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Inspiring young minds

Always intrigued by the idea of mentoring young people, (probably my empty nester syndrome kicking in), I was truly excited when I came upon BrandLab. BrandLab puts marketing professionals in classrooms with students from diverse cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds. As their website says, it is a bold experiment “to inspire a new generation of thinkers so their voices can be heard in the creative world.”

When I heard that Minneapolis’ South High (home of the Tigers), my daughter’s alma mater, was a pilot school for the program, I was on board.

BrandLab offers a number of speaking topics. I decided to talk about the portrayal of gender in advertising. Good that the topic was somewhat provocative because I presented first thing on a Friday morning. Mrs. Rush’s elective English class started out a bit sleepy-eyed, but became engaged and animated as we discussed the subject of gender portrayal and its history.

Of course, I showed some of our agency’s positive creative examples. Appropriate gender portrayal is very important to us and our clients in the healthcare marketing niche.

I’m hooked on helping to spread the creative word to more students about an industry that has provided me with such a rewarding career. I encourage any of my peers and colleagues to check out BrandLab volunteer opportunities. You may not be able to go back home again….but you can go back to high school.