The very first woman hired at Click, Sam is the artistic soul of the agency.

Here is her story :

 

Thom : How did you discover design as a vocation?

Sam : I think I’veI always known it was something I wanted to do: I’ve been drawing since I was little. My mother used to paint a lot, I took painting lessons, drawing lessons, sculpting lessons. I’ve always loved it but I didn’t know exactly in which field to go into.

I thought about going into illustration, doing cartoons, and things like that. But I had a teacher in High School who came in once with a bunch of brochures from Colleges and Graphic Design courses. He showed me what it was all about. He’d done a ton of research! I think his name was Robert.

T : Well thank you, Robert!

S : Yes! I was instantaneously interested and attended Cité Collégiale once I graduated High School. That’s how it all started for me. I’ve been passionate about it and haven’t looked back since!

T : So we owe a debt of gratitude to your mother and Robert! If we continue with your origin story : how did you get started at Click?

S: Once again, thanks to a teacher. My Web teacher, Jasmin, had been in the same class as Gab, our co-founder. He referred me to him since he knew Click was looking for Graphic Designers. I remember meeting Gab at a Moca Loca café in Gatineau. I ordered a green tea but didn’t even touch it – I was so nervous! As it turned out, everything clicked instantly and I’ve been with Click ever since!

T : Wow! Another cool story! You’ve been one of the OGs to work remotely from Gatineau. So you’ve seen all the personnel changes?

S : Yes, I was actually the first hired employee! I think I may even have been Gab’s first interview! It’s also been weird at the same time because I hadn’t met anyone in person before this year! Aside from Gab and Oli, our co-founders, the team is completely different from when I first started.

T : What aspect of your job are you most passionate about?

S : Of course I love designing! I like having such creative liberty: I can always create something cool and suggest things to clients. It would be a lot less fun to have to work on things I didn’t enjoy but as it is, I’m proud of the designs I present to clients and I’m really passionate about them.

When I started at Click, I was working with my own clients on the side focusing a lot on logos, page formatting, and that sort of thing. You’d think that you would have more creative freedom and that  it would be more fun to design logos than it would be to come up with ads with Click but actually, the opposite is true!

I didn’t enjoy designing logos. Mostly because clients were so specific in what they wanted: they would find pictures on the internet and wanted them replicated. Whereas at Click, our clients trust us and give us the creative freedom to be our best. It’s so much fun!

T: My next question is: what has been your experience as a woman in this industry?

S : It’s something I’m super proud of. Now, I’m not the only woman in my department. I’ve seen the hiring process for new employees: at first I was the only one, then we hired Myrna (another one of the first Click hires). I remember being so upset when she left because she was the only other woman at Click at the time. 

From then on we started hiring a lot more women and that was something that I was really excited to be able to share. 

Now, there are many of us and we’re a diverse group. I think that’s really cool!

 

I know there are many women graphic designers. It’s not an area that is necessarily just for men – there’s always been women involved: even 20-30 years ago, my mother-in-law was a graphic designer.

T : If you had one wish over the next 5-10 years, what would it be?

S : Within the profession, I’d of course love to help Click grow. I’d like to take a more important position, take on more responsibility, and master everything relating to graphic design. I’d like to continue evolving beyond design into something like Artistic Director! There’s a long way to go and lots of work to be done, but sure in 5-10 years, I think that’s something that’s realistic and it’s something that I’m working towards!

T : I certainly wish you the best, Sam!

—

You want to work in an artistic way like Sam? Applying, is step one!