Taking advice from an older sibling can be tough, particularly if they're fond of the "I told you so" method of encouragement. But Regina Brizzolara's sister's astute guidance set off a chain of events that would eventually lead to her current roost as head of broadcast at McKinney + Silver in Raleigh, NC.

Like many young adults who aspire to lofty professions, Brizzolara had her professional sights set on a career in pediatrics. She debated the decision all the way to college until her sister, a nurse, suggested that she volunteer for at least an entire summer in a hospital to see if she had the chops.

"She didn't think I was cut out for it. I worked in the emergency room at Northwestern Hospital [in Chicago] for the summer and was the liaison between the families who'd just come in and were waiting to get information," says Brizzolara. "It was really brutal, but she was right; it was way too intense and emotional."

Instead, the Chicago native went to study Organizational Behavior (a fancy name for HR, she says) with a minor in Spanish and Creative Writing at Northwestern. Post graduation, Brizzolara took a job at Avenue Edit, where she worked for three years before deciding that, based on the agency's reputation and North Carolina's profound difference from Chicago, she wanted a job at McKinney.

For Brizzolara, the job came easy, in both the literal and figurative sense. As she tells it, after applying to the agency in 1994, she met with now-COO Joni Madison on a Friday, got a job offer on Saturday and was literally on location in Puerto Rico as a production coordinator for Royal Caribbean with director Leslie Dektor the following Friday.

But more importantly, Brizzolara says the job just felt right. "I had no designs to get into advertising and I never thought that this is where it was heading when I took that job at Avenue. It just fit so well, that's the crazy thing."

Indeed, McKinney executive creative director David Baldwin says, "A sign of a good producer is when the client likes them, the creative people like them and the account people like them. That's Reg; she's very passionate, friendly and fun."

Now managing a department of 15 as head of broadcast, a position she has held since 1999, Brizzolara produces about two jobs a year herself and has recently overseen projects for Sony, Travelocity and, perhaps most memorably, Audi's "Art of the Heist".

The much-lauded Audi campaign - which was a multi-faceted alternate reality game revolving around an Audi A3 stolen from a Park Avenue location, and included a storyline spanning online films, games and live events - is a testament to the expanded role of producers at McKinney.

"[With Audi] we were more than just TV producers," says Brizzolara. "I think that goes for my whole department; we don't consider ourselves broadcast producers anymore."

The change, she says, comes from both technology and its increased offerings, not to mention the consumer. "It's all about how to reach [consumers] and how they want to be reached. The shift feels natural, gradual and logical."

Continuing in that vein, Brizzolara recently produced a campaign for Sony's new handheld communications device, Mylo, aimed at the 18- to 24-year-old demographic. Dubbed "Thumbternity" and launched at select campuses in October, the spoof of fraternity rush culture included everything from spots to virals, print, live events, web games and an entertaining website.

Baldwin says Brizzolara meets such large-scale challenges with aplomb. "Regina's standard operating procedure is built entirely around making things happen. The word 'no' isn't in her vocabulary. She usually just says, 'Leave it with me'," he says. "She owns what she's working on and if that takes three days straight with no sleep, that's what she does. She is one of those people who does what she says she's going to do. Her word is rock solid; you can't put a price on that."

Despite recoiling at the thought of ever being a writer, she most enjoys being a part of the story. "The work itself and how you approach it is the most exciting thing. I just love taking chaos and turning it into order. I think I love helping people believe; taking something from paper into what it could be - something that's beautiful, interesting or funny."

AGENCY BRIEF
Agency producing is to campaigns as pregnancy is to childbirth.
Who's your dream director?Lance Acord.
Who should play you in Advertising: The Movie? Joan Collins.
Which could you go longer without: your Blackberry or toothpaste? Blackberry. Besides, I am so loud most people living in the domestic US can hear me anyway.
In five words or less, describe the perfect conference call. Ones where only I talk.
Strangest moment on the job? When a PA came up to me and said, "Excuse me, but your art director is on fire". Really, I thought? He was! My South American art director caught on fire while standing too close to the space heater on top of a mountain (having just come back from receiving oxygen). He had never been near one.
The buzz word or term you are sick to death of hearing? Due diligence.

McKinney + Silver http://www.mckinney-silver.com