How is being creative for a large company different from working on your own?
It's a different kind of problem solving that works a different part of my brain. There are so many more layers of complexity when at a large company. More money, more people, more opinions. It almost makes a good end product more satisfying. I not only have to  know what I am talking about, but also how to talk about it and sell the idea to multiple people with different ways of communicating. It forces me to thoroughly digest what I'm doing so that I can confirm that I truly believe in it. If I don't, it is not worth fighting for. Fortunately my ideas and unconventional thinking has been extremely well received. It's one thing for a company to say they like big ideas and creative solutions but to actually follow through on them is few and far between. Edelman is one of those companies.

What does a typical day at the office look like? Or is there one?
Nope! Like I said before, most of my time is spent at my home or off-site studio. I'm only in the office once or twice a week for a few hours at a time (except for a couple crazy 60-70 hour weeks sprinkled through each quarter). One thing that is different is I'm willing to be a lot more flexible with my co-workers' requests because they allow me to be off-site so much. I will take a call any time of the day or night and get the request through as soon as I can, rather than sticking to a 9 to 5 schedule. This is really beneficial for a large company because turnaround is always so tight. I'll do just about anything to not have to be in an office for 40+ hours a week! I really feel that this is something that will catch on at other companies. My work really excels when I am able to be off-site. Being mobile, I'm inspired and influenced by so many different things during the day rather than at a desk in a skyscraper. It really helps my work be the strongest it can be. I don't think that this way of working is best for most people, but it works really well for me.

What’s the best part about your job?
Not having to be on site all week is a great plus, but to be honest the best part of working at Edelman is having the honor of working with some of the best people in the game. There are some supreme talents at Edelman. It's really humbling being a part of such a progressive company, not only in their work but in the way they take care of their employees--and even the independent people they hire. It really is a rock star lineup here with just about all the knowledge you would ever need to get anything done. I don't mean to gush, but it really is amazing.

You started a grant program, Spark, for artists. Tell us about it.
This is what takes the cake. When researching the company before I got the gig I noticed Edelman's mission statement talks all about how they respect creativity and the creative community. To my knowledge, at that time, they weren't doing anything to financially support the Chicago creative community. Before I even started the job I had the idea of presenting a quarterly artist grant program to Edelman—a little bit of money from Edelman can go a really long way for artists, curators, and other creatives. The president of the office was really into the idea and turned what I thought was a 2 or 3 year goal into reality in only a couple months. Whenever I have a bad day "at the job" I just think about that grant program and everything is all better! 

What is the actual grant?
The grant is $1000 to an individual or organization that is doing progressive work within the Chicago creative community. We have only announced our first two. Mike Ruggirello, who is a stop-motion animator and photographer, put together a video time capsule of Chicago, which he did by making editing decisions based on audience votes. Nadine Nakanishi is our newest candidate, who used the money to publish her second book called Field Integration. I know that trial and error is a big part of my process, so we intentionally picked artists that I'm close with so they could not only help me sculpt the program but take little speed bumps along the way as part of the experience without getting pissed.

What's your work like outside of Edelman?
I do some publication design, a lot of collage based fine art work and editorial illustration, custom typography, curate shows, discussions at schools and other places, doing some art and book review writing at Book-by-its-cover.com.

What's next for you?
I'm hoping to do some more publishing next year with my brothers over at The Post Family… just making stuff, living life, and going to a dance party or two along the way. I wouldn't have it any other way.  
 

[headshot by Tony Fracesconi; Other images: samples of Chad's work]

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