creative director at 21

While I was doing the final layouts for the magazines on one of the busy mornings at the office, I saw my boss came in our creative department with a beautiful lady.

"Everyone, meet Maricel. She will be working with our company now."

My boss introduced everyone in the department, and because I am seated at the farther part of the room, I was introduced last.

"Maricel, this is Earla, our creative director."

Did I hear that right?

And yes it's true. The salary adjustments just came after.

I graduated just almost a year ago. And the ladder of success for me just keeps on going better and better. This is already the third company I have worked with, and I must say, that with all the experiences I've gone through, I have learned my lessons really well.

It would always make me smile whenever my mentor and I compare notes now. I even beat her record of being a Creative Director at 23. Maybe it's not just pure luck. I believe, it's luck plus passion. That two makes a good combination. And I would want to thank my mentor for the rest of my living years, because she has brought out the very best in me. And has put me into this position I have been dreaming all my life, that I am so proud of.

FINE ARTS major in ADVERTISING
Since I was a kid, I always wanted to become an artist. I wanted to have a career with just pencils and crayons at hand. And I would want to make money out of it. It was just myself that pushed me to persuing Advertising.

During my Kindergarten years, until now very vivid in my memory, I had a classmate that made me cry in one of our art lessons. She told that one of my illustrations of a cat looks like a dog. And maybe my first deppression triggered to push me more.

But the story didn't just end there. The same person became also a classmate when I was in third grade. Also in one of our art subjects, she embarked again one moving experience. She took away one project of mine, erased my name, put hers, and passed the project as if it was hers. So during our art class, I suffered standing outside of the room because I don't have anymore project to pass when in fact, I stayed long hours the night before doing the paper folding project.

Good enough, after the art class, I rushed to my teacher (with knees trembling because of standing outside for 40 minutes), I told her the whole story. And yes, evidences proved, it was my project. not hers.

Funny isn't it? The person that judged my illustration of a cat as a dog, is the same person that took away one of the best projects I have done painstakingly in my entire life.

And this experience, I will forever bring even at the peek of my career.
It pushed me to work with even more passion. more determination.

The journey ins't through yet.

Creative Director at 21.

What's next?