Meet Trailblazer Hallie Wright

Today we’d like to introduce you to Hallie Wright.

Hallie, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I was born and raised in Arizona (yes, we do exist!). I grew up in Mesa, but when I was 15, my family moved to Queen Creek. Today, Queen Creek is just like any other suburb, but back then, it was much more rural – it took us about 30 minutes to get to the nearest grocery store. Growing up in that part of the valley was a great experience – lots of room to ride my horse, go exploring around the orange groves and get into a little trouble. Today, I still love the smell of alfalfa and orange blossoms because it reminds me of home.

After high school, I attend Purdue University; an experience that really made me appreciate the sun and warm weather back home. I majored in political science with a minor in marketing, my original thought is that I’d go to law school, but I think secretly I knew that I would never make it in an industry so rigid. I loved political science, but as I got more into my marketing classes, I realized that that could be an outlet for creativity, something I really value.

When I graduated in 2007, I knew I wanted to come back west and decided to come home to Arizona to pursue a career in marketing and advertising. Since then, I’ve been fortunate enough to work across a variety of sectors including non-profit, at a start-up, a multi-national beauty brand and for an advertising agency with some of the smartest people I’ve ever met.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
I graduated college just as the Great Recession was about to hit, so the first five years or so of my career were, let’s say, “dicey.” It took me about six months to find a job after graduation and then, shortly after, the non-profit I was working for had their first round of layoffs. Luckily, my position was retained, but it was my first experience with job insecurity. From 2008-2014, every single company I worked for had “cutbacks,” and I was laid off once in the process.

Looking back, I think all of the instability taught me some important lessons. Most of all, you’ve got to roll with the punches. Things change, so you have to figure out how to adapt. After my first job, I tried to work so hard and be so good that no employer would want to let me go. Ultimately, it didn’t matter because eventually, like basically everyone in my age group, I was laid off. Through that experience, I learned that there’s a big difference between working hard for yourself and your team and working hard to prove a point. The former feels fulfilling, the latter burns you out. Fast.

We’d love to hear more about your work.
I am the Associate Strategy Director of Scottsdale-based Santy, a full-service marketing and advertising firm.

I truly consider myself very lucky to be in strategy, a role that I am well-suited for. I love learning and asking questions, which is good because being a strategist means always working to discover “the why.” This relentless curiosity enables you to build a support bridge to whatever it is you’re recommending to your clients, whether that’s an approach to creative, timing for a campaign or a pivot in their business. Curiosity is my favorite part of the job (well, besides the free snacks) and probably the reason I was so bad at math in school. I had to know why a formula worked instead of just following the steps to solve. Mercifully, curiosity became way more useful post-eighth grade.

I love figuring out the insight (the real human truth) and delivering it to the creative team in a way that (hopefully) gets their wheels turning, and then seeing their brilliance come alive in the form of a TV campaign or other creative output. It’s really rewarding. Recently, a coworker was reading me a script that he had written for a commercial we’re producing to help inspire kids to put a stop to bullying and I was so moved that I almost started to cry. It wasn’t necessarily the words in the script, but the feeling that what we are creating is going to really strike a chord and make a difference. I felt so grateful to have been a part of it.

What’s the most important piece of advice you could give to a young woman just starting her career?
My advice for women just starting their careers is pretty simple.

Be bold. Don’t be afraid to ask people you admire to go out for a coffee. Most of the time, they’ll be flattered and won’t withhold their wisdom.

Work hard but take care of yourself.

Don’t complain – if you don’t like something, do what you can to change it. If you can’t change it, get on board or move on.

Be a helper.

Stay curious.

Foster relationships.

Admit when you’re wrong and don’t be afraid of failure. You’ll always learn from it.

It’s OK not to have all the answers. Communicate what you don’t know and ask questions.

Find a career that allows you to be yourself.

Contact Info:

• Email: hwright@santy.com
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/hallie495
• Other: santy.com

Image Credit:
Samuel Ybarra

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