Cut to April 2020.
Everyone dealt with our brave new world of social-distancing in a different way. I was living in Dublin, California, and until the Covid crisis hit in mid-March, I had commuted 30+ miles daily through the San Francisco Bay Area. So I never got to know anyone in my hometown. My pandemic pod was just me and my recently adopted rescues: Sagan and Scotlan.
At the time, I was working at an FCB-spinoff called
#BakerStreetAdvertising. Due to market forces that were ripping businesses across the globe ferociously apart, Baker Street closed unexpectedly for the month of April and we weren’t sure when it was going to reopen. If ever. Ironically, during that anxiety-filled furlough, my crazy cats kept me from becoming a crazy cat lady. Sagan, Scotlan, and my camera were the only things that kept me sane in total isolation. I started shooting this silly “celebrity split-screen” series as a creative outlet — and to learn a new social skill: How Instagram works. That's how "@PyleofCats" was born.
Cut to 2024.
For the past three years, I've been a Copywriter at
TRG, an amazing ad agency in Dallas, Texas. This little project caught the eye of their Studio Services Director,
Karen Newman. She asked to feature it as a Halloween special in the agency's commemorative gallery. There’s nothing like seeing your imagination on display and watching the way others take it in. Head-tilting, finger-pointing, and nervous-giggling were all reactions I got to witness. Many gallery observers were so focused they didn't even realize they were being observed too.
Thank you, Karen, for giving me this opportunity and for putting so much of your personal touch into it. And thanks to
Taylor Vieger, TRG Studios' talented photographer, for taking this ridiculous shot of me mimicking Janet Leigh's iconic shower scream. I guess I am a crazy cat lady. Or, more appropriately, a Psycho cat lady.
Cut to October 31, 2024.
Since my “art” was hanging on an actual wall in a legit advertising agency, this longtime Copywriter went as an "Art Director" for Halloween. If you look closely on my T-shirt, I gave myself that distinguished title in removable Velcro letters. For one day only.
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#PyleOfMemories is a series of stories developed for
#DementiaAwareness as a reminder to write the good stuff down before it’s lost forever. It’s now a book, available on Amazon, as a fundraiser for
#DementiaResearch.