The average American sees over 50,000 ads in a day, a 150% increase from 30 years ago. In this growing landscape inundated with advertisements screaming ‘Look here!’ or ‘Buy this!’, it can be easy to be overloaded with information. In fact, many of these ostensibly memorable TV commercials are often overlooked, but could some of the most prominent ads have been curated by a Jesuit grad? Surely not, that’s what big cities like New York or Los Angeles produce, after all. Well, your city of Dallas is home to one of the premier ad agencies in the nation, and a Jesuit alumnus works there. Small world, huh?
Mr. Taylor Smiley ’99 of The Richards Group spoke to the Entrepreneurship Club on November 12th, 2015, giving insight into his journey into the world of business after graduating from Jesuit.
Before graduating in 1999, Smiley was the varsity lacrosse captain for Jesuit. Luckily, he was able to retain his passion for the sport at the University of Richmond, playing lacrosse and participating in the student government there. Smiley went on to graduate from Richmond in 2003 and immediately received an opportunity to work for the NBA Headquarters in New York City. Through 2007, Smiley was an active part of the corporate sponsorships department as well as the NBA Cares campaign, which has held events globally. That same year, Smiley moved to New Orleans, Louisiana in order to launch a non-profit organization for athletes in the 9th Ward called ELEVATE NEW ORLEANS. Smiley’s impact is still felt today, as the organization is now six years old and currently partners with the Loyola University of New Orleans and the New Orleans Saints. Aside from ELEVATE NEW ORLEANS, he ran a downtown concert series aimed to raise money for local food banks. In 2010, Smiley returned to Dallas and was hired by The Richards Group, his current place of employment.
Smiley currently works for The Richards Group, a leading advertising agency based out of Dallas, and leads a sports, entertainment, and marketing division. According to Smiley, “The Richards Group reports annual billings approaching $1.25 billion. Memorable work includes the iconic Chick-fil-A Cows (“Eat Mor Chikin”), the Motel 6 campaign featuring Tom Bodett, and the dialogue-free Corona Beer TV commercials set on tropical beaches.” Along with these easily recognizable clients, Smiley has also contributed to the ad campaigns of Bridgestone, TXU Energy, Gamestop, and The Salvation Army, to name a few.
With such an impressive résumé, Mr. Smiley’s background and endearment of his alma mater made his invitation almost automatic. Mrs. Dea Ochs, the club’s moderator, believes that “Mr. Smiley really loves Jesuit… He’s a little bit younger; he’s in his early thirties, so I think he’s more relevant to them.” Ochs recounted that Smiley has remained humble and that “nobody at 18 or 17 wants to know what they want to do. If they do, that’s not what they’re going to be when they grow up.”
Even though a lot of the themes discussed by Mr. Smiley were only focused on a small portion of ‘business,’ Ochs believes that “Entrepreneurship, by definition, means risk-taking. I know people think entrepreneurship means starting a business and that’s all this club talks about, but we talk about risk in business on a lot of different levels.” She concluded, “Obviously if you’re not effective at marketing, what good is that? If you’re a doctor, but not effective at starting a practice, what good is that?” Similarly, Matthew Favre ’16, president of the club, took an interest in the piece of advice that “it’s really good to be involved in a lot of different things, which is often preached at Jesuit.” However, he also explained that we shouldn’t let our extracurricular activities now or our careers in the future define us. He really emphasized “the importance of being true to yourself, and how that can make a difference in being not only successful but also happy.”
Even though the nature of economics, acquiring capital, and marketing a product can seem overly complicated and even esoteric to some Jesuit students, Ochs believes that when people hear “the term, ‘Entrepreneurship,’ some people think ‘well I’m not ever going to start a business, so why would I go in that club?’ This club is much broader; we talk about investment, we talk about raising capital… what it’s like to be in business, and what it’s like to be a man for others in business.” Indeed, the thematic range of Entrepreneurship club is large, and every Jesuit student can greatly benefit from weekly meetings, guest speakers such as Mr. Smiley, or even considering business as a career path.
The Entrepreneurship club’s next guest speaker will be Mr. Chris Cook, founder and current CEO of Sleep Experts Mattress Store, who is a graduate of Jesuit. The meeting will take place on December 10th, before school, in Room A123.
