Influential Woman · Marketing and Advertising

Lindsey Shaw

Senior Copywriter, Critical Mass

Detroit, MI

Certifications · Degrees · Memberships

Degree Bachelor's in Journalism Degree Michigan State University

Her Story

About Lindsey

As a senior copywriter on the Delta Faucet creative marketing team, I handle creating names for new products going to market and managing trademarks. When there's a new faucet, shower head, or bath or kitchen collection, it needs a creative, on-brand, trademarkable name - that's what I'm tasked with. After 2 or 3 rounds to figure out what everyone can agree on for pronunciation and being on brand, we file for the trademark application. There's an admin and managerial feel to my job right now, and as a senior level copywriter, I'm trying to find the positives in that because having more managerial skills is going to be beneficial in the long run. The other leg of my position involves putting together communication guides for products - a consolidated collection of copy that people from different teams can source material from. The communication guide consists of headlines, short, long, and romance copy, as well as key bullets and key features for the product. It's a one-stop resource for all the different products in our portfolio. I'm most proud of the work I've done on the McDonald's account over the years, creating content for McDonald's, because that was not only more creative and gave me more creative liberty, but obviously McDonald's is such a huge, recognized brand that having any sort of footprint on their website is a point of pride for me.

Her Interview

Ten minutes with Lindsey

01What do you attribute your success to?

A huge part of getting to this point in my career has been staying persistent - following up to emails, making calls, networking, really networking and seeing who in my personal life might have a way to open a door for me, never holding back from just asking for help or inquiring about a potential door being open because someone knows someone somewhere. I remember back in college at Michigan State, I got two really great internships back-to-back. I had interned at a local news station, and I remember getting that was not easy. I had to meet with one of the deans of the journalism school at the time and really prove my case as far as why I thought I deserved the internship at the news station, and that was followed up by interning at the Lansing State Journal. Lansing is the capital of Michigan, so working at the major newspaper there and learning alongside those writers was huge. I remember someone saying, how have you gotten such amazing internships back-to-back? And I remember just answering because I was persistent. I think that just comes with being assertive and confident again, even if it's blind confidence at the time, just knowing that you have something special and unique to offer a team, and following through and following up, networking - that takes persistence and determination.

02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?

Learning how to take feedback humbly, learning how to ask for help when you're feeling underwater, and taking the constructive feedback and any feedback with humility and a positive attitude.

03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?

I think the biggest piece of advice would be believing in your work, having the confidence and believing in what it is you can bring to a team, even when there's learning curves, even when there's friction, even when there's ideas that don't get picked up or they don't pan out the way you might have initially expected them to. Just still believe in yourself and believe in what you have to offer, always.

04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?

A challenge is the ever-growing presence of AI and the fear of maybe getting replaced by it. But the opportunity there for a writer is to show how AI could never duplicate something you create.

05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?

Integrity, of course, being honest, being straightforward and transparent, both in my personal life and at work. Just staying confident, but also humble. Trying to strike a balance between having your confidence, but also being open to feedback in life and at work, being open to things changing quickly, just sort of maintaining your sense of self and confidence with room to grow.

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