have a lot of thoughts) but I also feel odd posting someone else’s graphic with a political statement they typed up. It feels performative, and definitely does not feel like it captures the weight of the situation. It actually only feels like a box to check to prove my moral standing.

But not sharing anything also feels… wrong.

I’m stuck in a place of feeling so angry I don’t even want to talk about it, but I definitely don’t want to ignore it.

The world most definitely is crumbling for those who are facing daily fear of their families and lives being stripped away from them in an instant, many for no reason at all except for that they look like they might fit the bill. And isn’t it crazy that someone might look like the type of person who “should” be literally dragged out of their home, thrown to the ground and, worst case, killed and, best case, held in a place that is the equivalent to a concentration camp? And how could anyone think that anyone deserves that? But they do think that. Blindly following along and celebrating it. So, yeah, I’m angry.

But here I am just watching it happen from my phone with nothing I can do about it except donate via a link that someone I don’t know shared, call a number and beg someone else to make a change for us, or post a little Canva graphic.

So, the world that I know is crumbling. And, honestly, I don’t know the “correct” way to talk about it and I don’t think there is one.

Thanks for reading. While I don’t talk about my political beliefs on the internet often, I’d love to open the door for more of these conversations one-on-one.

Before I started working with my business partner, I wasn’t that close to the creative process. Which maybe sounds silly considering I work in a creative field, but it’s true.

As a producer, ideas usually landed in my lap fully formed and then my job is to make them happen. Budgets, schedules, logistics, booking the team, etc.

Then I started a production company with the most creative person I know (🫶🏼 Kristin ⋆｡°✩)

Kristin is a creative director & I’m a producer. Typically a CD dreams & a producer makes it happen. But now that we’re running our own company, I’m deeply involved in creative development in a way I never was before. That’s when Kristin hit me with something that completely shifted how I see creative ideation.

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We were going through an exercise on how to position our company & both of us are self-proclaimed contrarians, yet I kept leaning toward visuals that were… familiar. A little trendy. A little… safe.

It’s so much easier to lean into something familiar because it feels safe. But if you only stick to what feels safe, you’ll never land on anything truly new. And then we all just end up making the same thing. Which honestly happens… often… especially in the advertising world.

Often a presentation includes a reference to a previous campaign and then we think the best decision is to choose a director who has the exact reference on their reel. But then what? We just end up with literally the exact same thing as the person next to us… and then are we really being creative?

A prime example - you might notice that a ton of new business owners are taking very similar headshots. In studio, white backdrop, maybe a chair, maybe some papers tossed around… sound familiar?

At that point… how do you tell the difference between a social media agency and an esthetician’s office?

Don’t get me wrong, I love a good Pinterest board. But if all our inspiration comes from our competitors, we end up referencing the same things.

And when everyone’s pulling from the same pool, we all start to blur together and creativity dies.

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Then, after we handed off the final files, the creative director told us she didn’t like the work AND didn’t want to pay us…

Well… huge gut punch, as you can imagine.

We had a full team to pay, and obviously, we wanted to get paid too.

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My first instinct? Go back to her guns blazing.
I had a longgggg email written. The type of email that is half emotional, half evidence file. I detailed every misstep, every confusing note, every time their team dropped the ball. I made clear to point out that if this was anyone’s fault it was obviously theirs, right?

Well, it was cathartic to say the least, but my lawyer read it and said to me “You can send this… but you’re not going to get the resolution you want.”

It stings to be told you’re wrong… twice now.

But I pleaded with myself - I wanted them to know how difficult they’d been to work with and after some much needed introspection, I just wanted to prove that I was right.

But my lawyer was right.
Bringing up the entire messy history of the project wasn’t going to solve this moment. It, honestly, was just going to piss the creative director off.

We needed to appeal to her as the decision-maker in this moment, not prove my story vs her teams'.

★ Frame your point to the person listening — or your point won’t be made.

That made me realize: this isn’t just legal advice, it’s communication advice.

This happens sooo often. Think about prepping for a promotion conversation and you want to lead with how much you’ve done & all the reasons you deserve it.
But the reality is it’s only a little bit about what’s true to you and a lot about what lands with the decision maker.

Now for the even harder truth…

★ Contracts mean nothing.

There. I said it.

You can sign a contract and that’s typically all fine and dandy until the other person doesn’t agree with it. Even after they signed it. Even after all the terms on your end were met. And especially even after you were *cough* *cough* right.

The contract is only enforceable while both parties say it is. And if they don’t… the only way to enforce it is to sue. Right, yes, sue them.

Now I don’t know what you’re thinking when suing someone gets mentioned but I quite literally don’t know what that entails (aside from what I’ve seen in movies). What I do know is that as a small business, I cannot afford to do that. And they know I cannot afford to do that either.

Anddd that brings me back to why statement number one was so important in this situation.

Frame your point to the person listening — or your point ACTUALLY won’t be made. If I can’t sue, I’ll have to convince.

That’s it. That’s the game (?) and I hate calling it a game but it is the reality.
Contracts, pitches, negotiations, even relationships. None of it works without buy-in. And how do you get buy-in? Understand who is receiving the information you’re giving and deliver it with them in mind.

And as they say… that’s show biz.

P.S. they ended up paying us :)

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If we were at coffee and you asked for a suggestion, here’s what I’d recommend…

1. Hot Smart Rich Podcast ★

I’m obsessed with Hot Smart Rich.

brings on founders who talk honestly about how they built their companies, from the early chaos to major success and even downfalls.

One sentiment she shared that stood out to me is don’t be afraid of competitors. When someone wins, we all win. It’s a good reminder that there’s room for everyone, even when it doesn’t feel like it. It’s a good reminder it’s actually helpful for you if a competitor succeeds because it proves there’s a market for the product.

Maggie is also just so good at interviewing. She asks smart, deep questions that make people open up.

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2. Wealthy Web Designer ★

I always recommend this podcast to anybody who does something that is in the creative space that they feel like they could monetize but don’t know how. I think that Becca Luna is really interesting in the ways that she suggests creative ways to market yourself and to offer packages.

also has a really inspiring story of where she started and how she grew her business.

3. Who Not How ★

This concept is a hard one to execute but so important, especially when you’re somebody who is really independent and ambitious.

When you do everything, you can’t do anything really well. Delegating frees you up to do what you’re actually good at.

It’s a mindset shift that makes everything move faster & better.

4. How to Go Freelance - Grace Abbott ★

is one of the few people online talking about freelancing who actually makes sense. She shares real advice on how to find clients, price your services, write emails, etc.

Her story’s proof that freelancing can be structured, consistent, and profitable. If you’re even slightly curious about going solo, give her a follow.

She’s also really impressive because she has garnered a pretty big following quickly in the past few months.

5. Unbreakable Business Podcast ★

This podcast is put on by and is more low key. It’s small business owners talking about how they run things day-to-day. Less “how I built a million-dollar brand,” more “how I stay organized, sane, and profitable.”

While Hot Smart Rich leans toward big-name founders, Unbreakable Business is about people running smaller companies like wedding photographers, designers, consultants.

They talk a lot about systems & software that they use. When you’re first starting, you’re not a massive brand that’s sold out in Sephora so it is nice to hear from a company who is, especially from my point of view, at a similar stage and how they’re able to be consistently successful.

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“But what if they don’t respond?”

They probably won’t. Which may feel discouraging, but I promise the reach out is still so worth it.

They most likely won’t respond at least right now. And then when randomly one day they think to themselves “Hey I need a producer… what about that one girl who messaged me a few times (or six)?”

My biggest piece of advice to anyone starting something new - freelancing, starting a business, looking for a new full time job, even just soul searching - is to shamelessly reach out.

Slide into DMs on LinkedIn. On Instagram. Cold email people you met once. Cold email strangers. Follow up again a month or so later. Tell them you saw the work they just posted. Ask them if they’ll be attending a conference in their city. Write them a poem. Send a carrier pigeon. Tell them you want to discuss each other’s hopes & dreams (I actually swear by this one).

Literally, the worst thing that will happen is that they don’t respond. And the best thing is that they do… eventually.

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How I got my job at &Walsh

For three years straight, I reached out to one of the heads of the company, &Walsh, once every 3–6 months literally just checking in, saying hi, seeing if there were any open roles, letting them know I saw a recent project they completed and noting the things I liked about it.

Most of the time, the answer was:

“We don’t have anything right now.”
”We are currently looking for someone in a more senior role.”
”We just hired someone but will keep you in mind for the future .”

Then one day, three years and five cold emails later (I went back and counted), I got a message:

And I got the job.

How I stayed booked while freelancing

When I first started freelancing, I had one slow week.

During that week, I wrote to hundreds of people - every producer, creative, and head of production I’d ever met (and most I hadn’t).

That week I got on the phone with 10 people. And booked a gig starting the following. I thought that was that and wow will I have to do that every month…?

Next month, a few months, a year later, those people I reached out to originally, who didn’t respond, started circling back with messages like,

“Hey, we’re looking for a freelance producer. Are you available?”

That one “slow week” turned into me being booked for two years straight across various gigs.

&& then they come back

Fast-forward to when my business partner and I started Crybaby Kingdom.

About a year ago when we were first kicking things off, we reached out to a ton of brands and one in particular we really wanted to work with. We’d messaged them multiple times. Then we stopped as we shifted our focus to build the foundation of our business. Most of those brands we figured were lost in the LinkedIn abyss.

THIS WEEK they slid back into our DMs on LinkedIn:

“Hey, sorry I never got back to you. I’m actually looking for new content. Can you hop on a call?”

All because we were shameless... a whole year ago.

The takeaway ✮ ⋆ ˚｡𖦹 ˚｡

The people who get the gigs aren’t more talented than you.
They’re the ones who keep showing up in the decision makers’ inbox.

Send the delusional DM.
Follow up.
Be so so shameless.

✮ thanks for reading! if you’re interested in more from me you can subscribe below or follow me on Instagram or let’s connect on Linkedin.

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“You’re Not Ready to Freelance.”

Three years ago, I was told I wasn’t ready to freelance.

Freelancing was for “senior producers,” not for someone who had only been working in the advertising world for only 4 years.

And then I did it anyway.

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Where this started

At the time, I was working at Joan Creative as an Associate Producer. Things were fine, good, even. I was prepping for a shoot & working loooong hours (which was just the assumed life of anyone in advertising in New York City).

After a year there, I got an email from my ~ dream ~ company: &Walsh. Admittedly, I had been reaching out to them every few months for the previous two years, hoping to get in the door, so when they offered me a producer role, I thought this was going to change my life.

And it didn’t. I immediately realized the design world wasn’t my world. I missed producing video and photo shoots. Six months in, I found myself unhappy again.

I had gone through a few jobs that younger me would have killed for, but current me wasn’t happy.

“Only senior producers freelance”

My go-to strategy whenever I start something new is to reach out to every contact I have (and many cold reach outs too). So I started emailing (picture cat typing vigorously on keyboard gif). One of those conversations was with an old boss from an internship I had at a small NYC ad agency the summer before my senior year of college. She told me: “We need someone to work on a job we have coming up but it’s freelance only”

I tried to play it cool, but inside I was asking myself - could I be a freelance producer? And then I said, I’llllllll take it. Because when it doubt, I’ll figure it out (unintentional rhyming).

One more round of calls, this time, to every freelancer I knew to try to figure out how to do this. At least 20 producers and creatives in the advertising industry and almost all of them except one (who is now my business partner - but that’s a story for another time) said the same thing:

• “You can’t freelance now, you’re too young.”

• “Only senior producers freelance.”

• “Producers don’t freelance until their 30s.”

• “You won’t get any gigs.”

Everyone else thought I wasn’t ready.

And then I did it anyway. And got the gigs.

So how do I freelance produce?

I had no idea where to start but I had that one gig lined up and decided I’d figure the rest out as later.

That first project was was at Big Spaceship (now SPCSHP). A Starbucks & DoorDash shoot in Mexico City. $650 a day (which in freelance world I now know is a relatively low day rate but, at the time, it felt like a fortune).

And then it ended. And then I was back on the hunt - a new experience for me coming from full time life.

Cue to me, once again, reaching out to everyone I knew. I spoke on the phone with probably 100x people and finally got booked for the following week and from there figured out my groove.

Realization ✮ ⋆ ˚｡𖦹 ˚｡

After a few months, I realized senior producers were the only ones who were freelancing, so there was a gap in the market. I found a niche of being someone who was producer level and ever-so-slightly-cheaper but could do the same job. And I kept getting booked (and lucky for me each new gig I gave myself a mini raise because I was now my own boss ⊹ ࣪ ˖ )

That one week ended up being the only pocket of time that I didn’t have a project that whole year.

Then that year, I tripled my salary doing something everyone told me I couldn’t do. I worked on projects for Starbucks, DoorDash, Etsy, Gatorade, MAC Cosmetics, and made my way back to video & photo production. (However, the next battle was how do I do my taxes now…)

✮ ⋆ ˚｡𖦹 ˚｡What’s next ✮ ⋆ ˚｡𖦹 ˚｡

Just because everyone operates in a certain way, doesn’t mean it’s the only way. I realized there’s a lot of that in the advertising world and have set out to go against that ideology. I recently started a production company and I’m taking this sentiment with me as I go through this founder journey.

Stay tuned for more stories about freelancing, becoming a founder, and maybe some other parts of my life :)

✮ thanks for reading! if you’re interested in more from me you can subscribe below, follow me on Instagram, or book an office hours session!

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