We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Kim Witczak a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Kim thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. One of the toughest things about progressing in a creative career or as an entrepreneur is that there are almost always unexpected problems that come up – problems that you often can’t read about in advance, can’t prepare for, etc. Have you had such and experience and if so, can you tell us the story of one of those unexpected problems you’ve encountered?

I like to call myself the accidental advocate because I never chose to do pharmaceutical drug safety advocacy. Sometimes our greatest life purpose chooses us. I had a personal life tragedy that changed the trajectory of my life. With one phone call, my life forever changed.

On August 6, 2003, my dad called to tell me that my husband, Woody, of 10 years was found hanging by the rafters of the garage, dead at age 37. Woody wasn’t depressed or had a history of depression or any other mental illness. He had just started his dream job with a start up company and was having trouble sleeping which is NOT uncommon for entrepreneurs. He went to his doctor and was given an antidepressant Zoloft for insomnia. He was told it would take the edge off and help him sleep. Five weeks later, Woody was dead.

We never questioned the drug because it was FDA approved, given to him by his doctors, and advertised as “safe and effective.” The night that he was found the coroner asked if he was taking any medication. The only drug he was taking was Zoloft and the coroner said she needed to take it with her, it might have something to do with his death. The front page of the Star Tribune had an article that said “UK finds link between antidepressants and suicide in teens.”

This was the origin story of how my drug safety advocacy was born with the focus of getting FDA blackbox suicide warnings added to antidepressants. My husband’s sudden and tragic death also changed the course of my professional career too. For years I was full time employee at the world famous advertising agency, Fallon. However, a few years later as I spent more time in Washington DC, I realized I needed to create a life where I could do both advertising creative production and my drug safety work.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Today, I like to say that I have a portfolio career — a little of this and little of that — spend time as a freelance advertising producer, global drug safety advocate, public speaker, voting member of the FDA Advisory Committee, sit on non-profit boards, and I’m a YOGI!!!! It’s perfect balance between creativity and purpose.

I speak all over the world on the spiderweb of pharmaceutical influence through Woody’s tragic story. I use my advertising lens to speak to the public and warn about the dangers of pharmaceuticals and advocate for a strong FDA.

I am in process of developing a docuseries called Selling Sickness that will talk about the cradle to grave strategy of Big Pharma. Here is a video that the graduate film students at Minneapolis College of Art and Design did to tell the “WHY” behind this series. I will be using my skills from my advertising career, film production company resources and combine with my passion for drug safety advocacy.

People can follow me at www.kimwitczak.com

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

I think its about finding your WHY. What moves and inspires you?

Creativity is about self-expression. I believe all of us come into the world creative and this doesn’t necessarily mean artistic. Somewhere in our lives we lose this thought or start believing life is tough, boring, and have resolved this is just the way life is. In my mind, finding your voice, something you’re passionate about and wanting to express it is really what purpose is all about. It will look differently for each of us. Creativity and purpose are interlinked. Having spent an entire career in advertising, I used to think that only “creatives” or artists were creative. However, I realized, after Woody died, that creativity is really about putting ideas, yourself, and passion out in the world.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Life is all about being able to pivot and be resilient. We can make plans and then sometimes life happens and throws it all out the window. It could be that you are fired from a job, a relationship ends or someone dies. These are the opportunities when worked through the grief of loss that you realize there is more life to live. How many times have I heard that these hard times or failures actually led a person to start their dream business, move to a different city, and discover a new hobby or passion that leads to a new careers.

I think we need to remain open to life. Obviously when you are in the thick of it, it might not seem like you can get to the other side. But trust me, you will and you can more than survive. You can thrive.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.kimwitczak.com
• Instagram: Kim_witczak and Woodymatters
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimwitczak/
• Twitter: @woodymatters
• Youtube: Kim Witczak @woodymatters
• Other: Substack: https://acceptablecollateraldamage.substack.com