In May of 2023, Madi Olejnicak onboarded the Creative Connection team as our Communications Director. Within her role, she is responsible for managing client brands online and content creation. A recent graduate of North Central University, Madi spent the last three years earning a Bachelor’s in Journalism while writing her first book The Social Media Mess. In August, Madi sat down to answer several questions surrounding her position, and how she got to where she is today. 

What is something that you’ve learned growing up in the marketing industry?

“The one takeaway I’ve learned in the marketing industry is flexibility is key to sustainability. From a young age, I always wanted to run a business. I guess it’s because I saw my dad doing it, and I saw how flexible he was with his time. Even though he worked long weeks when I was a kid, he still made it to every one of my gymnastic meets, piano concerts, and soccer games. Because my dad’s job was online, he was able to take his work on the road. The flexibility of being able to do anything and pretty much go anywhere (while still working) was the huge appeal to me.”

When did you know you wanted to be a communications director? 

“I guess this question truly starts with my background. When I was little, I was a super creative kid. I was passionate about art, media, performance and organization. I can’t tell you the number of random videos I put together of my friends and I doing skits. Even as early as 9 years old I was learning how to run a camcorder, take photos on my digital camera, and script write. So when I got older, those same skills morphed into learning to make videos in Adobe Creative Suite, writing scripts for client videos, and writing in general. Then when I got to college, I picked Journalism as my degree because I knew I could make decent money as a freelance writer. When I settled into the communications department, I met countless other college kids with my story. I met artists, graphic designers, writers, video and audio producers, and visionaries. For the first time, I was able to collectively work with other people my age, and produce incredible projects like our series on experiential learning.” 

How did your parent’s influence you regarding your family business? 

“To answer that, I have to go back to when I was a kid and all the crazy art and media projects I did. It’s actually hilarious to me, because my parents never put me up to any of it. In fact, more often than not, they were wildly afraid of all my new ideas, and sometimes kindly discouraged me away from them. They would start laughing nervously when I said ‘Hey can you take me to Michaels later?’ probably because they knew I was about to buy glitter or some other type of mess. The same goes for joining the family business. My personality, the way I saw the world, and what I wanted to do in life was largely driven by my personal interests, not theirs. That being said, I did grow up in an incredibly talented home, and my parent’s success is likely a large reason why I wanted to take on the family business. My mom speaks multiple languages, and my dad is an incredible artist/designer. I really did get the best of both worlds.” 

How did your perspective on “running the family business” change over the years?

“In total transparency, there have been several times my perspective changed. When I was young, it was a dream of mine to take on Creative Connection as my own and run my own business. But of course, when you’re 10, 11, years old, you don’t realize all that goes into it. Then when I got to college, I realized that my Journalism degree opened my world to an entirely new possibility. Yes, I could go into marketing. But I could go into marketing as a writer, and still succeed. So, I became a marketing journalist and basically combined business and marketing classes with high level writing classes. Here I am today!” 

If you could give one piece of advice to individuals who are looking into running their own business, what would you say?

“Honestly, the biggest piece of advice I would tell them is to learn from people who’ve gone before them. I was incredibly blessed with my professors at North Central University. They all have had a huge impact on my life. They paid in forward by telling me everything to look out for as I began my career. And I don’t know where I would be today without the business classes, the professors, and the mentors who have poured into my life during college.” 

If you’d like to meet virtually with Madi and ask more questions about the world of communication or Creative Connection, email her at Madi@creativeconnection.net!