Brand Name Day

My father was a one-man public relations shop in Manhattan back when that was more common than agencies. He was the first p.r. practitioner to be president of the Advertising Club of New York.

A few times a year he would take me to the Friday Brand Name Day luncheons which he often mc'd, and I was in heaven.

By the time I was in high school, I could join conversations with his fellow members. I had a "Graduate" moments when one of them said I should go into marketing. No, I thought. I want to be a radio d.j.; I'm going to be an artíste!

Whether by birth or observation, I did get the marketing bug. I was publicity director for my college FM station and sold ads on the station that played only to dorms, and I've been a sales and marketing guy ever since.