We were lucky to catch up with Mike Goldberg recently and have shared our conversation below.

Mike, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

Thank you for this opportunity.

It all began as a 12 year old at summer camp where I was originally introduced to art. I entered a light filled room filled with huge blocks of clay, kilns, canvases on easels, giant tubes of colorful paints and an array of brushes fanned out across the tables. I was hooked. I had no idea this even existed. I was exposed to all of these incredible resources and quickly became obsessed with shaping clay with my hands and applying paint to canvas with brushes. I was completely absorbed in creating and began a new adventure. Apparently, the counselors were observing me because during the camp awards ceremonies I was given the arts award and I never looked back.

However, the real answer to this question comes much later on in life because initially I took an alternate path.

Right out of college, armed with a degree in Psychology, I became the head mental health counselor in a locked Psychiatric unit responsible for 90 plus severely ill patients including some who committed murder and rape. Despite being stabbed and strangled during my time there it remains one of the most fulfilling jobs I’ve ever had. Primarily it was  because of the amazing patients I worked with, but it also because of the deep trust and camaraderie I built with the staff. This was crucial because my life was dependent on my colleagues as theirs was on mine.

Overall, I spent five years working in Boston hospitals thinking that I wanted to become a physician. This included working in an emergency room during the AIDS crisis and as a frontline researcher in a neonatal intensive care unit working with one pound pre-mature infants. I also spent a year doing my pre-med course work at an intensive program where I excelled in organic chemistry (highest grade in my class), physics and calculus.

The moment I truly decided to follow a creative path professionally was very clear. My mentor, a professor of pediatrics at a prestigious Boston medical school sat me down and was planning out my life for medical school and beyond, but at that moment I knew I didn’t want to spend any more time in school or in hospitals because all I was thinking about was art. I never stopped drawing, but it was always a hobby. Telling my mentor was very difficult and he was greatly disappointed, but I knew that I was a creative and despite not really getting any support on the matter I was going to pursue this path. So I dropped everything and started over. I began taking drawing classes at the local art school and working odd jobs to pay the rent.

I eventually discovered a highly accomplished portrait artist and teacher whose curriculum was based on the French, Ecole Des Beaux Arts. Through him I took my art to a new level and proved to myself that I had made a good decision. I was drawing and painting like I never knew I could. It was a very disciplined approach as I would spend 10-12 hours a day for two years working on my drawing skill set using memorization techniques and a sharpened charcoal stick until I learned the subtleties of shadow and light. Since that decision to become an artist I’ve shown my work in galleries across the country.

I should also mention that there is also a parallel professional career path in that I became a creative director in advertising.

Mike, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

In the parallel paths that I’ve taken, artist and creative director, being a creative director in advertising has been a rewarding career. For me, being an artist was a solo undertaking while advertising was all about collaboration which really balanced my artistic life.

As a creative director my role is to help established brands grow and sometimes it’s about creating a brand from scratch. My responsibility is to increase revenue, create consumer awareness and produce a variety of content for all of the platforms and channels that exist in the social and digital world today. Essentially, I’m a creative problem solver in the world of brands.

I was introduced to advertising through a college friend who was in marketing while I was studying to be an artist and looking for a way not be poor. He introduced me to some ad folks in Boston who suggested I needed to build my portfolio. I really had no idea about advertising, but I became excited about the possibilities the more I learned about the business. I thought, here’s a way to earn a living while using my creative skills, collaborate with other creatives and go on commercial shoots.

Once I was given the challenge to build a portfolio of ideas I became driven, if not obsessed to build something great that would land me my first job. After several taking classes with already successful creative directors, I took my portfolio and moved to New York City as that was the heart of advertising. I honed my craft in the real world at some of the best global advertising agencies in New York, such as McCann Erickson, Deutsch, Grey, Hill Holliday and many more.

Being a creative director is a multi layered, multi disciplined endeavor. You need to be both the shepherd and protector of ideas from concept to its ultimate realization, whether it’s a commercial or a banner ad or an activation or a print ad. You have to understand how to tell a story in 30 seconds or less and how to communicate an idea with just a few essential and well chosen words and images. You need to understand how to incorporate a brand strategy, use humor to engage an audience and understand how music can enhance film. And of course there’s the fine art of editing, getting down to the essence of a story and cutting out the fat. Knowing how to cast actors is crucial for any commercial and most important is having the ability to sell your idea to a client. In the end it’s about style and taste because most people don’t tolerate advertising except for when great ads move them or make them laugh.

I offer a range of capabilities from strategy to creative development to production. I’m a writer and also a video director. I’ve helped build some of greatest brands in the world with my ideas and the execution of those ideas. From Coca Cola, to ESPN, Verizon, Citibank, Mentos, Popeyes, The Weather Channel and Staples as well as smaller localized brands.

A few highlights: I creative directed a multi million dollar Verizon commercial with Michael Bay in it blowing stuff up. Mr. Bay drove up to the Malibu mansion location I scouted in his black Ferrari with a real airplane, a real tank, an 18 foot tall transformer and two tigers and two lions and of course his Oscar winning special effects person in tow. I created a sitcom for Turner Entertainment based on my life as a mental health counselor called “Psych Ward.” I wrote and directed a national campaign for the Weather Channel that received 25 million impressions in a week. I developed a new beverage for Coca Cola where I designed everything from the flavors to the bottle to the advertising. For Mentos, I wrote and directed a global social media activation where an 18 year old college freshman handed out 43,000 pieces of Mentos Gum to 43,000 of his closest friends in 6 days elevating him to a global social media star.

As an independent writer and director I have the freedom to do my best work without the layers of bureaucracy. I have a lean team that knows how I work and supports me as I support them. When working in large global advertising agencies I always felt I could get 10X the work done on my own than with the cumbersome agency approach. And I’ve proven that. Over the past several years I’ve been successfully working directly with brands using my streamlined approach.

Regarding my fine artist side, I’m a conceptual painter. My art explores memory. Human nature dictates that memories fade, but I’m interested in the triggers that resurrect past memories and how those memories define and shape us. There are so many influential people from our past whether it’s a grade school teacher, a long term relationship or even a short conversation with someone in passing on there F train who may have disappeared from our consciousness, but had some meaningful influence on us. I paint my version of portraiture on found wood using my hands to work the paint into the textured wood creating iconic figures that evoke past memories.

The way my conceptual component works is I place a portrait of my subject, which is painted on wood, in a plexiglass case filled with seawater that will dissolve the portrait over a lengthy period of time. Attached to the plexiglass case is a small box filled with a scent representative of the subject such as juicy fruit gum, musty books, tobacco, or old leather from a motorcycle jacket. Also attached is an iPod filled with music that is the soundtrack to this person’s life..

As in real life our visual memories of even the most important people from our past fade, my portraits also disappear. We are left with only the scents and sounds which serve as powerful memory triggers to remind us of that person’s existence and influence. For me, there’s importance in not forgetting.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

My resilience story takes place in two parts.

The first part starts when I was kicked out of High School for the fourth time. Although I started off at a high level in high school, I got kicked out a total of four times and ended up working in a gas station as an apprentice auto mechanic and was hanging out with people who were not exactly enhancing my well being. I didn’t have a plan for college. I didn’t have a plan period.

One evening I asked a co-worker to take my night shift at the gas station as I had made other plans. The next day when I went back to work I learned that the person who took my shift was shot in the neck.(he survived) My thinking was, that could have been me and that was a good enough wake up call to make an abrupt change in my life. I quit my job on the spot and left all of those people I was hanging with behind. It took lot of wrangling, but I tested my way into Boston University who gave me a second chance. I took it seriously. Semester by semester I grew. I taught myself through sheer will and some panic to be disciplined about studying and about paying absolute attention in class. My first semester I received a 3.0 out of 4.0 and by my sophomore year I had a 4.0 grade average. This was about a realization of what I had to accomplish to not only survive, but excel. All of which was previously nonexistent. I found in myself the ability to become engaged and to find the joy in learning.

I made a complete turnaround, winning an academic scholarship and graduating with honors. This was no easy task, as those first couple years were filled with paralyzing anxiety until I finally allowed myself to settle down and understand that I could accomplish the task at hand.

The second part of the story, learning a lesson from the first part, is about being true to myself and becoming an artist and not a physician. I invested five years working in hospitals as well as taking my pre-med coursework and I learned a lot along the way, but in the end I was going to do what I really wanted to do for myself.

This was not a simple transition as I was starting all over again from scratch which was once again deeply anxiety producing. There was no plan, no money, no savings, and no support system to rely on. I did odd carpentry jobs and I’m not a carpenter, sometimes making a total of $5000-$6000 a year. I lived on one can of Progresso Chicken Noodle soup a day for a period of time. I ended up sleeping on the floor of a live in studio loft space that did not have a bathroom. I waited patiently for neighboring artists to awaken to use theirs.

When I discovered the portrait artist/teacher it was clear that I found my artistic path. Becoming an artist was going to be 10-12 hour days 7 days a week learning the fundamentals, but I found a purpose and had a plan so the struggles didn’t matter to me. Once again I found the joy in the work and it was easy to overcome any obstacles.

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

When I worked at the psychiatric hospital I encountered so many incredible patients with such moving stories that were sadly derailed by mental illness. I realized that those patients and their stories were going to be buried in that institution. Many years later, as an artist, I looked back upon that experience and I felt compelled to resurrect those stories through my art. There are stories of what we call the “everyday” person that I believe are no less important than any celebrity and those stories need to be told. That’s what my art mission is about.

Regarding my work as a creative director, my mission is to bring excellence to content storytelling by maintaining a sense of integrity from concept to production. I balance strategy, creative and entertainment to deliver engaging stories. We live in a world of binge watch streaming and I believe this is the new approach to advertising in this day and age. I want people to want to watch my work as much as they do “Stranger Things” That’s my goal anyways.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://mikesgoldberg.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mikegoldbergart
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikegoldbergcreative
• Other: https://mikegoldbergart.com

Image Credits
Meg Underwood Bethany Michaels