Follow Your Gut
Words of Wisdom from The Fantastical’s Creative Director, Kerry Shea Downey
Work your butt off, make yourself available to the right people, and never lose track of the big picture. That has been Kerry Shea Downey’s recipe for success for the past 19 years that she’s been in the advertising industry.
Downey has just about done it all. Starting out at the front desk of Allen & Gerritsen, she soon developed a passion for copywriting. She “became a student of the craft,” and began relentlessly studying ads. She would pull them apart, critiquing the good and bad elements of each. While she taught herself, she built her portfolio.
Networking wasn’t always as easy as connecting with someone on LinkedIn. There was digging to be done and cold calls to be made and Kerry’s hard work wouldn’t pay off until she got in contact with the right people. At a time where the Internet was still very new she relied on award show books as her source to get in touch with the advertising pros.
As many young people tend to vacillate, a career in copywriting shifted to account services and account services to new business, but neither was the right fit for her. In search of a more gratifying career, Kerry returned to school to study culinary arts. She later reclaimed her true passion of being a copywriter full speed ahead. At Mullen, Kerry worked on several big brands, such as Panera Bread, The Grain Foods Foundation, The New England Aquarium, National Grid, and GM.
Despite the number of times she changed her path, it still got her to her destination. Kerry’s advice was, “It’s never too late to change paths…Doing the job you don’t want is awful. Follow your gut and it will all work out.” She later went on to be an Associate Creative Director at Digitas and then to her current position at The Fantastical as Creative Director.
I’ve always been the kind of person to change my mind and change it again. But my whole life, I’ve always wanted a career where I could be creative. As someone pursuing art direction, yet sometimes thinking I could succeed as a writer, it was encouraging to hear Kerry’s story. I don’t know what lies ahead or which path I will take to get there, but I do know where I want to end up. My big picture? Creative Director.
