i love spinning metaphors into stories. puns and innuendos come pouring out of me, and sports themes tend to be top of mind.

life is just one big game, isn’t it?

the past few months have proven that time and again. here’s my story of being laid off from a 125-year-old company who enticed me back into an office for stability … and i ended up falling through the ice.

my very first project for maritz was branding the st. louis blues suite to the cheers of our CFO. it felt so sexy and important. then things came full circle at the end of march when our team planned to celebrate the launch of our new intranet [a website project i lead to completion after four years of missed shots…] with a hockey game in that same suite where i had placed the maritz logo years prior.

the blue’s game was canceled that afternoon along with all of sports because of Covid … half our team was furloughed a week later, and by the end of summer our entire department of 25 players had been eliminated.

who could have predicted that slap shot?

two years ago, i was recruited to lead the creative for the maritz overarching brand platform and design strategy. after 3.5 years of freelancing, they lured me back into an office for lower pay – BUT with unlimited room to “play” and learn in a field that i’m fascinated with: understanding what motivates people [aka.. the industry of behavioral science.]

deep down, i took the job because i wanted to figure out what motivates me.

before accepting the position, i answered these five questions to help me decide if i was making the right decision:

last year, i was promoted to director of creative services and was laser focused on moving “the ball” with the help of the agency almanac. [literally, the maritz logo had a ball in it.] we came so close to scoring but barely got on the ice.

it happens.
life happens.
i NEEDED this face off.
turns out your can’t control everything.

my heart is breaking for what the future holds for maritz and so many other companies, but personally, i have learned more from this experience than all of the successes in my life combined.

don’t expect me to sit on the bench for long.

all along i’ve been motivated by helping others let go … let go of unnecessary logos and design elements [debranding is what i started calling it] and now i’m forced to face that need myself.

packing up my office was a cathartic and surreal experience. it was like a movie. no one was there. the walls were filled with our efforts but there was no more life behind the work. no audience to cheer us on. no teammates to high five.

i couldn’t help but take a bunch of pictures as any huge fan would do in the closing minutes of a game.

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similar to the greatest victory lap of all time, our maritz theme song came on as i pulled into my neighborhood [i snapped a picture and texted the two amazing women that had worked beneath me and i hope to partner with again].

it gave me goosebumps.

just like the sound of the final buzzer.

**overtime: in case you’re curious, these were my goals when i joined maritz:

it wasn’t the result i wanted and our big branding project was blocked, but i’ve decided i’m walking away from this game with five goals in the net.