Mix Kitchen composer and vocalist Lauren Duski advanced to the top 11 finalists of NBC’s The Voice last Tuesday night.
The Michigan native wowed the crowd with her performance of Lee Ann Womack’s “Lord, I Hope This Day is Good,” a song that singer Don Williams took to the top of the country charts in the early 80s.
Her success comes as no surprise to Mix Kitchen mixer and producer Sam Fishkin.
“We did her EP a few years ago,” he says. “She has an instrument that’s as clear and bell-like as Karen Carpenter’s.”
Duski has collaborated on several projects with Mix Kitchen partner Craig J. Snider, including the opening track on, Those Left Behind, a feature by Kartemquin Films director Maria Finitzo. According to Fishkin, she writes and performs from “a mature point of view.”
“Lauren’s certainly capable of rocking out, but she’s a country artist at heart” he continues. “She is also a super nice person, which is why I think she sounds so genuine.”
Duski is a member of the The Voice’s “Team Blake.” She continues her journey Monday night at 7 p.m. on NBC Channel 5 Chicago.
DDB Chicago’s Instagram account crossed the 20,000-follower threshold last week.
Combining current work with images of daily life and culture in the Chicago office, the site started coming into its own in 2013, when Senior Vice President Jamie McGarry recruited an ambitious team from within the agency to manage it.
Senior Production Business Manager / Social Media Manager Scott Terry was part of the original team and has been largely responsible for the content ever since.
“It’s social media,” he says. “So I try to be social.”
The most popular recent post, according to Terry, occurred on International Women’s Day (March 8) when DDB temporarily changed its name to DDB&R.
“The ‘R’ stands for Phyllis Robinson,” he explains. “She was the first female copy chief in the US.”
Phyllis Robinson joined DDB in 1949, when it launched under the name Doyle Dane Bernbach. She remained in the position until 1962, and then dialed back her responsibilities to spend more time with her daughter. She continued with DDB as a consultant until 1968.
The 2017 AICE Awards’ list of nominees includes several Chicagoans.
The Mill’s Luke Morrison was nominated in the Color Grading (90 Seconds or Under) category for his work on Toronto Maple Leafs’ Wise Man for Sid Lee Toronto. Daily Planet’s Michael Gabriele was listed in the Comedy and Under $50,000 categories for his work on Kimski Restaurant’s Kimski. Utopic’s Craig Lewandowski is named in the Content Promotion And Trailers category for his work on Squarespace’s Psychogenic Fugue for Preacher. Cutters Studios‘ Kathryn Hempel for her work on Kiwi Shoe Polish’s Kiwi for Ogilvy Chicago.
Best of Chicago nominees are The Mill’s Luke Morrison for his Color Grading (90 Seconds or Under) work on Toronto Maple Leafs Wise Man for Sid Lee Toronto. Utopic’s Craig Lewandowski for his Content Promotion And Trailers work on Squarespace’s Psychogenic Fugue for Preacher; and Beast’s Angelo Valencia for his storytelling work on Kerry Gold’s New Kid for Energy BBDO.
Foreign Direct Investment in the Windy City helped Chicago win a “Major City” distinction from fDi Magazine, a Financial Times’ publication named for the phrase “foreign direct investment.”
Among the factors influencing the decision were Chicago’s 2013 “memorandum of understanding” with China, its sister relationship with 28 cities across the globe and the generous reimbursements it offers to corporations that move their headquarters into the area.
