It starts here.
A tiny person with tremendous curiosity
Obsessed with the details.
I was always getting lost when I was a kid.
At age 5, I ran ahead of my family when visiting The Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. My parents found me, mesmerized, in front of Colleen Moore’s Fairy Castle.
This fantastic exhibit was a treasure trove of the infinitesimal. I was captivated by the gorgeous upholstered miniature furniture, the gold inlay ceilings, the lavish lighting fixtures, and the (real! readable!) tiny books. This enchanting exhibit stirred something in my small soul. The details that came alive in this incredible display of world-building would stay with me a long time.
Befriending creativity.
I don’t remember a time when I wasn’t making something.
While other lucky tweens were battling Bowser on their Nintendo, my childhood was marked by scrappy (free) inventiveness. Days were spent creating collages from JCPenney circulars and my mother’s Reader’s Digests, creating “radio shows,” and filming “commercials” with my best friend on her parents’ camcorder.
I leaned into my love of the surreal. I became obsessed with the cartoons of John Lennon. I started to read the dictionary for fun. I wrote short story called Mrs. Chicken Lady Goes to Hollywood—a riveting tale about an enterprising hen/salon owner who decided to cash it all in and pursue her dreams of acting by driving to LA in a KFC bucket-car.
Imagining with John Lennon (age 12)
Something whimsical this way comes.
Daring earrings, dioramas, and hair-dos.
As an adult, I continue to make miscellaneous multimedia projects. While other girls make heart cookies on Valentine’s Day, I sent my boyfriend homemade sugar cookies of ALL my internal organs, because I MEANT BUSINESS. During my downtime, I build dioramas (still obsessed with miniatures). I won a t-shirt competition with other ad creatives by fashioning a historically accurate Battle of Bunker Hill tee. I’ve tried my hand at writing hypertext narratives. I’ve sold jewelry on Etsy. I’ve read a lot of poems and essays and publish many of my own.
Peanut Gallery
I created “leisure cards” to hand out to new neighbors when I moved to a new city. I’ve enjoyed getting to know my"analog neighbors" in this digital age.
As an early adopter blogger, I’ve been creating online content for more than 20 years, including my most trafficked piece, “Growing Out a Pixie Cut.”
Side scroll to see how many styles I achieved during this harrowing process.
Creative wanderlust is real! I created a jewelry line called Phylum Kingdom, inspired by the flora and fauna local to my city. Each piece comes with its own unique Linnaean classification identification, so you can know the genus and species of the item you wear.
Learning to play the theremin. Because. Just because.
Becoming a Mad Woman.
Exploring experiential design in a digital world.
My formal advertising career began at Crispin, Porter + Bogusky in Miami. Miami might have been hot, but I was on fire.
I produced work at an incredible rate, working late hours on Burger King, Volkswagen, Orville Redenbacher, TRUTH anti-smoking, and Coke Zero. Highlights include concepting product names for new Burger King menu items, creating in-store experiences for Orville Redenbacher 100 Calorie Bags, and creating copy and experiential event design for Volkswagen when they sponsored the Chicago Marathon.
When I was craving a change in venue, I left the beach for the B-train. Ogilvy gave me the chance to hone in on digital copywriting, working on accounts like Nestlé, SAP, DuPont, and Motorola while soaking in all the life-changing atmosphere and art of NYC. In particular, Mike Nelson’s installation A Psychic Vacuum was formative for me as I nursed a growing interest in immersive narrative experiences.
Freaking out (in a good way) in the Psychic Vacuum.
Fun fact: this character on Ogilvy’s mural wall was inspired by yours truly. The artist said my voice made him feel dreamy.
Creative Director and Brand Strategist
Building teams, building broadcast, and building brands. And beyond.
While working for an upstart cable network, I built their first-ever Creative Services department from scratch. I recruited, mentored, challenged, and championed teams of art directors and copywriters in the role of Creative Director. My dual background of copywriting and design allowed me to fluently speak the language of both writers and designers as I led them through strategic messaging, design, and asset creation for dozens of brands across all mediums. I shaped strategy and visual identity packages for dozens of broadcast television and radio programs, including Emmy-award winning entities.
In 2012, my creative partner and I launched a boutique creative agency—Western Lights Studio. It was here that brand story became my jam.
I’m a heavily engaged listener and uber observant human, with the skills to launch and refresh brands of all sizes and in all industries — enterprise to mom-and-pops, environmental to entertainment. I am highly experienced in strategy, brand positioning, and targeted messaging—creating foundational brand architecture for logistics, government, and entertainment.
Brand-builder for life.
Copywriting, my first and most enduring love, continues to woo me.
Most recently, I crafted copy for legendary architect Frank Gehry’s 8 Spruce building in NYC—the tallest residential building in the western hemisphere.
Ultimately all the work I do—be it strategy, design, or scriptwriting—comes back to written ideation. I have a writer’s soul.
The Real Dead Poet’s Society
Writing a book of poetry with my dead Great-Grandmother.
During Covid-19, I was awarded a grant for a forthcoming poetry collection. It soon blossomed into something much more meaningful than I could have ever anticipated.
"Adrienne Cardon's stunning poem cycle And Still, Birth winds around a striking coincidence: the author and her great-grandmother each give birth to their fourth child during upheaval of a pandemic.
The result is both timely and transcendent, a map of the paths and blessing and burden women take through a world revolving between life and death, closeness and separation."
- James Goldberg, poet and author of "A Book of Lamentations"
Listen to the story behind the poetry here:
One hundred words on inspiration.
“Don’t talk about your personal life.” - Every misguided careerist ever
For a creative person, there’s no difference between your personal and professional life.
They are one. Singular. “Life.”
The personal is at the margins of every project I take on. The professional whispers to me during my second-grader’s soccer games.
Museums and mountains. Thunderstorms and toddlers.
Inspiration is everywhere.
Creativity, up to 11.
Nothing inspires me more than kids.
The antics and exploration I witness every day are more inspiring than Sylvia Plath, Stanley Kubrick, and Tim Robinson all jammed together. As Bruno Mars said, “Don’t believe me? Just watch.”
