The Art & Practice
of Creative Collaboration
Hi, I'm Marcella Allison.
I’m a mentor, speaker, teacher, copy chief, author,
and fierce advocate for women in business.
Collaborating and Co-creating
I’ve spent my entire career working and collaborating with creatives – writers, artists, freelancers, inventors, and entrepreneurs. And what I’ve discovered is that the best collaborations are more like jazz ensembles than symphonies.
You’re co-creating in the moment. You’re bringing all your individual skills to bear, but you’re also paying attention to what everyone else is doing. So that you can combine it in a new and exciting way.
In his book Group Genius: The Creative Power of Collaboration, Keith Sawyer explains that unexpected insights and breakthroughs come from the group, not the individual. It is creative collaboration that drives innovation, not the lone genius. The lone genius is a myth.
My superpower is constructing
safe and engaging spaces
where
creative collaboration can take place.
I know how to create psychological safety so that participants feel free to contribute their best ideas. I know how to teach and train creatives without crushing their spirit or letting their egos run wild. I know how to teach high-level skills in a way that beginners can access. And I know how to use co-mentoring and collaboration to produce results far beyond what any one person can achieve on their own.
My dear friend and mentor Carl Solway, owner of Carl Solway Gallery, once told me, “I love working with artists because they are so passionate about what they do that they will sacrifice their own comfort and security just to be able to create every day.” I feel the same way about working with other creatives and entrepreneurs. Their passion and drive inspire me.
From Contemporary Art to Copywriting…
They’re More Alike than You Might Think!
In my twenties, I wrote promotional copy for graphic art books. That turned into a job as the business manager for Carl Solway Gallery, a multimillion-dollar international art gallery. That is where I first met Nam June Paik, the founding father of video art, and became his bookkeeper in addition to editing an exhibition catalog for him. Nam June collaborated with artists all across the globe, and he taught me a lot about the power of creative collaboration.
Next, I shifted from working with creative artists to working with creative entrepreneurs. I partnered with a large direct mail organic gardening company to test a retail store concept. Then, after getting my MBA, I performed financial due diligence for early-stage medical companies, working side by side with scientists and inventors to turn their ideas into business plans that could land venture capital funding.
Finally, I returned full circle to using my creative writing skills to help entrepreneurs sell hundreds of millions of dollars of products, including financial trading services, financial newsletters, health supplements, alternative health books, online courses and programs, and more.
The “Most Mentored” Copywriter
in the Business
I’ve been called “the most mentored copywriter in the business” because I’ve had the great fortune to be trained by direct response legends like Parris Lampropoulos, David Deutsch, Clayton Makepeace, Mark Ford, Mike Ward, and more.
Their mentoring helped me to skyrocket my career working with some of the top direct response companies in the industry. I’ve written for The Motley Fool, BottomLine, Inc., Advanced Bionutritionals, Money Map Press, Metabolic Living, The Bo Eason Group, and more.
In 2018, American Writers and Artists Inc. named me the Copywriter of the Year for my outstanding performance record and impact on the copywriting industry, an award I now share with many of those mentors and legends.
Mentoring the Next Generation of Legends
Today, while I continue to work with leading direct response companies as a copywriter, I’m also paying it forward by mentoring the next generation of copywriting legends in the making.
I’m particularly passionate about paying it forward to women. In 2014, I was at yet another major industry event without any women on the stage. So I hijacked every woman in the room and founded the Titanides, an organization dedicated to mentoring and promoting women in the direct response industry. I grew the organization to 2,500 women before selling it to Silicon Valley start-up MentorCloud in 2022.
But my passion for mentoring women continues. I’ve mentored hundreds of female freelancers, copywriters, and marketers over the past decade. I’ve connected women with clients and opportunities, put them on stages, featured them in books like Why Didn’t Anybody Tell Me This Sh*t Before? and started a movement that continues to ripple through the industry today.
A co-mentoring luncheon of top women in marketing, advertising and copywriting.
Fostering Authentic Connections
Between Creatives, Clients, and Customers
But it’s not just women…
When it comes to mentoring, I’m an equal-opportunity mentor and teacher.
I designed and led Money Map Press’s proprietary training program, The “Harvard” of Copywriting Schools, for their in-house and freelance copywriters. Currently, I design and lead the American Writers and Artists monthly Mastermind and PowerUp Onboarding Series for their highest-level members. And I continue to speak and train at major industry events.
Tapping Into the Power of Creative Collaboration
From contemporary artists to mad scientists, to option traders, to publishers, to entrepreneurs… all creatives share one desire in common in my experience: to bring something new into existence that has never existed before. Whether that’s a painting, a product, a promotion, or a company, it doesn’t matter, the desire to create is the same.
Like my beloved mentor, Carl Solway, I love working with creatives. I love being part of the creative process. Over the decades spent working with creatives, I’ve learned what it takes to build and provide safe, engaged spaces where copywriters and creatives can learn, thrive, and grow.
Let’s collaborate together.
Love,
"Marcella continues to pay it forward… changing more lives than she probably will ever realize."
"A force to be reckoned with, a bundle of energy that never stops"
"Years of Valuable Info Packed into a 30 Minute Call"
"Pushing Copywriters to Reach Their Full Potential"
"Remember the best teacher you ever had? That’s Marcella"
