Kellen Renard

Kellen Renard

Kellen Renard

Kellen Renard

Copywriter

Kellen attributes her creativity to her unusually vivid and elaborate dreams she has almost nightly. As a kid, it became a routine to regale her mom with the events of her latest dream every morning on the car ride to school. Even today, she keeps a journal next to her bed to quickly scribble down the interesting tidbits of her dreams to interpret later. (Her sister bought her Sigmund Freud’s Interpretation of Dreams for her 14th birthday. Since then, it’s become a hobby.) Now she’s just waiting on her subconscious to dream up the next Great American Novel. In the meantime, she’s content with copy.

Kellen spent this past summer in Hong Kong and Prague working on international campaigns for Cathay Pacific Airlines and Kozel Brewery at McCann Erickson. Go ahead; ask Kellen how sick the Hong Kong office was, she’ll gladly gush over it. The work experience section of Kellen’s resume is a hodgepodge of odd jobs involving drinks from bar maid to barista to juice cleanse maker. Maybe some people wouldn’t consider that relevant, but to her, advertising is more about understanding people and how to relate to different groups rather than learning how to work an Excel sheet. These days, she keeps herself busy with the love of her life, her Husky-German Shepard mix named Juneau.

Jon Beltrano

Jon Beltrano

Jon Beltrano

Jon Beltrano

Copywriter

Jon was born a dancer. Every morning, he starts his day off with a Chicago-themed mug of pipin’ hot green tea and cuts a rug to either Beyoncé or Michael Jackson in his living room.

Unfortunately for Jon, there’s no dancing gigs in advertising, so now he’s letting his hands do the Charleston as a copywriter for MOJO Ad. His first stint in fiction was in second grade when he read different installations of his short story series called “Saffi’s Adventures” to an eager classroom every week. Saffi was a pink knight who brandished a dagger and travelled to different dimensions to save his kingdom after it was taken over by a vengeful dragon. Ever since, it’s always been about writing for an audience for Jon.

Before Mizzou, Jon finished his first two years of college at Waubonsee Community College and wrote for two newspapers and a community magazine. He headed a comics and Mad Libs section, along with hard-hitting news and opinion pieces, and made sure those “fill-in-the-blanks” were set up to be as raunchy as he could possibly get away with.

For the past year, he’s been interning for an in-house marketing team at Flat Branch Home Loans, writing content about mortgage assistance and financing a home. This may take plenty of research, but as long as he’s paired with a mug of caffeine and earbuds playing his favorite Spotify playlists, he’s ready to groove out any strenuous task. Eventually, all that writing about the Midwest convinced him to study abroad and expand his worldview in Hong Kong this past summer, where he built a global campaign with a team of students for McCann Erickson. He fell in love with the neon lights and karaoke nights, and has his heart set on returning after college, even if mostly for the pineapple buns.

Ben Kochuyt

Ben Kochuyt

Ben Kochuyt

Ben Kochuyt

Copywriter

Ben Kochuyt would have never thought in a million years that he would ever work as a writer, but looking back on it now, that was a pretty stupid thing to think. Writing has been a part of Ben’s life from the very beginning. His earliest memories are him lying on his bed, listening to his dad read stories aloud as he fell asleep. As an only child, he occupied his time either filling his backyard with scenes from his imagination, or burning through book series’ in his room. And the proudest moment of his young life came from delivering a speech he wrote on hotel napkins the night before.

Eventually, after changing majors for the fourth time, he discovered advertising. It was the perfect mix of logic and creativity with infinite room for interpretation and a mandate for genuine human connection. Nothing else even came close. Eventually landing a copywriting position with MOJO Ad, he has worked mainly as a freelance writer for various small companies around the nation. This last summer, he lived and studied in Barcelona, where he worked for an international nonprofit helping them fully rebrand their organization, build a website from scratch, optimize social media strategies and draft emails to board members and constituents. Additionally, he worked directly with designers to produce social graphics, annual reports and various content for the website. After graduation, he plans to return abroad, explore the globe and work for a big city agency.

Danny Rosenberg

Danny Rosenberg

Danny Rosenberg

Danny Rosenberg

Copywriter

Danny Rosenberg has always wanted to be a writer, but he didn’t always know which kind. Born and raised in Overland Park, Kansas, he tried his hand at being a movie critic in elementary school, but that dream died when Roger Ebert failed to respond to his Flat Stanley-style letter in third grade. He dabbled in news writing in high school, but it wasn’t until he began watching Mad Men that he found his true calling as a copywriter. He hasn’t looked back since, and his tenacity and quick-wit have landed him copywriting internships at Sullivan Higdon & Sink in Kansas City, Missouri, and Publicis North America in New York. The way he folds a pizza slice will never be the same.

In his brief but illustrious career, Danny has spent his time in the industry examining the dirt and grime that builds up in a roommate relationship for Swiffer, drooling over pictures of tater tots and slushies for Sonic and comparing a bad romance to a dry cleaning experience for Tide Dry Cleaners. Working on Citibank, he learned that the only thing harder than playing golf is writing about it.

When he’s not trying to go back in time to stop the JFK assassination, Danny loves nothing more than a night in watching movies with friends. His favorites, in no order, are Superbad, Boyhood and Little Miss Sunshine. His biggest creative influences are Judd Apatow and Larry David, and he hopes to become a screenwriter after a storied career as an ad man. His Patronus is a beagle.