Ad Age Special Edition

Dyllan McGee, founder and executive producer at the women-focused media company Makers, talks about getting off the couch and finally becoming a runner. She also weighs in on her favorite things about Peloton, exercise as therapy and the lies people tell about the runner's high.

Derek Fridman, design partner at Work & Co, talks about his background in street art, specifically wheatpasting—poster graffiti applied with a homemade glue made of flour and water. He also talks about a close shave with Lucasfilm, the failings of the InstaPot and how "The Mandalorian" succeeds as episodic, appointment television.

Jeff Sweat, founder of Sweat & Co., the public relations and consulting firm previously known as Mister Sweat, talks about growing up Mormon and leaving the religion with his wife and family as an adult. He also talks about his disappointment at being sent to Iowa for mission work, his proclivity for climbing tall objects and his thoughts after seeing Broadway musical "The Book of Mormon."

Joe Staples, executive creative director at Mother Los Angeles, talks about growing up with undiagnosed dyslexia and dealing with a school system that didn't understand him. He also weighs in on the similarities between advertising and Brazilian jiu-jitsu, the joys of driving in Los Angeles traffic and shepherding his young son through his own diagnosis of dyslexia.

Melissa Hobley, CMO at OKCupid, describes the obstacles facing people who are undergoing in vitro fertilization. She is currently pregnant with her second child conceived using the technique. The process is stressful, time-consuming, painful and expensive, and it involves plenty of uncertainty. "It's one of those things that so few people talk about, for obvious reasons." She also weighs in on the best and worst couples, the allure of live TV and mixing politics and family.

Neal Arthur, managing director of Wieden & Kennedy New York, shares stories of his time as a sex ed teacher at a Catholic school. "There's a weird sort of faux confidence in 8th grade that you have to have to make it," he says. "You walk around acting like you've got it all figured out, yet you know nothing." He also weighs in on his love of Nike's "Mars Blackmon" ads and admits that he doesn't like The Beatles or one particular Golden Girl.

Joan Creative CCO Jaime Robinson keeps both a spinning wheel and a loom in her closet so she can spin yarn and knit blankets and sweaters, "like the lady in Rumpelstiltskin." She also reveals her favorite Joan and goes deep on the allure of "Russian Doll" and her childhood memories of the Sears Wish Book.

Teresa Younger, president and CEO of the Ms. Foundation for Women, is a lifelong Girl Scout who earned every possible merit badge. She also talks about the appeal of local talk radio and weighs in on the very best flavor of Girl Scout cookie.

Toygar Bazarkaya, global chief creative officer at Optimist, talks about hitchhiking across Europe in the '80s and '90s, thumbing rides from his home in Stuttgart, Germany to art museums around Europe. He also also talks about growing up the child of Turkish immigrants in Germany, the excitement of finally owning the work of artists he's admired for decades, the legendary exploits of Peggy Guggenheim and a diet he swears by that he says lets him lose weight and still indulge his sweet tooth.

Terri Meyer is co-founder and co-CEO of Terri & Sandy, the agency she runs with her best friend Sandy Greenberg. She talks about how she gets away from the pressures of agency management to recharge, as well as the dystopian allure of "The Handmaid's Tale," the bright nostalgia of "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel" and the acquired taste of gefilte fish.