Today’s Tidbits Birthday Girl is Erin Suvalsky, Digital Director at madmeg, a local creative services and communications firm.
29.
How are you celebrating your birthday this year?
Dinner with family and perhaps a World Series game to watch.
What’s on your birthday wish list?
Velcro Veja sneakers and new vacuum (this is what we have to look forward to…).
Best place in Houston for birthday cocktails?
Rosie Cannonball.
You are Digital Director at madmeg, a creative services and communications firm. Tell us about your background before joining madmeg.
This is actually my first job out of school! After graduating from The University of Arizona, I started at madmeg as an intern under Megan Silianoff and was soon after hired as one of her first employees. It’s been the best 6+ years!
What does a digital director do?
What doesn’t a digital director do? Ha! I oversee every piece of content that goes out on social media for our clients, copywriting, video editing, photography, a little graphic design, crisis management, all while managing a team – you name it, we get scrappy and figure it out.
Three apps you can’t live without personally, three apps you can’t live without professionally.
Personally – Hopper, Citizen, Heads Up
Professionally – Sprout, InShot, LastPass
As a digital director, what three pieces of advice do you give the brands you work with?
Inspiration is everywhere – take it and make it your own, but don’t try to replicate another business.
Your social media is your online portfolio, treat it as so.
Don’t assume because someone is young and uses social media for their personal pages, they can create an effective strategy for a business. Not to say they can’t, but it’s worth investing in a professional who has experience of working with a variety of industries and writing styles/graphic design experience.
What makes madmeg a cool place to work?
The people. It’s the people that make the job, not the other way around. (Although it doesn’t hurt that I love what I do, too.)
Who are some madmeg clients?
The beauty of madmeg is that every day is different and we get to write and work with a variety of businesses and industries. Currently some of the clients we are working with are Greenway Band – a local wedding band, The Center for ENT (it’s fun to nerd out when creating their content!) and a nationally known YouTuber/public figure.
Tell us about the power of social media.
What the general public sometimes forgets is that in times of crisis, social media is the first place people get information.
Throughout the last six years I have crafted messaging for iconic Houston businesses and brands (think Rice Village, Market Street, etc.) during crisis situations; the early days during the pandemic, 2021’s winter freeze, BLM, and more. During Hurricane Harvey, we were pushing hundreds of messages to Houstonians regarding which businesses were open, had power, were serving food, etc.
That is the positive side of what social media can do and one of the most rewarding parts of my job – bringing Houstonians and timely information together, even when we’re physically apart.
Best place in Houston for a working coffee?
West End Coffee House.
Breakfast, lunch and dinner, where are we most likely to find you?
Breakfast – El Tiempo Taqueria – the market next door to El Tiempo on Washington. Best breakfast tacos in town.
Lunch – The patio at Barnaby’s.
Dinner – Just tried Tiny Champions for the first time and it’s *chef’s kiss*.
Your daily uniform?
Head-to-toe black and basics – unless it’s from Rent the Runway and then I experiment with colors and patterns.
Always in your handbag.
Advil, Band-Aids, allergy meds, hand sanitizer – I’m totally the “mom” of my friend group.
Neighborhood you call home.
Rice Military.
Best piece of advice you’ve ever received?
Live like you’re at the bottom even if you’re at the top.
First thing you do when you wake up, last thing at night.
First thing – coffee. Last thing – TikTok – it’s definitely my guilty pleasure!
First job ever.
Sales associate at Learning Express Toys in Town & Country – I can still wrap any gift in record timing!
Best series you’ve binged lately.
Dopesick and Succession.
One thing people would be surprised to learn about you?
For someone whose whole career revolves around social media, you’ll only find me posting on my personal profiles maybe once or twice a year.
What is your sign?
Scorpio – I resonate with it but not outwardly with the stereotypical features. What I do identify with is the Enneagram test – I’m a true Enneagram 1 through and through!
@wearemadmeg
Want to be the next Tidbits Birthday Girl? Tell us why at submissions-houston@gotidbits.com.