Hello Adnerd. This is the A-List Podcast. The podcast that asks the world’s top advertising professionals how they got started in the business. Your host is Tom Christmann, creative for hire at tomchristmann.net. And one of the Head Adnerds at Adhouse Advertising School. Today you’ll hear Tom's conversation with Sariah Dorbin, Executive Creative Director at Quigley-Simpson, an independent, female-owned agency in Los Angeles that unites brand and demand for results that matter.

Sariah found photography in high school, a passion that led to her becoming an adnerd pretty early on. She worked at some great agencies from back in the day. Adnerds will recognize Dancer Fitzgerald San Francisco and Della Femina LA. She finally got her dream job at Chiat Day Mojo, but sometimes achieving yourdreams isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. (There’s a reason they called it "Chiat Day and Night" back then.)

Sariah and Tom talk about interpreting feedback, the importance of guidance when you’re just starting out. And the three keys to a great book: (Be yourself. Have an attitude. And say something interesting.)

Oh and there’s a very funny story from Sariah’s Della Femina days involving a stripper. (The Mad Men era lasted well into the 80s and 90s.)

The A-List is brought to you by Adhouse Advertising School, where you get 10 weeks of Zoom instruction from a working creative pro for one low price. To apply, go to adhousenyc.com.

Music by Ross Hopman at Duotoneaudio.com