Confessions from a former Trump designer
We live in a world where consumers are increasingly demanding more from the brands they deal with. Businesses are now expected to adopt an attitude on everything from sustainability to diversity to social impact as the role of creatives has evolved from simply serving customers to making a positive impact on people and the planet.
New York-based Smakk was founded in 2011 when many of these big social conversations were still in their infancy. It is one of the agencies that shows brands the way into the future. As one of the 0.1% of creative agencies founded, owned and run by women, it specializes in strategic branding, content, digital and marketing for socially conscious clients, including Harry & # 39; s Razors and the Mayor's Sustainability Bureau from NYC.
While Smakk founder Katie Klencheski's mission for the agency is set in stone today, the creative industry she entered in the early 1990s was a very different place. Originally studying art in the studio, she moved to New York in 2004 and looked for an artist assistant job to support her own creative ambitions. “I applied indiscriminately for any job that had the words 'studio assistant' or 'studio manager' on Craigslist. as a job title, and ended up getting a job where I was a studio assistant at a very large, very corporate architecture firm – not where I expected, ”she says.
Above and Above: The Chicago River Walk was one of the properties Klenchinski worked on for Trump Hotels
Klencheski became more interested in design and took night website building classes at NYU before deciding to step into the agency world. In 2007, she moved to a midsize, luxury-focused New York agency, where she worked as art director for accounts such as Cartier, American Express, and the hotel collection of a certain prominent businessman who became the future president, Donald Trump. Little did she know that her work on Trump Hotels would help shape the entire future of her own practice.