Meet Kejal Macdonald

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Kejal Macdonald. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Kejal, so many exciting things to discuss, we can’t wait. Thanks for joining us and we appreciate you sharing your wisdom with our readers. So, maybe we can start by discussing optimism and where your optimism comes from?

The short answer is that I think I’m biologically hardwired for optimism.

The longer answer is I think optimism is also a choice we make in our outlook, choices, and responses to life. It’s never lost on me how lucky I am. Just to be alive in the world, at this time, and to have my unique set of experiences and privileges. My parents were born in different countries, so just the fact that they met and created me is so unlikely. And when you move through the world feeling lucky, a sense of optimism naturally comes with it. I have always known that things will work out for me, and even when they don’t go exactly as I wanted, something great always comes out of it. Maybe that’s a blind faith, or perhaps a hopeful belief that has been validated over and over and over again in my life. But when given the choice between optimism or pessimism, I always default to the former. It also is so much more enjoyable to live that way.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

When I was in elementary school, I fell in love with marketing and advertising. I used to collect print ads (maybe not the most common thing for a 9 year old?) and while my peers were putting up Tiger Beat posters on their walls, my childhood bedroom was wallpapered in Got Milk? and Absolute Vodka ads. So it brings me (and my inner child) great delight that I now run my own marketing agency, Zuzu Digital. We work with brands like American Express, Resy, and CVS, helping them craft marketing strategies and execute creative that’s effective and compelling, whether that’s a website, emails, digital ads, OOH billboards, or videos.

A huge part of why I love my work are the people I work with. I have an incredible business partner, a phenomenal team, and the best clients. All day long I get to play, and be creative, and solve problems, and laugh a lot. I never get the Sunday Scaries or dread going to work because it’s tremendous fun and incredibly fulfilling, and it’s never lost on me how rare that is.

Humor has always been the lens through which I understand the world. And recently I’ve started doing stand up comedy at my local club, the Comedy Attic, in Bloomington, IN. It’s a big leap to go from enjoying and consuming comedy, to actually trying your hand at creating it, and that experience has been incredibly energizing for me (and sometimes terrifying).

I think when you’re living your life fully, all the parts of what you do and create should feel harmonious. This past year, it feels like all the aspects and dimensions of who I am are really rowing together in unison.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

I love this question. For folks who are just starting out, I want to reiterate that this all takes a lot of time. I’m 41, and I feel like I’ve just recently gotten my arms around all of this.

Without question, the 3 things I think everyone should focus their time, energy and attention on are:

1) Get to know yourself
Again, this takes time, but the most valuable time you can spend is really deeply and honestly getting to know yourself. Pay attention to your patterns, and the things you do that get in your own way. Do less of that. Figure out what makes you feel most alive. Do more of that. Become an expert in yourself and know that all of it will be constantly evolving over time.

2) Learn what YOU want
The easiest way to create a life that feels like a dream is to design it for yourself. But in order to do that, you have to know what a dream life looks like for you. Because it will look different for everyone, and you can’t build your dream life using someone else’s blueprints.

3) Experience as much as possible
Get out into the world and see and do as much as you possibly can. Say yes to adventures, and go places you never thought you would travel. Talk to strangers. Eat weird food. Put yourself in uncomfortable situations. Immerse yourself in the art of living.

What has been your biggest area of growth or improvement in the past 12 months?

I’m an Enneagram 7, which comes with lots of upsides, but one of the challenges is I can suffer from shiny object syndrome and consistency has always been a challenge for me. Over the past year, I’ve made building my consistency muscles a priority. I worked to embody a growth mindset and identified a few areas where I wanted to prove to myself I could have sustained consistency over time. It’s really been a game changer, not only learning that I can indeed be quite consistent when I want to be, but also just seeing the results of consistently working toward my goals.

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