I then set up a schedule to meet each of our designers to find out what they were working on, when it was due, and the current status of the projects. On the one hand, I felt very grown-up and responsible, but on the other, it felt like carpool mom drudgery. I’d run my own business for so long, I wasn’t used to having to direct people. During the two-year stint I’d done before going solo, I’d only been a designer, never a director, art or creative, which suddenly made my acceptance of the creative director position much more daunting, especially with a direct report like Carson cruising around me, undoubtedly watching for me to make a mistake.

“Knock-knock.” Soph’s voice broke through my concentration. I felt as if my eyes were beginning to roll in different directions. “Hey, you, are you ready to grab some lunch?”

I glanced at her over my computer screen. “I don’t know, I’m kind of—”

“There’s an awesome restaurant up on the top floor, and they have an amazing Caesar salad,” she said. “Not to try and influence you or anything, but you’re not used to keeping regular hours and you need to fortify yourself if you’re going to make it to quitting time.”

“Fair point,” I said. I shoved my feet back into my shoes. Ouch. Ouch. Ouch. The toes pinched and my heels were scraped raw. Tomorrow I was wearing ballet flats or sneakers and I didn’t care how it looked.

We walked together to the elevator. I scanned the office as we went, checking out the graphic designers and copy editors I’d be working with, which still felt weird. I’d gone over the accounts currently in progress, looked at the creative briefs, and I had questions. One of the main roles of the creative director was to question everything. I was skilled at questioning my own work because I rarely took offense at myself, but this was going to be a stretch for me, asking other designers to answer how their design met the goals of the client.

I already had a few ideas to tweak the logos and ads they were working on to make sure the deliverables were what the client was asking for, but I had to figure out how to do that without appearing as if I was just the new gal determined to get my sticky fingers on things. I was new but I wasn’t interested in laying claim to anything. I genuinely saw some areas for improvement, but my delivery had to be executed flawlessly. My job was to mentor and motivate. I planned to grill Sophie over our salads about how best to approach my team. I also wanted to get a sense of Carson’s role at Vasquez Squared.