Megan Van Groll
Before my career led me to award-winning work for global clients at the largest independent advertising agency in the country...
there were the nudes.
It was 2007.
As I headed into the final portfolio review of my painting degree, I wrestled with creative blocks and a lifetime of succumbing to the left side of my brain, along with the responsible, straight A, goody-two-shoes archetype I couldn't shake.
So I did, as an Army brat who'd moved 7 times in 21 years, the only thing I knew how:
The result was a series of ten large self portraits, naked as the day I was born, running around town completing life's mundane errands and chores in all my unsexy but decidedly unbothered, tan-lined glory. Victoriously yet obliviously shed of my insecurities and perfectionism, existing somewhere between who I really was and who I wanted to be.
Did I lose out on job interviews back then, as a recent graduate in the dawning social media age, because of the artwork on my website and Facebook page? I know for a fact that I did.
But having my bare ass at the top of the search results of my own incredibly Googlable name had a funny upside:
I reinvented myself. But this time, in oil paint.
It killed any chance that I'd waste away in a boring, safe job I hated, in a life I didn't love.
And it redirected my path towards more interesting, creative and lucrative opportunities.
Put something unconventional and avant garde into the world, and you will always have early adopters.
I know this, because I'm an early adopter myself. I figured out HTML at age eleven so I could trick out my very '97 Angelfire site. I experimented with Facebook ads when they launched in 2007.
What a rush, to be the woman behind the curtains influencing what and how often people see what I want them to see.
Of course, technology alone can’t control the narrative.
For that, you need a strategy.
A framework and system, wired for persuasion, that turns your heady, conceptual dream scenario into brass tacks and real-world returns.
This is also how you make ART.
You visualize and articulate the desired end result. You map out how you’ll bring it to life. You research and analyze what worked (and didn’t) before, as you capture every idea and hit of inspiration. You plan every element, every detail, down to the last square inch.
But the vision only truly comes alive when paint hits canvas, or when those concepts and rough drafts take form. In that alchemy, something amazing is born that could never be foreseen.
Just as I never throw paint at the canvas without a plan, I never jump into marketing for a client without a thorough, well-researched strategy.
A framework that brings measurable meaning to the work: this is the modern muse’s prerequisite.
We all know that moving the needle with marketing requires a strategy, a vision, and a hell of a good story.
But to make something truly worth talking about, you also need to
THINK LIKE AN ARTIST.
Because a real artist reads between the lines — and reads people.
A real artist does everything with intention, but capitalizes on happy accidents.
A real artist has no patience for empty deliverables, vanity metrics, or insincerity.
A real artist is forward-thinking — so that often, it’s the culture that must keep up with them.
A real artist reinvents themselves when necessary, even if it ruffles a few feathers.
A real artist doesn't just dream — they execute.
And a real artist always has a little skin in the game.
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