Creative Minds: 'Go smash it like an avocado' is Stephanie Gwee's pep talk

Name: Stephanie Gwee

Place of origin: Singapore

Places lived and worked: Singapore. One glorious month in Los Angeles. I have just finished my second year in Melbourne.

Pronouns: She/her

CV:

• Creative director, TBWA and +61, Melbourne (2024 - present)
• Creative director, VML, Melbourne (2024)
• Creative director and Melbourne office lead, Wunderman Thompson, Melbourne (2022 - 2024)
• Associate creative director, BBH, Singapore (2021 - 2022)
• Senior copywriter, BBH, Singapore (2015 - 2021)
• Copywriter, Saatchi & Saatchi, Singapore (2011 - 2015)
• Account executive, McCann Erickson, Singapore (2010)
• Journalist, The Straits Times, Singapore (2007 - 2010)

1. How did you end up being a creative?

Before I became a copywriter, I was a journalist with The Straits Times in Singapore for three years, covering everything from crime to fashion to celebrity interviews. I then became an account executive for two whole months and very quickly realised that I would much rather write copy than briefs. Plus, being a copywriter required less time on Excel, which was a big selling point. I have loved writing throughout my life. Whether it is emo song lyrics or short stories, writing was always my go-to creative outlet or method for making sense of things. So, copywriting was a great fit. It’s now my fourteenth year in ad land, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

2. What’s your favourite piece of work in your portfolio?

I am really proud of a 1000-word short story for Getty Images. It was about how all the words in the world are gathered for an annual conference to determine which newfangled word will earn the right to be included in the English dictionary. I loved humanising the individual words, imagining what clothes they would be wearing, and how they would carry themselves. Reading the story again now, I would have tweaked and revised some sentences—but that’s just another example of how the craft process never really ends.

3. What’s your favourite piece of work created by someone else?

‘Rejected Ales’ from Howtson & Co makes me professionally jealous. The insight is so strong and led to such clever thinking. And the beautiful copy scratches the itch in that specific part of my brain. Classic ads like Ikea Lamp got me into advertising, and I will always aspire to that level of greatness.

4. Do you have a catchphrase?

Like any elder millennial, I say ‘cool beans’ a lot. My creative team calls me out on it every time. I also say, ‘Go smash it like an avocado’ before they leave for a presentation. It is dorky as hell, and I don’t have a good reason why I say it.

5. Who’s on your dream dinner guest list (alive or dead)?

I love British panel comedy shows. The chaotic energy of Miriam Margolyes, the late Sean Lock, and David Mitchell would make for incredible banter. Since this is a dream anyway, I will also throw in Stephen Fry for random historical facts and his hot takes on life.

6. What career did you think you’d have when you were a kid?

I wanted to be a war correspondent and studied political science in University. Then, I toyed around with the idea of being a diplomatic ambassador to Japan. When I was even younger, I desperately wanted to be in a girl band and may have formed a Spice Girls tribute band when I was 10. When I grow up, I still want to be Posh Spice. But with more smiles.

7. Do you work best under pressure, or when things are calm?

I think most creatives work well under some level of pressure. And I’m no different. Pressure stops me from procrastinating too much. Pressure can make diamonds, or pressure can also make farts. So, let’s just hope the outcome leans towards the former.

8. What advice would you give 10-year-old you, if you could?

Everything is temporary—your struggles, your successes, your awkward phase with braces. So don’t hold on to the bad days. They will pass. Don’t cling too hard to your past successes—if not, you won’t have the headspace to create new ones. Knowing that everything is temporary is quite liberating—it means you always get to reset and start fresh, even on the messiest of days.

9. What really motivates you?

The fear of not ever reaching my full potential, scares me into action. And knowing that there are folders of half-written novels or ideas that I just sat on and did nothing with. I also get motivated by good food—knowing I have a dry-aged steak feast planned, is the only way to get me to the gym.

10. How would your co-workers describe you?

I’ve had younger creatives describe me as having Big Sister Energy. I will  advocate for them, protect them from scary clients, give a pep talk after a presentation flops. But I will roast them if they wrap up a meeting with Gen Z lingo like “vibes” or “the presentation was giving.”

11. Tell us about an artist (any medium) that we’ve probably never heard of?

I am obsessed with Jonathan Anderson’s 10-year (and counting!) helm over at Loewe. 

The pixel dress by Loewe's Jonathan Anderson

He has an incredibly consistent artistic vision, but it comes to life in the most exuberant ways—from his use of textures and colours with his leatherwork, to his sensorial genius in making tomato leaves the scent of 2024. Whether it is creating a dress that looks like it is made out of pixels, or having a larger than life pumpkin on the runway, or having Maggie Smith front his campaign, or turning a tomato meme into an actual clutch bag, he embodies taste, substance and creativity like no other.