Creative Director, FF Los Angeles | Age: 30

“I’ve always been a project nerd, and loved anything that had a presentation,” says Steiger, who grew up in Plymouth, Massachusetts. “I loved art classes and anything that had a more creative twist to it. And I knew someone who worked in advertising in New York City, and I’d always dreamed of working there, so I went out there and shadowed him for a day, and there was so much energy and it just felt right for me.” She then applied to colleges in the New York area and was accepted by the School of Visual Arts: “the perfect place for me.” While there she did internships at Della Femina and then Y&R, and before even graduating she was offered a job by Y&R. “It wasn’t easy juggling classes and a full work load, but I learned so much,” she notes. 

After two and a half years there, Steiger then spent two years in Miami working for The Community before moving to 180LA where she worked for three years and racked up high-profile campaigns for adidas, HP and Expedia. That work earned her recognition as a One Club ‘Next Creative Leader’ and multiple Cannes Lions, One Show and D&AD awards, and in 2017 she landed a spot on the Business Insider 30 under 30 list. “When I left 180, I knew I wanted to go freelance, so I spent the next three years doing that, although it was more a case of nine months or so here, then nine months over there,” she explains. While freelancing with top agencies including Anomaly, 72andSunny and MullenLowe, she worked on campaigns for Diet Coke, Target, Facebook and HP. “I’d start on a project and then see it all the way through production, so I felt very lucky as most freelancers don’t get to do that, and I really enjoyed working like that.” 

So much so that when Steiger first met with FF co-founder Fred Raillard, it took some persuasion to get her “to join full-time,” she admits. “But he really convinced me that it was the right home for me, and I did feel a strong connection with their vision for a small and really creative company.” She joined FF in September 2018 to open the LA office, and oversees projects across the entire independent network in LA, New York, Paris and Shanghai. “I really feel the energy and passion,” she says of the new venture. “And I’m very excited about the future.”