Ale is a mezcal connoisseur, soccer enthusiast, and skilled foosball player. Born in Mexico, she taught herself English at the age of eleven. As a bilingual, well-traveled, expert collaborator, Ale brings people together across regions, cultures, languages, and media. Her experience with mobile applications, UX/UI, and 15+ years in marketing/technology means she helps clients win — unless you’re playing foosball, then she’ll kick your ass. But at least there will be mezcal to soften the blow.

Alex, our designer of amazingness from across the pond, brings extensive experience in consumer product marketing and events to MP by way of New Zealand. He left behind a budding DJ career in the UK to play in the sand with the Kiwis. Two years and too many road trips later, he headed for Austin, Texas. With a twisted love for ice baths and a fascination with horror films, Alex has some great conversation starters. He lives with his pet tarantula and dreams of one day producing a short horror film — but right now, he is too scared to start.

Grass-fed on the plush pastures of Greenleaf, ID, Andy was tempered by the fire of three older brothers whose only wish was to see him cry. So, he learned to fight with his words and wit. When Andy wasn’t exchanging fists with cutting intellect, he raised pigs and chickens—because, you know, Idaho.

While Andy’s father taught business and his mother taught art, Andy took a little bit from both parents and is now in the business of creating art for businesses—and he’s damn good at it. From finding exceptional talent to cracking the whip on budgets and timing—Andy masterfully builds and manages the storytelling process. He can also verbally whip you, thanks to his brothers, and he makes a mean bacon omelet.

Anna comes to MP with more than a decade of experience in media. She’s also classically trained in ballet and intensely extroverted — as in, she literally can’t say no to social gatherings. It’s no surprise that she gets her dance fix at music festivals and techno clubs. Anna is also obsessed with baking and loves to share. When she’s not laying out masterful media plans for clients, and the weekend is open, she’s crashing parties uninvited just so she can dance her ass off — but she always brings dessert.

Anne is a landscape architect turned kick-ass designer. Her creativity and design skills are matched only by her comedic prowess (and an insatiable love for animals and the great outdoors). With humor as her superpower, she can make anyone laugh. But not that “haha, that’s funny” laugh. We’re talking that “Oh $#!+, this is it, I’m going to die because I can’t breathe” laugh. But don’t worry, you won’t die. Unless you do, and wouldn’t that be a hell of a way to go? As an apology, Anne will make sure your gravesite looks amazing.

Raised in the land of beer and heavy accents, Beck is a certified cheesehead from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. With a virtuosic design eye and rapid-fire clicky fingers, she’s also a certifiable force of creativity. When she’s not knee-deep in designing and creating, she’s outside hiking and camping, seeking-out live music, crafting stained glass, concocting new cuisine, and looking for new adventures. Beck will say 'Oh you betcha' when presented with a basket of cheese curds.

Billy brings a decade-and-a-half worth of energy and passion that has yet to be tamed. If it seems that he cares about your business as much as you do, it’s because he does. He delivers a combination of marketing experience and skills that makes him our starting QB at Team MP, and one of the most valuable players on your team.

Equal parts goofy and talented, Briannah fits right in at MP. Let’s start with the goofy — she giggles a lot, sometimes inappropriately, and she snorts when she laughs. She also hates crowds, so no concerts or group elevator rides. Now for the talented — with a $#!+ ton of finance, media, and operations experience, she’s the ideal goofball to tackle all things finance and media.

When you meet Briannah, have a good joke on deck — you’re going to love that snort. And if it’s in the elevator, do her a favor and take the stairs.

Carlie Bentley has a wicked forehand from her college tennis days. Why is this important—it’s not, but it is cool! She’s also obsessed with music and movies, is an avid reader, can recite Jurassic Park (the movie, not the book – that would be crazy) from memory, binge-watches big wave surfing, and has a strange fixation with viruses and prion diseases—also not important.

Do you know what is important? This firecracker brings nearly a decade of media knowledge to MP in travel and leisure, healthcare, education, and finance. With award-winning campaigns under her belt and experience with talent from shows you know, her skillset is as diverse as her interests (now they’re important).

Carlie lives with her black cat, Vesper. Bust out some string, and her forehand is also purrrrrty sick.

As our Head of Strategy + Client Services, Carolina brings a wealth of international experience and a charming Brazilian accent to our office. She began her career at Ogilvy & Mather in the early 2000’s and since then has worked in major advertising and branded content agencies in Brazil, where she has helped create powerful solutions for clients like P&G, HBO, HSBC, SAP, Microsoft, Kimberly-Clark, and Crayola, winning 2 Effie Awards. In 2017 she moved to Florida, where she specialized in multicultural audiences for VMLY&R as their Integrated Strategic Planning Director on the regional team for DELL LATAM.

Outside the agency she manages a busy life of having twins and is passionate about scuba diving, cooking and bulldogs – not necessarily in that order.

We found her in 2010 fresh from agency stints in Denver. Other than time off to raise her two boys and a difficult dog, she’s been the heart of art direction here at MP. Like many talented creative artists, she began her career as a designer, but her interests and our needs soon saw her growing into much more than graphic design. She is our go-to for developing the look and feel for photo and video shoots, finding inspiration for illustrations, colors, and fonts. She is gentle and encouraging to our new designers, earns the trust and respect of our clients, and when called upon, can kick your ass in darts.

Carter believes if there’s something to be observed, there’s a story to be told. Backed by a wealth of hair and charisma, his tenacious drive to understand how the world works keeps him up at night — fortunately, his best ideas are also night owls. Fueled by a determination that borders on annoying, Carter spends most days creating, learning, and creating again. With his rigorous education, collection of internships, and obsession with improving everything, Carter’s singular goal is to do his job so well, no one will know he’s only in his 20s.

From Boston to Boise and with thick East Coast blood, Dan can be found pining over search engine data and Google-ranking research. As a highly caffeinated SEO rockstar he provides clients with website traffic, lead generation and can make you internet famous overnight. For 5 years he held the #1 spot for “Smartest Guy in America” on Google… the Einstein Wikipedia page was #2. If you buy the coffee, he will talk your ear off with anything Google, Triathlon or Boston sports related.

Dirk is an example of that all-too-common western prevalence of Oregon cattle rancher, medical school dropout and classically trained operatic tenor. In Dirk we found one of the first employees of the “Just do it” agency, Wieden+Kennedy. They liked Dirk, too. They sent him to work around the world for other W+K offices including London and The Netherlands. Today, you’ll find Dirk performing daily at MP and other regional companies who need the services of a tenor.

Emily uses her more than a decade of creative campaign management and execution to keep all the MP creative ducks (ideas and people) in a row. She also has a borderline unhealthy obsession with butter — she recently smuggled some fancy French butter back from Paris — so, yeah, it’s definitely an obsession. Emily is wickedly smart and crazy organized, which means she’s perfect for managing the MP creative workflow. It also means she’s damn good at all things cooking, especially breakfast — because butter.

When Emily isn’t keeping the creative hoppers full, she’s out hiking or on bike rides with her dog, Waffle — no, that’s not a joke. And, yes, we are mildly concerned for Waffle’s safety.

Gage is an obsessive budgeter, with spreadsheets for every month of the year planned well in advance (and that’s just for his family). However, he didn’t start out this way. In college, Gage started out as a music major and, as legend has it, played in some heavy metal screamo bands. He claims all evidence of the long hair, eye shadow, and studded collars can’t be found — we’ll see about that. At MP, Gage has traded tremolo picking for wickedly fast calculator entries (and a lot of other ‘financy’ stuff). It’s strange, though; every time Gage balances a budget, he raises a fist in the air and starts head-banging. Old habits die hard.

Gia Mazzarella designs like her life depends on the right amount of white space. A U of I grad with a BFA in Studio Art + Design, she's brought her detail-obsessed brain to internships, UX work, and now production design at MP.

Off the clock, Gia is a self-described 80-year-old woman trapped in a twentysomething's body — she knits, crochets, bakes for fun, and is perpetually sleepy. On weekends you'll find her at the park, biking to a coffee shop, or hunting down marketplace treasures — and on the rare weeknight, when she breaks her sacred bedtime curfew, it's for a concert downtown.

And yet she is infamous for dozing off mid-movie. Grandma energy confirmed.

After working in a daycare and a funeral home, nothing phases Hoku. Whatever challenge you throw at her can’t be worse than changing someone else’s diaper — or
moving a body — or doing both at the same time. She inherited a passion for design from her dad and a love of travel (and off-beat jokes) from her mom. She's excited to make some cool shit, even if she misses the bodies sometimes. Not so much the babies.

After working in hospitality for 10 years, Halle can deal with pretty much anybody. Which means she’s qualified to keep all the MP crew in check. Maybe it’s her obsession with the movie Kill Bill that’s shaped her Tarantino vibe — or maybe it’s the genes. Billy insists both are purely coincidental. One thing is for sure — she gets her sweet side from her mom. Halle preps meeting rooms to welcome clients, makes sure everyone’s favorite snacks are on hand, and deals with a million different details that ensure MP never skips a beat.

Halle also has a knack for mixing drinks (she tended bar for 6 years), shreds the mountain, and dabbles in painting. Currently, she’s fighting with her dad over possession of a Biggie Smalls portrait she painted in high school.

Hey Billy, might we remind you of her favorite movie?

Jenna Balogh — designer, yogi, wanderer, and Queen of the Road. Damn, that’s quite the resume. Let’s break it down. When she’s not blessing MP with her graphic design prowess, Jenna is contorting her way to better health in the yoga studio (she's even certified to teach). She also spent a year living in a bus with her boyfriend while they traveled the country. As far as the whole Queen of the Road bit, Jenna rocks a Honda Rebel and takes annual road trips with her dad. Yeah, she’s a badass.

Seriously, how did we (and her boyfriend) get so damn lucky?

Dad, drummer, writer, film buff, typophile, and U2 aficionado, Joe believes the best ideas come with time and tenacity. Joe has worked on brands and agencies both big and small and has collected awards both internationally-renowned and much-less-so — bringing with him an impressive assemblage of worthless rock n’ roll trivia. Joe has been in advertising since Tommy Lee’s upside down drum-cage concussion mishap in New Haven, Connecticut. Joe’s work has been recognized by Communication Arts, AdWeek, Print Magazine, D&AD, Luerzers Archive, and garnered national gold Addys and 8 Best of Show Addy/Rockie Awards.

Designer, wordsmith, and hopelessly gemini, John has a fierce passion for typography, and yet remarkably bad penmanship. The youngest son of an English professor and an editor, he’s quick witted and observant. He spends a good deal of time sketching, even though he can’t draw and he’s a terrible dancer despite being a good drummer. He will rake leaves in January just to be outside and makes a mean omelet.

With nearly two decades of experience recruiting and placing creative professionals for agencies like MP, Jordan was managing (relationships) long before MP made the title official. He started developing an understanding of people at age 16. You’re looking at someone known as Record Store Guy, Car Wash Professional, Bread Baker, and many other titles, all before he hit his mid-20s. Why is this important? He has the eyes, ears, and know-how to bring people together and make sure our team delivers.

Outside of work, Jordan’s done it all. Husband, father, vinyl hoarder, competitive pinball wizard, concert chaser, and baseball aficionado, Jordan is our very own Renaissance Man.

Jordan claims he can play the William Tell Overture on his cheeks. But we haven’t heard it. No one is brave enough to ask which ones.

He also gets stressed out when he steps on cracks in the sidewalk. Perhaps the two are related?

From competitive basketball to volleyball to tennis to skiing to biking — Kaija Zoller has been running a portfolio of high-stakes accounts since age eight. Much of which is due to her obsession with keeping up with her big brother. He’s so cool, Kaija copied his buzz cut for several years. Now she’s graduated from copycat to trendsetter. With a BS in Business Administration (Marketing/Management) from Colorado State (go Rams), Kaija seeks the thrill of bringing strategy to the table for MP clients.

Don’t worry, she still bombs down hills and gives her brother a run for his money.

No more buzz cuts though, and certainly no evidence – some rebrands should never see the light of day.

A design school grad who later discovered his real passion was applying his uncanny organizational and creative process mindset to serve those that he works with, to see them and their clients succeed. While working at an agency in Los Angeles, Ken even created project management software that was later marketed to other agencies.

Laurel spent years working for a network of Idaho charter schools where she wrangled vendors, systems, state compliance, and every reporting requirement known to man. Gifted with borderline divination (or just really precise data), her coworkers called her The Oracle. At MP, she puts her soothsaying to work for all our clients’ books. Let’s just say the future looks bright.

Off the clock, Laurel is raising kids, sharpening her singing chops, managing drywall and flooring projects with her husband, and plotting the next tiny home hot spring adventure.

Other essential intel — she weeds her garden barefoot, suffers from well-documented cuteness aggression, loves high heels and fast muscle cars, and relies on coffee a bit too much. She’s terrified of water she can’t see the bottom of, because seriously, there’s no way to see through that $#!+. Or maybe there’s just nothing down there cute enough to squeeze.

Fueled by Diet Coke and a love for tattoos, Lin lives and breathes design. Their biggest fear is open water and all the unknowns that lurk beneath. Good thing they live in landlocked Texas. Lin’s first tattoo read, “Because that’s how it happened” — a reminder to not regret things. That piece has since been covered up. Don’t worry; they see the irony, too.

Here’s a list of things Lin doesn’t regret: a decade-long career as a talented graphic designer, skipping that cruise, never learning to sail, working at MP.

We’ll work on the last one — the next team-building exercise is Scuba Diving.

Michael’s life has more chapters than a Dickens novel. Idaho-born Basque, he studied graphic design at the University of Idaho and went back for a master’s in late medieval cultural history. Academia wasn’t for him, so he ran a Coeur d’Alene café instead. From there: ad school in Minneapolis and Miami, internships at Saatchi and Ogilvy in Paris, and agency years at Y&R and JWT in New York.

Eventually Idaho called him home, where he teamed up with Andy Anderson, retouching and producing shoots. At MP, all those miles mean there’s no production challenge he hasn’t seen in three languages.

A self-taught chef (he worked his way through Larousse Gastronomique), Michael keeps a full knife kit in his car. Past lives include grocery bagger and traveling carnie. Which means he can design your campaign, produce your shoot, lecture on the fall of Constantinople, pull your espresso, julienne your carrots, and win you a stuffed animal. Some people have hobbies. Michael collects careers.

When he’s not making legendary old fashions or exercising his demons (you read that right), Patrick throws words on a page and makes them sound pretty… eloquent… or snarky… and sometimes they even sound intelligent. Since childhood, he’s been writing poetry, songs, and short stories to cope with the never-ending thoughts rattling around in his head. A multitude of careers, adventures, and authored books later, Patrick is obsessed with telling a good story.

Sarah is an aspiring idea machine fueled primarily by sour gummies and memes. She began her professional career on film and commercial sets, where she fell in love with storytelling and all the people who make it look easy. Some years later, Sarah was introduced to the world of advertising, and she's been hooked on helping brands tell impactful stories ever since. She's also been eating out a lot. Ask about her comprehensive spreadsheet on where to get the best wings.

Sophie Robertson — seamstress, pasta maker, soccer player, and middle child (oh boy). Raised in Boise, she’s spent her life stuck smack dab in the middle of two brothers, so she has the necessary sass to take charge. Sophie dialed in a love for advertising as a Vandal. She also spent two spring breaks doing community service in Hawaii. She claims this was voluntary, but we’re pretty sure she has a shady side. Like every middle child, Sophie has a competitive spirit — one she tapped into on the soccer pitch. As an Account Coordinator, she’s traded in scoring goals for ensuring we meet them for clients. And much like with her brothers, she does so through merciless teasing, wit, and charm.

Stephen Niemeier, motion artist extraordinaire. This kid (he’s 28, which makes the partners feel old) is damn talented. Stephen is obsessed with keeping things clean and tidy and doesn’t like sweets (except donuts — he looooves donuts). Stephen is also passionate about motion design — he’s constantly creating, even in his free time.

When his eyes aren’t glued to a screen, Stephen is likely out on his skateboard, bouncing between coffee shops. And if you run into him, he’ll probably be armed with his trusty camera capturing moments with friends, his girlfriend Audrey, or his dog Robin. He definitely won’t be eating sweets — unless it’s a donut.

Note: If you want to mess with Stephen, move things around on his desk and leave candy wrappers on his keyboard.

Tom’s creative philosophy has been greatly influenced by the “surprise me/reward me” school of communication. “If they know what you’re going to say, they don’t have to listen. The best messaging interrupts consumers’ expectations. They pay attention because they want to know what’s coming next.”