Recently, I’ve been introduced to lyrical writing by my friend Laurie Wagner.  It’s not prose, nor poetry, but has a lovely lyrical, rhythmic style to it.  I’ve adopted it as my own and have been writing in this style a bit lately.

This week, it’s Artisan Creative’s 30^th anniversary, and I’m using this lyrical approach to share 30 memories that are alive for me about this incredible community of talented individuals. The prompt…. I remember when….This is a glimpse into some of my memories from the past thirty years, in no particular order.

1. I remember when we moved into the Sawtelle office.
2. I remember when we had wall-to-wall giant black metal cabinets to house all of our artist portfolios.
3. I remember when we had to “check out” the portfolios using little library cards so we could physically drop them off at client offices.
4. I remember when we held weekly portfolio reviews every Thursday, and our talent came in and presented their work.
5. I remember when Sawtelle was a sleepy little street with great food.
6. I remember when Apple’s new iMac first came out: blues and greens all over the office.
7. I remember when we painted all the office doors bright orange, green, yellow, and blue.
8. I remember when Margaret got excited about something, and I could hear her stomping and clapping throughout the office.
9. I remember when we planned a company trip to Mexico.
10. I remember when the fax paper used to roll into little cylinders and fall on the floor.
11. I remember when the Northridge earthquake happened.
12. I remember when Carol’s son would come over afterschool. He is now married with his own kids!
13. I remember when we unveiled our new logo. It still feels fresh and relevant.
14. I remember when the dot.com crash happened.
15. I remember 9/11. All of us sat around the conference room, stunned. One of our colleagues got in his car and drove all the way to NY.
16. I remember when MJ got married, and we all danced together for hours.
17. I remember when we first introduced our full-time /direct hire services in addition to our staffing model.
18. I remember when Jo used to tricycle to work.
19. I remember when our office was used as a location shoot for a movie.
20. I remember when Jamie G and Jess brought their babies to the office.
21. I remember when we moved out of the Sawtelle office and went remote in 2009.
22. I remember all of our co-working gatherings.
23. I remember when we opened the SF office, and when we closed it because we took the team virtual.
24. I remember all of our Christmas parties and MJ’s Chinese food feast
25. I remember when, during Covid, we held training sessions for our clients on remote best practices.
26. I remember when we launched our social media presence. Now 42K strong on LI.
27. I remember when we started creating vision boards together as a team 13 years ago
28. I remember when we had team off-sites in museums, bowling alleys, restaurants, and on the beach.
29. I remember when we launched our leadership and team development services
30. I remember all the amazing people who have worked with us over the years.

Thank you, Artisan Creative, for 30 amazing years. Here’s to making more memories together.