Josef Pellegrini (Copywriting, 2026)
My journey in advertising started in 2020. When I graduated from high school that year, I attended San Diego State University, intending to get a degree in Mechanical Engineering. I didn’t know what I wanted to do in life, so I decided to follow in my dad’s footsteps. It worked for him, so why wouldn’t it work for me? As you could probably guess, I quickly found that Mechanical Engineering was not for me, and neither was San Diego State University for that matter. After only one semester, I moved back home to Virginia and attended Northern Virginia Community College. There, I got an Associate Degree in General Studies—exciting stuff, I know!
But something wasn’t right. I was lost. My gut told me I was meant to work in a creative field, but which one? I still didn’t know. I ended up going back out west. This time to the University of Oregon to study Advertising. I decided I wanted to go into Graphic Design and I figured Advertising would be a good place to sharpen those skills.
When I started at Oregon, I had to hit the ground running. I was a junior, intending to squeeze roughly four years of study into two. I had never taken an Advertising class before that year, so I was playing catch up the whole time I was there.
The best decision I made at the University of Oregon was pursuing Creative Writing as a minor. I took three poetry writing classes and three creative fiction writing classes, and I fell in love with telling stories. It was during my senior year that I decided to focus my attention on Copywriting. My gut told me it was the right move. But I had only one year to grow my skills in that area and I knew that I wouldn’t be able to learn as much as I wanted to before graduating. This is where Deb Morrison entered.
Deb is a professor who saw me for what I was: a storyteller. She called me that during a conversation we had after one of her classes. It was a very profound moment. I then told her I wanted to continue my education after getting my Bachelor Degree, and I bet you could guess what school she recommended. So I applied; I knew that any program recommended by Deb would be a good one.
At this point, I was at a crossroads. I was either going to attend the Brandcenter or try to find my place in the advertising industry. The suspense of waiting for a letter from the school scared the shit out of me. I typically have the mentality that no matter what, everything will work out. I have applied this philosophy to many aspects of my life and it has helped me get through tough times. Still, at this point the Brandcenter felt out of reach.
When the email popped up in my inbox from the Brandcenter, I knew it would change my life.
But the acceptance letter did not bring me the peace I thought it would. Instead, it reminded me that my journey was only beginning. I had and still have the desire to grow and something to prove, to those around me and also to myself.