the challenge Special Olympics Illinois (SOILL) is a storied organization with an incredible legacy. When they came to us with the goal of recruiting more athletes, volunteers and donors of all demographics—we grasped the opportunity to do something extraordinary. We...
MACLYN just added a trio of badasses to our account and creative teams: an Account Director, a Jr. Strategic Planner, and a Content Creator. Here’s the lineup:
Danielle Ethier: An Account Director who is serious about her clients and also Hello Kitty
After graduating from Michigan State University, Danielle hopped a 747 to pursue a career in big agencies and big brands, an adventure that took her across the country and around the world. She traveled to San Francisco, New York, Chicago and Sydney, where she worked for agencies like Ogilvy, McCann, Publicis and Hal Riney. Skilled at relationship-building and getting-the-project-done-by-the-deadline-no-matter-what-ing, Danielle worked with some of the world’s most prestigious brands: Huggies, Kodak, HP and Nikon, among others. Now, as MACLYN’s Account Director, she’s determined to help our clients achieve their brand objectives through creativity.
As you may have guessed, Danielle is a traveler at heart. For her, there is nothing more exciting than stepping off a plane in a place she’s never been. When she isn’t globe-trotting or grabbing a martini with a client, Danielle spends time with her kids, who drive her crazy (in a good way); fights to protect animals; and quietly nurtures her passion for all things Hello Kitty. (You do you, no judgement here.)
Kira Ryan: A Jr. Strategic Planner who is a mother of two wonderful dogs and a GOT expert and also a model, NBD
Armed with a Marketing degree from NIU and the tech savvy of a young millennial, Kira began her career in the digital marketing world, where she honed her skills in all things Google and social. Along the way, she discovered her personal superpower: the ability to organize chaos and juggle multiple projects with ease.
That superpower is coming in handy. Today, as MACLYN’s Jr. Strategic Planner, Kira assembles marketing strategies and works closely with our creative team to execute each plan. She keeps our campaigns organized, fresh and fast-moving, leveraging her knowledge of the digital world to make us more effective than ever. And she’s not afraid to break the status quo. Already, Kira has begun to revolutionize our own internal processes to deliver the best results possible. No doubt: She’s an Enemy of Average.
Outside the office, Kira is a self-described “dog mom” of a beautiful golden retriever and something called a Catahoula Leopard Dog (worth a quick Google). She enjoys watching Game of Thrones with her pups, modelling in her spare time, and hate-hate-hating on T Swift.
“Swifties (and Kevin) won’t like me for this,” she says. “But I have a strong dislike of Taylor Swift, so I make a very conscious effort to never hear her music.”
Jose Torres: A Content Creator who loves his family, his car, and (of course) his trusty drone
For most of his career, Jose Torres has operated as a lone wolf, traveling the US and Caribbean as a one-man filmmaker-photographer. There’s one thing he loves more than anything in the world: family (with muscle cars as a close second). Since he first picked up a camera, this passion for human relationships has defined his work.
Jose specializes in capturing small but significant moments: a proposal, an island wedding, a cherry dropping into an iced coffee in slow-motion. But he can do sweeping, dramatic scenes, too. With his drone humming overhead and a Sony in his hands, he’s skirted the crystal blue waters of the Bahamas, narrowly missed the blades of a giant Midwestern wind turbine, rolled down Lakeshore Drive in a supped-up Mercedes, and captured lightning crashes over a concrete jungle.
Today, as MACLYN’s resident Content Creator, Jose channels his passion for visual storytelling and human relationships into our client’s brands, creating images and videos that take us to places we’ve never been – and give us a new way of seeing the things we think we know.