Alumni Spotlight: Jordan Chlapecka

Jordan Chlapecka (B.A. ’11) is this week’s featured alum in our new Alumni Spotlight series for the This Week at Meadows e-newsletter. Each week, a different Meadows alum will be highlighted for their accomplishments post-graduation.

For Jordan Chlapecka, the time he spent at Meadows was formative for his career decisions and his artistic trajectory. Surrounded by a supportive artistic community, he was inspired to take classes like Solo-Performance and Graham for Non-Dancers but it was his time in the Division of Advertising’s Temerlin Advertising Institute (TAI) that really solidified his professional journey.

“Without the likes of TAI’s Creative Advertising Track, I wouldn't be where I am today,” explains Chlapecka, who is currently the Creative Director for global advertising agency Momentum Worldwide. “In the program I learned how to think, and I started my journey of discovering my taste and style.”

Chlapecka’s role as a Creative Director at Momentum Worldwide is creating experiential advertising, which is how brands interact with their consumers. This approach differs from traditional advertising in the form of commercials or social posts, and instead focuses on the experience of the customer. From a pop-up at the US Open to an Augmented Reality Experience to shop for small businesses, creating experiential advertising opportunities takes a variety of skills, many of which Chlapecka honed while at SMU.

“You aren't just sitting at a computer all day; you're talking with photographers, working with talent, and collaborating with directors,” he says. “The collaboration we, as students across Meadows, fostered and pushed for helped me understand how to work in a field like advertising.”

Being exposed to creative collaboration and an encouraging community of artists also inspired Chlapecka to develop his own theatre company in 2014. He is currently the co-artistic director of Linked Dance Theatre, an immersive theatre company that makes cool interactive theatre in New York City.

Learn more about Meadows' Division of Advertising here.