Meet Grant Mueller | Marketing Campaign Manager

We had the good fortune of connecting with Grant Mueller and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Grant, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking.
For better and worse, taking risks is something I learned to do from a young age. I was raised in Lee’s Summit, MO, better known to most outside of the 64081 as the town named at the beginning of the documentary Jesus Camp. For those that have seen that film, you probably have all the information you need and can just click out.

While I was fortunate enough to not be part of the church featured in the movie, I spent my formative years in a similar environment, constantly hearing from a young age about the threat of eternal hellfire, the immorality of sexual desire, and watching grown adults attempt to speak in tongues. You know, healthy kid-friendly activities. I tried to speak in tongues myself a few times but never seemed to get the pronunciation down. Oh well, “Shalma ul plummi,” as they say.

When you spend your childhood immersed in what rational people would describe as a cult, your life quickly becomes a game of calculated risks whether you like it or not. “Can I even have aspirations, or is that going against the will of God?” “What am I allowed to say and think?” “Is Christian rock bad or is it just me?” Simply aspiring became an internal struggle between what I wanted and what a few so-called grown-ups told me God wanted.

Eventually, I found the apple in my Garden of Eden: screenwriting. While it’s not the career I ended up ultimately pursuing, just having a dream of moving to Hollywood and writing action movies was enough to push me to leave the comfort(?) of Lee’s Summit and embark on a journey of self-discovery at Emerson College in Boston, and ultimately Los Angeles. The push I gave myself out of the first bird’s nest instilled in me the confidence to continue doing so throughout college and the early years of my career. There will always be more nests, and I always try to keep pushing myself out of them.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
When I first arrived in Los Angeles, I quickly learned that conquering Hollywood wouldn’t be as easy as expected. I began my professional journey as an intern, then wrote educational cartoons for kids, worked on film sets, assisted at two talent agencies, and all this eventually led to my career in offline marketing. I quickly learned that to make it in life, I needed to be a surfer; I could have an ultimate direction I was heading, but the tides would inevitably turn, and I needed to learn how to adapt with the surf.

And this is why I think I’m at home in marketing, where I manage ad campaigns for well-known brands. There are many personalities to manage, campaigns to optimize, and audiences to speak to through creative ad copy. The varied life experiences I’ve had from childhood through now immersed me with many different groups and forced me to think from a variety of perspectives, which allow me to analyze problems and help each of my clients play to their strengths.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Luckily my best friend gets home from work around six o’clock every day, but if my other best friends visited from out of town, I would take them to a bunch of small comedy shows around Los Angeles. I spent most of my twenties going to free backroom comedy shows at bookstores, bars, and clubs, and the most shocking part to me was how many huge celebrities would show up to work out their material for their next tour.

I would take them to see a movie at the AMC Burbank 16, the theater with the best audiences I’ve ever seen (I saw Fast and Furious 6 there opening night in 2013 and people lost their minds). We would have to drive down to Newport Beach to walk around, visit some wineries in Temecula, and have a beer at The Red Lion Tavern in Silver Lake. I’m sure there are many other cool things to do that I’m forgetting, but that’s the best part about Southern California.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I’m aware how many people in the world name George Carlin as an inspiration, but there’s a reason for that. He had an effortless way of breaking down complex ideas for people who may not have heard them before. And for someone like me, who had no outside perspective on my situation as a child, he helped me take a step back and see the absurdity of what I was going through, which in turn taught me to laugh and mine positivity out of what could often be a dark journey. And now I’m proud to say we’re both alumni of the same college!

The other group who changed my life early on were AC/DC. While they have essentially been making the same song over and over for the past 50 years, their goal has always been to bring people up and make them feel good and energetic about life. When digging into AC/DC’s history, their story is full of hardship and tragedy, but their music never clues you into that. They pushed through death, addiction, missteps, and regret to bring us a good time, without letting their tribulations hold them down. Anytime I was going through a rough time of self-doubt or sadness, AC/DC was there to remind me I could get through anything.

And lastly, I would not be where I am now without my amazing wife Tala. The love and support she’s given me through good times and bad is what gives me the strength to keep pushing myself forward. Any time a difficult roadblock has come up in my life, she’s held my hand through it and offered her unwavering encouragement. She’s also the most genuinely hilarious person I know and makes me laugh until my face hurts on a daily basis.

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/grant-mueller-97b19259/