Influential Woman · Advertising

Nora King

Senior Copywriter, BarkleyOKRP

Chicago, IL

Certifications · Degrees · Memberships

Degree BFA in Acting from CalArts Degree Graduated 2014

Her Story

About Nora

I work at Barkley OKRP doing advertising for Burger King. Every day is a little different, which is the exciting part. We might get a creative brief like 'we have this new burger coming out,' so then we concept all these ideas of how we could bring that to life and how that could show in a commercial. Once that idea is sold in, we go through a whole other process of going through casting, picking directors, then we go on set and film it, then we go to the editing room and put it all together. That's kind of the exciting part - the day-to-day is always a little different. My most notable professional achievement just happened in the last couple weeks. We did a campaign with Burger King's president where we released his phone number and asked people to give us feedback. That led to us filming him, and when we were filming him, we filmed him taking a bite out of the Whopper. That went viral because it was put up against the McDonald's CEO taking a very small bite of his burger. It's unreal - you know it's viral when your parents are sending you articles. I was on the Burger King team, and I had seen the McDonald's guy eating his, and I was like, wow, we gotta make sure we don't do that. As a result, when we posted that, it went viral.

Her Interview

Ten minutes with Nora

01What do you attribute your success to?

I guess a lot of things, but I mean, my mom is a doctor. She's really successful and has had to battle against another male-dominated field. So she raised me to kind of have a mindset of take no shit, and like, keep going, and keep going. Kind of like the tactful ways that we have to navigate the male ego, I guess.

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

I think I read something, I can't remember where I heard it from, but before you go into a meeting, if you're a little nervous or something, just embody the audacity of a man.

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

I would say do it, you're way more qualified than you think. Don't let people tell you to slow down. Trust your gut, because people will tell you to slow down. And trust your gut. And that it's really fun.

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

I would say the biggest challenge is that it's male-dominated. You just don't see a lot of female leaders, especially on the creative side of advertising. And so that can be a challenge because there's just not that many inspiring stories to look up to. However, I think on the positive side of that, there are a lot of female creatives coming up right now, so I have a feeling the industry is gonna change, and I'm curious how that's gonna reflect in commercials and advertising as a whole.

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

I would say to be a kind person. Lead with kindness. But also to have fun, because this is a short life, and so you might as well find joy in what you're doing, and even if it's getting stressful, you just have to remind yourself that this is a burger. We're selling a burger. Work hard, and really, leading with kindness and having fun - something that can really get lost in this industry. You see how stress can kind of eliminate that really quickly. Those are the first two things to go, I've noticed. So those are things that I have to repeat to myself.

Keep Exploring