About Me:
Languages:
Outside of copywriter-for-hire (and slowly emerging writer of artsier stuff) Nik has been a ranch hand, a seller of soup-in-a-bread-bowl at a Renaissance festival, a foreign car mechanic, a short order cook, a waiter more than once (Italian chain, all-night diner, Sonic carhop), a factory worker (Quaker Instant Oatmeal), a landscaper, a mover, a mower (for the Dept of Defense), a house-husband and stay-at-home dad, and probably a half-dozen other things he's forgotten or won’t freely admit.
In his advertising life, he has been student and teacher, intern and creative director. He's produced work for TV, radio, print, direct, outdoor, social, influencer, guerilla — you name it — for major brands including: Coca-Cola, Goodyear, Whole Foods, UPS, Dell, Rheem/Ruud/Friedrich, Negra Modelo, Harrah’s Casino, Marshalls/TJMaxx/Homegoods, LongHorn Steakhouse, and many, many more.
Nik is also waging the epic struggle of a later-blooming literary life. Over the last several years he's had short stories (fiction) accepted for publication by Broad River Review, The Dead Mule School for Southern Literature, Esthetic Apostle, and Silver Needle Press. He was a finalist for the Rash Award in Fiction, and honorably mentioned by the Lorian Hemingway Short Story Awards. His poetry has been published by Underwood Press and recognized by Writer’s Digest. His non-fiction was deemed worthy of publication by Western Cowman magazine.​​ He's currently at work on several screenplays.
- Very okay English
- Very broken Spanish
- Very, very broken Esperanto
- Occasional Yiddish
- Outdated Slang
- Pretty good reading lips
​
Work experience:
Freelance Copywriter / Writer
Chattanooga, Tennessee
​(2025 — Present)
​
Nik the Freelance Copywriter is offering big ideas, polished scripts, tight headlines, and insightful (sometimes even clever) communication from a real-life human.
Nik the Writer is hard at work writing (and reading) screenplays and stories, poems and essays.
​
Skills:
​​Commercial Skills:
- Award-winning scripts
- Memorable, engaging copy
- Long-form content
- Brand stories
- Big ideas/Brainstorming
- Presentations
Artistic Endeavors:
- Short stories
- Poems
- Screenplays
- Essays / Articles
2010 - present
Stay-at-Home Dad
Charlotte, North Carolina
​(2022 - 2025)
Major career slowdown. Ad-wise. Art-wise.
But years with my kid (age 2-5) I wouldn't trade for anything, not even success.
Senior Copywriter
The Brandon Agency
Charlotte, North Carolina
​(2020 - 2022)
Full-time copywriting (100% remote) during the pandemic. Faced the difficult challenge of working on hard-hit tourism clients like Daytona Beach.
Freelance Copywriter
Austin, Texas and Charlotte, North Carolina
​(2016 - 2020)
Part-time copywriter-for-hire. Full-time writer-in-training (reading a lot, writing a lot). Major leaps in personal writing, as this period saw my first publications in both short fiction and in poetry. I also took a few workshops and classes in fiction and poetry from a local writing group called Charlotte Lit.
Associate Creative Director
GSD&M
Austin, Texas
(​2011 - 2015)
Yippee-kay-yay. Learning from some of the best, at the big agency in the boomtown. Lots of production time in LA and NY and Chicago, and even a few weeks in South Africa. I also wrote 35-ish drafts of an apprentice novel during this time, and received my first minor writing honors (an 8th place in poetry and an honorable mention in short fiction).
Senior Copywriter
Sicola Martin
Austin, Texas
(2011)
Helped turn highly technical material from Dell into effective creative communication; my introduction to B2B tech writing was not pleasurable, but my co-workers were wonderful. Donuts and breakfast tacos were also of the highest order. I finished the first draft (120K words) of my apprentice novel the week before starting at Sicola Martin.
Copywriter
Fitzco/Austin Kelley Advertising
Atlanta, Georgia
​(2003 - 2010)
At Fitzco (and Austin Kelley before the merger) I learned most of what I know about advertising and approximately 37% of what I know about life.
2010 - present
Instructor
Creative Circus
Atlanta, Georgia
(2005-2007-ish)
I was a fairly popular teacher (and not only because I was the same age as my students and we met in a bar). A significant number of my former students have gone on to great careers and I take full credit for not completely derailing their development.
Education:
Self-Taught
(2003-Present)
​
"I'm an autodidact. That word is one of the things that I self-taught myself."
-Greta Gerwig
​
This isn't entirely true. It hasn't all been self-study. I've taken fiction and poetry and screenwriting classes online and in-person, through a few different organizations: American Short Fiction Magazine, Charlotte Lit, the Sewanee Review, and Screenwriter Brunch Club.
Portfolio Center / Miami Ad School
Atlanta, Georgia
(2001-2003)
Studied under and graduated from the Copywriter Program. This school changed my life, and for many years determined the direction of my life. Like many alums, I was sad to see it close in 2025.
University of Kansas
Lawrence, Kansas
(1999-2000)
Approx. 15 credit hours completed.
Kicked out of English 102.
Orange belt: Tae-Kwon-Do.
My time in college was neither extensive, nor impressive. In my Advertising 101 class one day I read about a place in Atlanta called Portfolio Center. I dropped out of KU at the end of the semester, worked a series of odd jobs, and started building my first portfolio.