I’M A CHINESE AMERICAN WHO GREW UP JEWISH.
WELL, JEWISH-ISH.
Let me clarify—I grew up in a Jewish town. My immigrant parents, ever eager to assimilate, would serve up congee for breakfast one day and bagels with lox the next. In junior high, I attended so many bar mitzvahs my dad suggested we insert an “o” into our family name and call ourselves the “Cohens”. We never followed through on that, but some years later I did the next best thing and joined a Jewish fraternity. After graduating from college, I went to culinary school where I broke lots of eggs and putzed around in funny-looking clogs. I turned out to be a kitchen klutz, so I traded in my apron for a notebook and became an ad nerd. These days, I still enjoy whipping out a frying pan, but you're far more likely to find me in Chinatown eating pot stickers, or perhaps at Katz's, noshing on a pastrami on rye.
WORK HISTORY
Freelance Creative
June 2023 - Present
McCann NYC: Group Creative Director, SVP
October 2021 - May 2023
New York Lottery, Qualcomm, SAS
Ogilvy NYC: Creative Director
July 2019 - October 2021
Samsung, Citizens, EY
NBCUniversal NYC: Creative Director
New York (April 2018 - June 2019)
AWS, Walmart, JCPenney, Universal Studios
FCB NYC: Creative Director
October 2015 - June 2017
The Real Cost (FDA anti-tobacco)
Havas NYC: Associate Creative Director
June 2014 - October 2015
TD Ameritrade, Keurig, Dos Equis
Various Agencies: Freelance Copywriter
July 2011 - May 2014
Lexus, Macy’s, American Express,
T-Mobile, Mastercard, Charles Schwab
Creature SEA: Senior Copywriter
June 2010 - July 2011
Pacifico, Seattle’s Best Coffee
R/GA SF: Copywriter
September 2008 - June 2010
Nike Football, NIKEiD, Nike Running, Nike Store
Cutwater SF: Copywriter
March 2007 – August 2008
Jeep, Ray-Ban, Arnette
RELATED EXPERIENCE
Miami Ad School SF: Teacher
Jan 2009 – June 2010
AMP Music Awards: Curatorial Committee + Presenter
May 2022
CONTACT ME
Email: chenjustin13@gmail.com
Mobile: 617-359-7987
LinkedIn
ACCOLADES
ADC Silver Cube (AI): SAS “The Batting Lab”
Bronze Clio (Creative Use of Data): SAS “The Batting Lab”
Webby: SAS “The Batting Lab”
Cannes Shortlist (Connected Exp): SAS “The Batting Lab”
D&AD Shortlist (Digital Design): SAS “The Batting Lab”
Gold Shorty (Public Health): The Real Cost “Little Lungs”
Clio Shortlist: The Real Cost “Little Lungs”
Bronze Clio (VFX): The Real Cost “Consequences”
Gold Promax: Night School “History”
EDUCATION
Miami Ad School
Copywriting Certificate
Cambridge School of Culinary Arts
Culinary Certificate
University of Rochester
B.A. Psychology