Current Status: Alumni
Graduation Year: 2016
An English Literature major at HIU, Garrett Radford (BA ’16) led HIU’s delegation for the Harvard National Model United Nations, and served on several missions trips/work relief trips. His Hope experiences and education unknowingly made him the perfect candidate to become a Senior Writer at 72andSunny, an advertising agency that spearheads major campaigns all over the world.
Garrett was introduced to the ad agency by a fellow writer, and after a 3-month internship post-graduation, has been a full-time employee ever since. Radford reflects, “I had no clue what I wanted to do. A friend who worked as a writer at 72andSunny invited me to come by the office and see what it was like. He introduced me to lots of people, and somehow I got offered an internship despite having no direct experience and no portfolio.”
Garrett now writes scripts for national ad campaigns and says he spends most days, “banging his head against the wall to try and get the perfect line to fall out.” The process of writing scripts includes ping-ponging ideas back and forth with a creative partner, connecting film references, ideas, techniques, funny one-liners, and so on until something sticks, and from there, write it into a script. Garrett shares, “Actually selling a script and moving into production, getting to work with a director, going on set and seeing everything suddenly coming to life in front of you is incredibly rewarding. You run into a million problems and tons of red tape along the way, and for every idea you sell, there’s 99 that get shot down; but when you do get to see something through from conception to production, there’s nothing like it.”
In his time at 72andSunny, Garrett has worked on a few SuperBowl commercials, and even received 4 Emmys for one of his campaigns. Garrett explains that simply “doing your homework” can make you invaluable in any career. During his time at HIU, he graduated top of his class, and the discipline required to stay motivated in college has carried over into his career.
“For a long time, I always thought I just stumbled into this industry on my own accord, but it never seemed like what I was supposed to be doing. I felt like I was just doing this for me, and that at some point, I would start doing what God has really called me to,” Garrett says. “Recently, I’ve had this phrase running around my head, ‘Be where I have you.’ Instead of constantly worrying about where I should be, I just focus on where I’m at, serving through my work because God has made me a working being. May my work serve and please Him!”
