Feb. 10, 2021

This paid piece is sponsored by Click Rain.

The mark of a truly creative person is … what?

Is it the ability to generate new ideas? To literally create stuff? Is it a facility for the unordinary or an eye for detail? All of these could be true. But for Tara Adamson, director of creative at Click Rain, creativity has always meant something more particular.

Creativity means seeing possibilities where most people see only problems.

No surprise, Adamson’s creative journey began in childhood. Her mom was a teacher, granting Adamson access to the school’s computer labs. She enjoyed tinkering around with the hardware and software of those gigantic desktops and even taught herself some coding basics, developing her first website in the seventh grade. Being creative was fun.

But as Adamson approached college, she assumed that creativity would have to take the sideline.

“Some people in my life then told me, ‘You don’t want to be a webmaster.’ I was bummed because I loved using computers to express my creativity, but I listened to them.”

For a while, anyway.

It took several major changes in her college studies — as well as the advice of a professor and mentor — for Adamson to discover what she had always wanted to be true: “I can make my hobby into a career. The workplace needs creativity, especially the digital world.”

Looking back, Adamson credits her college mentor with reinvigorating her confidence in her creative capacities. When most people were saying no, her mentor was saying let’s find a way.

It’s the same innovative mindset that drives Adamson’s work today. We asked her what it means to be the creative director at Click Rain:

“Basically, I get to help our clients find solutions to their problems. They wouldn’t come to us if everything was fine. It’s my job to shake up those problems until they begin to look more like possibilities. Then, I lead my creative team toward a smart digital solution for the client.”

Almost always, Adamson believes that smart digital solutions revolve around storytelling.

“Our team prioritizes emotional intelligence when designing, writing or shooting. We want to create real digital connections with our client’s customers, and that means understanding people above all.”

Adamson has developed a keen propensity for creative problem-solving over her 12-plus years in the digital marketing industry. But that doesn’t mean solutions always come easily.

When asked what stimulates her creativity, she said: “It’s important to surround myself with other creative people — people who are like me and different from me. That forces me to constantly digest new ideas and weigh them against my own. I think it’s necessary for staying innovative.”

And speaking of surrounding yourself with creative people, Adamson also noted her enthusiasm over Click Rain’s recent acquisition of Lemonly, one of the top creative agencies in the region.

“Our new partnership with Lemonly makes me feel creatively unstoppable. I look forward to finding new solutions for our clients and telling better visual stories that captivate our audiences. It couldn’t be a better fit.”

Adamson continues to pioneer a people-first approach to digital storytelling and problem-solving, but we also wanted to know what advice she’d offer to aspiring designers and young professionals.

“Don’t let anybody crush your dreams,” she said. “Find a mentor you click with, someone who will encourage you and push you to grow and find a way to make your dreams happen. I would never have gotten to where I am today without my mentor. Mentors aren’t just helpful. I truly believe they are essential.”

For those in the Sioux Falls area, Adamson recommends checking out the new Sioux 52 Mentoring Initiative, which aims to strengthen and unify our communities through mentorship.