MEET QUIRK

Meryl has spent time at iconic agencies and fast growing start-ups. She began her career in public relations at MSLGROUP, working with clients including Cisco and Blackboard before joining Ogilvy & Mather where she oversaw IBM's advertising campaigns across 25+ global markets. Prior to founding Quirk Creative, Meryl built ad tech, start-up 6sense's brand from the ground up, helping secure $32 million in funding. She has been named in the Adweek Creative 100, The Drum 50 under 30, and has led Quirk to be recognized as Inc’s Fastest Growing Companies (2019) and Adweek’s Fastest Growing Agencies (2019). Meryl has been published in outlets including Forbes, Huffington Post and MediaPost.

Gaelan directs video ad campaigns and creative strategy for our clients. Recently, he directed the live-action film, "Blood, Sand and Gold" (2017 theatrical release), which was shot in six countries around the world. He has directed and worked on campaigns for Walmart, Uber, Spotify, Western Union, Williams Sonoma and others. His work has received awards including REGGIE - National Consumer Campaign, IAC - Outstanding Online Video, and W3 - Integrated Campaign, to list a few.

Born in the bayou, Armani Barron is an acclaimed production and visual designer. From video to experiential, she has immersed herself in a variety of mediums. Some of her most notable projects as a production designer and art director include, SELFISH, a self-help pop up experience, Women Of The Now’s short film Scutly, and the comedic web series All American Sex Offender.

Born and raised in Missouri, Stacey began her career working as an assistant in broadcast journalism. In 2016 she shifted not only content but location as she began coordinating music videos and branded commercials in Los Angeles, CA. This time not only solidified her love for the industry, but also helped develop strong production and management skills. In 2019 she left LA to continue her journey in New York where she’s been coordinating and associate producing with a range of companies until ultimately landing with Quirk! In her spare time she enjoys making epic holiday cards and attempting to cook without the fire department being called.

Born and raised on the Jersey Shore, Joanna began her advertising career in a hybrid role of Account Manager and Producer at a content agency, where she handled the planning and organization of dozens of shoots. Her favorite aspect of that role was developing client relationships / spending time with clients on set, which led her to join the Quirk team as a Senior Account Executive.   Joanna holds a BA in Advertising & PR from Penn State. When she’s not on set, you can find her on the beach with a good book or watching live music with friends.

Emily is a Copywriter and New Jersey transplant. Emily began her career at mcgarrybowen New York where she worked on a range of clients like Audible, Burt’s Bees, Subway, Northrop Grumman, and Crayola. In 2017, she even got the honor of retiring a crayon color (RIP Dandelion), which earned her a Reggie Award. When she’s not dreaming up ads, Emily writes sketch comedy at the UCB Theater.

Sydney graduated from the University of Idaho with a degree in advertising. She wants everyone to know that “Idaho is not in the Midwest,” and that “it’s not the same as Iowa.” Whatever you say, Syd! The fast pace of advertising and her craving for challenges initially drew her to this career path. She’s passionate about video production and people, which is why she loves being a Senior Account Executive at Quirk. On the weekends, she enjoys moseying around Manhattan—Americano in hand—in hopes of “running into” John Mulaney.

Many (many!) years ago Lindsay had the option of starting her career in new business at a digital agency, or going back to school for a masters in photography. New business won out and in a tale of two cities, she’s led growth for leading agencies in Boston and New York. Lindsay's favorite New York moment is sunset at the Met with the (not so now!) secret tip to go hours just before closing to enjoy the best views of the work and from the rooftop. Lindsay daydreams of having a dog named Dumpling or Pudding — share your vote!

Born on the east coast in Boston, Sam went on to graduate from Southern New Hampshire University with a degree in pre-law. At the start of her post-college career she considered going to law school, but the world had bigger plans. Sam moved out to the west coast of Southern California in 2019 and began her Marketing career with Primary, where she worked with some of the leaders in the Multifamily Real Estate industry. When she's not working she can be found shooting content for her Instagram and scouting out the best local coffee shops.

A San Francisco native and graduate of NYU, Evelyn began her career working in the fashion industry. First hired as an assistant, she worked her way up to becoming a producer where she discovered her love of being on set. Before landing at Quirk, Evelyn spent a year in Japan teaching English then eventually returned to New York to work in food media production. In her spare time she likes to experiment with vegan cooking and entertain the idea of adopting a dog.

Born in Guadalajara, Mexico (just like our sister agency), Chris currently lives in Brooklyn and has worked in the industry since graduating from Florida State University (capsule review: he majored in Marketing, Professional Sales, plus French, oh là là). Hot off the presses, Chris has been shortlisted for Campaign US, “Account Person of the Year”!

Chris combines keen attention to detail with genuine care for his clients. He started his career in B2B and managed the fully-integrated campaign for the debut of Spectrum Enterprise, upon the merger of Time Warner with Bright House Networks. After pivoting to consumer advertising, Chris has managed possibly every vertical. With his skills in the art of strategic and effective video advertising, he's increased engagement with Disney Princesses and converted users for Daily Harvest.

When he isn't at work, on set, or tending to his many house plants, you can probably find him at his local Bushwick bar fangirling over his favorite drag queen on stage (pre-COVID).

Wren leads the creative team and directs our video production from kickoff to final export. Some of the projects she’s led include Book of the Month, Nutrafol, Trade Coffee and TULA Skincare where the spots drove a 6x YoY increase for the brand. Business Insider named her a 2020 Rising Star of Madison Avenue for her leadership and ability to pivot. At the start of her career, Wren worked in the branding space, building many DTC wellness brands from the ground up. Her background in branding and her Communication Design degree from Parsons deeply inform her approach, and she loves bringing brands to life with video.

Queens native Annmarie Stec holds a BA in TV & Radio, and has worked hundreds of freelance production jobs across the country. She started her Quirk career as a Production Assistant, and steadily worked her way up to Producer thanks to her innate knack for making things run on time. An avid TV and movie watcher, she regularly beats the rest of the office at pop culture trivia. She speaks fluent Polish and is learning French.

A native Floridian with a love for the sweltering heat, Kim received her BS in Advertising at the University of Florida. She's an avid Florida Gators fan and you can find her cheering them on every Saturday during football season.

As Managing Director, Kim brings to Quirk Creative a keen sensibility for brands who need to do much more than tell a story, but move products and create real customer relationships.  

She has worked across account management and business development departments at agencies such as Badger & Winters, ROKKAN, Pereira & O'Dell, JWT, and Crispin Porter + Bogusky.

Ariel has been editing TV and digital ads at Quirk since 2017. She works closely with all aspects of post production, from color correction to sound design and animation to ensure all of our video dreams come to life. Prior to that she was part of a filmmaking team at Google called YouTube Director where she worked hands-on with dozens of small businesses to help them stand out.

Her love for video advertising began in her youth when she found commercials on TV far more entertaining than kids shows. By age 11, she and her brother would create ads with their family camcorder about random items they found around the house in Madrid, Spain, where she grew up.

Her favorite part of editing is finding the magical details that evoke that emotional spark for the viewer. When she’s not cutting away at her editing bay, Ariel enjoys riding her bike around Brooklyn, hiking in the Catskills, and being the proud mother of two cats and one tiny human.

Chris is a Copywriter who hails from the distant land of Idaho. In early 2021, he packed his bags and moved to Brooklyn. Back in Boise (that’s in Idaho), Chris cut his teeth working with a local advertising agency on regional brands and a few national brands like Blue Diamond Almonds, PATH, Funko, and Boeing.

Chris is a pop culture-loving, rootin’-tootin’ westerner who’s not really into cowboy or outdoorsy stuff. He does, however, love to write. That writing sometimes turns into an ad for a client, and other times it becomes a short film script or a comic book idea. He also writes and hosts the New York-based, pop culture podcast, G-Splash.