Mary Nadong is fresh out of university and has started as a junior copywriter at Chemistry. The Gen Z graduate tells us about her first month on the job.
Thirty days ago, I kicked off an exciting new chapter as a junior copywriter at Chemistry – an independent, powerhouse creative agency that punches far above its weight.
It’s been fast and slow, filled with small wins and plenty of hard-earned mistakes. I can’t believe I’m here. Let me tell you all about it.
The deep end isn’t always comfortable
One thing I quickly learned working in an agency is how much trust is dealt to you straight off the bat.
I wasn’t just running around and getting coffees – I was actually writing. Not long after my first day, my first official brief landed in my inbox. A couple of social posts for a sunscreen brand.
I thought to myself, how easy. So I took that week slow, getting to know the friendly faces around the office. It was clear that talent oozed from this place. It was the job you’d dream of in the lecture hall.
Meanwhile, I worked in the background and felt like I was in my element. I submitted work early and received some feedback a few days later. Tweak after tweak. I can’t lie: it was a little discouraging. I couldn’t help but obsess over the wording and read between the lines in each email.
Realisation was setting in that my writing was actually being reviewed by industry professionals – by real people on the outside. Over the weeks, I built resilience and learned an important lesson: real growth comes from setbacks and great ideas aren’t always born in a flash. Instead, they are often tweaked, refined or torn apart before they shine.
You don’t know anything about anything
Working as a creative in advertising, you can spend hours working on something completely intangible. You pluck ideas from your brain and shape them into something new. Investing so much time in one idea also creates attachment. After all, creatives are emotionally driven. We think with our hearts and pour ourselves into what we do.
But when you finally step into the industry, you quickly learn that the process of bringing ideas to life is far more complicated than it first appears.
In my first few weeks on the job, I made it a mission to almost… overproduce ideas. It was an ego thing – I was trying to prove I belonged there.
And in truth, it’s uncomfortable being fresh meat in a new job. Everybody talks about how exciting it is and it totally is! But it almost forces you to be in a position of vulnerability.
I remember my first ever meeting. I sat in silence trying to blend into the wall. People talked in code like I was sitting at the grown-ups’ table for the first time. It’s humbling to realise you’re starting from scratch and that can be hard when you’re so used to being confident in your knowledge.
You don’t know anything about anything, but the truth is: you don’t need to. At least not straight away. Half of the job is the creative aspect, but the other half involves navigating everything else. It’s a dance between creativity and practicality. If you knew everything about everything, well, you probably wouldn’t be much fun to be around. Embrace the unknown and everything else will come after.
It’s just advertising
“It’s just advertising” is a phrase I used to hear all the time and it was never said with good intent. The beauty and layers of the madness reduced to something so small in just three words. Now being immersed in the world, I’ve come to appreciate every piece of content I come across.
That being said, I faced my fair share of creative blocks over the last month. Being new to the game allows you to see projects through a completely fresh lens. And at first, ideas flowed effortlessly. But as time went on, the mental overload started to catch up and cloud my creative thinking. The tricky thing I’ve found about a creative job is that inspiration doesn’t always strike on command.
I’ve begun to implement this thing I like to call ‘creative foreplay’. It’s the idea that you need the right conditions or environment to spark innovative ideas. These factors don’t directly lead to more creative output but are essential for creating an environment where it can thrive in the first place.
And then there are times where I can say with relief that it’s just advertising. We aren’t saving lives, people! It’s easy to get caught up in the pressure, and I’m saying that to remind myself, too. Our work is about storytelling and human connection – that’s the bread and butter of what we do.
To sum it all up, it’s been an extraordinary 30 days. Every day has brought its own challenge and the smallest moments taught the biggest lessons.
Here’s to my first 30 days at Chemistry and many, many more
This story comes from NZ Marketing magazine issue 83, Jun-Aug 2025. Why not subscribe? Get four issues a year for just $50 (including delivery) if you autorenew.
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