Story & Lesson Highlights with Rick Wayne of Brooklyn

Rick Wayne shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.

Hi Rick, thank you so much for joining us today. We’re thrilled to learn more about your journey, values and what you are currently working on. Let’s start with an ice breaker: What are you most proud of building — that nobody sees?
We’ve been quietly building a New York advertising agency.

For the past three years, most people knew us as LiveLab, the experiential team behind pop-ups, tour buses, and branded spaces. But behind the scenes, we were evolving into something much bigger: Brand Imagination Group.

Campaign by campaign, idea by idea, we helped transform brands like Sharpie, Graco, and Paper Mate into global creative platforms. And somewhere in the middle of building brands for everyone else, we realized we needed to build our own.

That’s what I’m most proud of, not just the work we’ve put out, but the fact that we grew so much, we had to apply the same creative strategy we use for clients to ourselves. We were an agency long before we said it out loud. Now the world just gets to see it.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I started my career as a traditional director, shooting commercials, short films, and branded content. For years, my job began when the script hit the set. Now, as Executive Creative Director at Brand Imagination Group, I get to shape the story long before that. I help lead campaigns from the first spark of strategy to the final frame.

That shift, from director to ECD, has been one of the most rewarding pivots of my career. It’s sharpened my instincts for what makes an idea resonate, not just visually, but emotionally and strategically. I still think like a filmmaker, but now I get to help build the world around the film, too.

Appreciate your sharing that. Let’s talk about your life, growing up and some of topics and learnings around that. What part of you has served its purpose and must now be released?
You can carry the wisdom, but you can’t carry the ego. To evolve, you have to leave parts of yourself behind.

Life unfolds in chapters. Mine started in Chicago, where I cut my teeth filming weddings, music videos, and local businesses, learning how to find beauty in real moments and move fast.

Then came a decade in Los Angeles, chasing the Hollywood dream. Bigger budgets. Real sets. Narrative arcs and union lunch breaks. I learned the craft. I felt the pressure. I learned what it meant to direct.

I never imagined a third chapter in New York. Leading a creative agency. Building global brands. Not just telling stories, but shaping their public perception from the ground up.

To step into this role, I had to let go of who I was, the lone director, the freelancer, the guy waiting for someone to hand him a script. That part of me served its purpose. It taught me how to see, how to lead, how to trust my gut. But to grow, I had to shed the identity that got me here.

Was there ever a time you almost gave up?
“If you’re going through hell, keep going.” Right before the breakthrough is usually when everything feels like it’s falling apart.

I’ve hit those moments when the work got too hard, the outcome wasn’t matching the vision, or the momentum just wasn’t there. The kind of moments where you question everything: your path, your purpose, your talent.

But I’ve learned that what separates people who succeed from those who don’t isn’t talent. It’s the willingness to keep going when everything feels uninspired or impossible. The ability to push through the pressure instead of folding under it.

Every time I’ve resisted the urge to give up, I’ve been rewarded, not always with the result I expected, but often with something better. A new path. A new opportunity. A perspective I couldn’t have imagined.

So a lot of these questions go deep, but if you are open to it, we’ve got a few more questions that we’d love to get your take on. What’s a belief or project you’re committed to, no matter how long it takes?
I believe in the power of manifestation and gratitude.

Whether you call it spirituality, psychology, or hippie nonsense, there’s real magic in choosing to believe in possibility. The brain is elastic. It learns to hope the way it learns to train at the gym: awkward at first, then stronger every day.

For me, that mindset shift changed everything. When I started trusting that I was worthy of what I wanted and staying genuinely grateful as it arrived, my entire career expanded. I began to attract the right people, the right ideas, the right timing.

So yes, I believe you can ask the universe for what you want. But it’s not a wish. It’s a commitment. You have to keep showing up, keep giving thanks, and keep making room for the life you’re building—even when it’s not here yet.

That’s the long game I’ll never stop playing.

Okay, we’ve made it essentially to the end. One last question before you go. Are you doing what you were born to do—or what you were told to do?
I’ve always found it interesting when people say someone was born to do something, like having a perfect singing voice or a natural presence on stage. I don’t know if I was born with a specific gift, but I do know that what I’m doing feels embedded in my DNA.

Yes, I was lucky. I had supportive parents who handed me a camera and the space to explore. That gave me access. But talent only gets you to the door, curiosity is what keeps you walking through it. And over time, I realized that the creative path I’m on isn’t about a single moment of destiny. It’s about the continuous shaping of all the tools, instincts, and lessons I’ve picked up along the way.

So am I doing what I was born to do? Maybe.
Even after decades of knowing exactly what I want, that form is still evolving. That’s what keeps it exciting.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.gobig.nyc
• Instagram: @rick_wayne
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/underscorewayne
• Other: https://www.underscorefilms.com