Today we’d like to introduce you to Cora Pérez Fernández.
Cora, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I was born in O Carballiño, a town of 8,000 habitants, located in Galicia, Spain. After living there for 21 years (with a one year break in a small town located in Italy), I decided to move to Buenos Aires, Argentina, to study creativity in an advertising school (Brother Buenos Aires, the best one!).
Picture a 21-year-old girl from a small Spanish town, in a city with almost 3 million habitants, with two suitcases (I’m not gonna pretend I traveled with a backpack) and no friends. Yes, pretty scary, but exciting too. I’m good at making friends though and it didn’t take me too much time to make Buenos Aires my home. Imagine how comfortable I felt that I was supposed to be there for 10 months and I ended up living there for four years.
So, this is how my story begins because in Buenos Aires I learned everything I needed to start working as a Creative Art Director in advertising, my profession. There, I learned how to think differently and be always looking for the creative side of things.
Now, how did I end up living in Miami? After the Argentinian experience, I let my job dictate my next steps in life. Always focusing on my career, I came back to Spain for an opportunity and then found a new one in Miami. It seems like I ended up liking the “start from zero in a country where you know nobody” thing :).
Quick summary for the ones who got lost:
Four years working in Argentina + 2.5 years working in Spain = 2.5 years working in Miami!
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
In the beginning, it’s always hard. I mean, arriving at a place alone without having family or friends, even with a job, it’s never easy. Not easy for me, even harder for my mom!!
Working in the United States has been the most difficult because of the language barrier. A barrier, that I still to this day have trouble climbing.
But I’m thankful for the people I met along the way. I’ve been always surrounded by kind, friendly and talented people who helped me be what I am today. I’ve never regretted any of the decisions I’ve made, so I guess that tells you everything.
Please tell us more about your work, what you are currently focused on and most proud of.
My profession is Associate Creative Director at The Community, an advertising agency, but I still consider myself an Art Director, even if the title is lower than the one I have.
I love ideas and beautiful things. Those two things combined are what define what I do. Not only in advertising, but in my life in general.
So, starting from the basics, the creative process in advertising is like this: a client tells you his goal (which in most of the cases is to sell more, of course) and then you start looking for ideas that will make them pop up in TV, digital or whatever the media is, and to sell more.
Having said that, my job is to think of the creative ideas (most of them for TV) and make them look beautiful. From the styling to the interior design of the location, to the lighting, the color, and the editing. Of course, I don’t do all that work by myself, there are people specialized in each area, but my work is to supervise all of that and to make sure that everything is how it should be.
Latest work I’m super proud of: the last commercial we did for PETA “What? This motel is banning vegans?” You can find it on YouTube. And again, I didn’t do it alone, special credits for my creative partner Rodri González and my boss-friend Ricky Vior.
And, besides advertising, I like to spend my free time doing personal projects. Sometimes with a goal, sometimes just for the fun of doing them. Because like in advertising, whatever your goal is, a creative idea can help you to reach it. It’s just a matter of finding the small piece of a market that has never been reached.
For example, last year, I and some friends created the first cooking show for dogs on Instagram (you can find us on @woofskitchen). I and my creative partner Rodri and the photographer Ian O’Connor launched a book of amateur soccer in Miami (called “The Other Football”). I illustrated the cover and designed a kid’s book and I also started doing embroideries! (Yes, I know that sounds kinda old lady like, but I promise you that it’s super fun!)
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
As a creative: Always looking for opportunities. It doesn’t matter if the brief is fun or boring (yeah, promos are not too fun to communicate), there is always an opportunity to make good work behind it.
As an art director: Keeping your style besides what the rest of the world is doing and having the right criteria to choose what is nice and what is not. Nowadays, we’re exposed to visual information 24/7, to trends that change many times a year and to what people are doing all over the world… so being consistent with your style maybe is not as easy as it sounds :).
Contact Info:
- Website: https://cargocollective.com/Cora_perez
- Email: cora@thecommunityus.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/corasao
- Other: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cora-pérez-fernández-36a68430
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