Honor BRODIE

1. What was your very first job?
I started my career in Los Angeles as an assistant to a talent agent at ICM. 

2. Please describe, in your own words, what your job is and what work it entails. 
I’m the Creative Director at Tory Burch. I oversee the visual, written, digital and social narrative of the brand – leading a wildly talented team of editors, art directors, photo producers, writers, stylists, window designers and visual merchandisers. 

3. How did you discover that the creative world was right for you? Was there a time in your life that you credit to this discovery? Was there a train of events that brought you where you are today?
When I was working at ICM, I learned a lot about the creative industry: who’s who and how to connect different people with different skills. Then one day I read Susan Cameron’s book, The Artists Way. I realized I was a connector of talent (what Cameron calls a “shadow artist”), but deep-down I wanted to step out of the shadows and become a creator myself. My next step was making a lateral move and becoming the editorial assistant in Vanity Fair's west coast office. It is there that I learned image-making from the best editors, photographers and writers in the world. 

4. In your constantly growing and expanding industry, how do you find inspiration to keep your work fresh, innovative and relevant?
I’m soaking up inspiration all the time and everywhere I go: Literally just walking down the street or scrolling through Instagram. I consume a lot of culture: books, movies, documentaries, and art exhibitions. I listen to music. I love interiors and travel plays a big role, though, that’s on hold for now. 

5. If you had to pick one piece of work or project that you are most proud of, more for the creative work and innovation rather than its recognition or industry "success," what would it be?
It’s so hard to pick one. Over 10 years ago we did a shoot with Tina Barney – she so incredible to work with and the images are still some of my absolute favorites. And more recently, in early 2020 we launched our "Walk the Walk" campaign, shot with Mikael Jansson. This was our first campaign to incorporate Tory’s overarching message of women’s empowerment and share our call to action, for women to #EmbraceAmbition. Our first big shoot since the pandemic began was at Hancock Shaker Village in The Berkshires, and I love how that look book turned out--simple and modern like the collection.

6. Which creative disciplines do you commission most, and are most interested in seeing more of and why? Which of these disciplines are you most interested in seeing at CONNECTIONS? (i.e. photo, film, production, social, experiential, vr, cgi, animation etc.)
As a global company with so many digital touch points I commission a lot of photography and video. At CONNECTIONS, I am most interested in meeting with a diverse and inclusive group of creators (photographers, videographers, illustrators, graphic designers and art directors). One facet of the business that we are interested in seeing more of are examples of ideas that begin in the digital space and are successfully translated to the physical one (i.e. how does a creative concept that starts off in WeChat work across all of our global messaging channels, or how does an idea that works brilliantly on Instagram become a part of the in-store shopping experience).