Elephant Appoints Paula Maki as Vice President, Creative

Creative agency Elephant announced today the appointment of Paula Maki as vice president, creative. Reporting to ECD Chris May, Paula will be responsible for creative strategy, writing and campaign development for Elephant’s West Coast-based clients and new business prospects.

“We are overjoyed to have Paula join our team on the West Coast,” said Chris. “Paula’s strength lies in her versatility and her ability to adapt flawlessly across all of our offerings at Elephant – brand, product and advertising. She’s a conceptual thinker and a brilliant writer who understands the connection between strategy and creative. Not only does Paula create exceptional work, she can both articulate and sell in her ideas. She has already made an impact on our business and will be a huge asset for our clients in the coming months.”

With over 15 years of experience, Paula has a track record of creating award-winning work at some of the best known agencies in the industry. Most recently, she was creative director at 72andSunny where she worked on brands including Tinder, Uber, Allstate, eBay and more. During this time, Paula was behind Allstate’s popular 'Mayhem vs Tina' campaign starring Tina Fey.

Before that, Paula spent ten years at Mono, starting out in Minneapolis as copywriter and advancing to creative director where she worked on a diverse mix of clients including Target, Propel, Firefox and Riot Games. In 2015, Paula was elevated to managing creative director charged with co-building Mono’s first outpost in San Francisco. While there, she cultivated a talented team of thinkers and led creative for brands such as Google, Symantec, The North Face, Stanford Health Care, KRAVE and Patreon. She started her career at Fallon as a copywriter.

“What excites me most is the increased need and opportunity for storytelling, especially for brands that have previously taken a more straightforward and traditional approach to comms,” said Paula. “I love to bring a client’s ambitions and goals to life, making them feel authentic and true to the person on the receiving end. Elephant has been at the forefront of pushing boundaries in the digital product and brand space, and I can’t wait to bring my storytelling roots to the table and enhance our offerings even more.”

Paula’s appointment comes on the heels of rapid growth on the West Coast, resulting in several new hires within Elephant’s creative, UX and UI teams. These include: 

- Luna Hurtado as associate creative director, copy

- Conor Mckiernan as creative, UX

- Ryan McSwain as creative, UI

- Brittany Teng as senior creative, UI

- Ian Liu, senior creative, art

- Olivia Gericke as project manager