Vanessa Fortier

Vanessa Fortier is an award-winning Creative Director currently at The Distillery Project. Previously, she was SVP, ECD at McCann and the first-ever ECD at MONO.

Over the course of her career, Vanessa has received numerous industry awards, most notably at The Martin Agency where she led work that won a Silver Titanium/Integrated Cannes Lion, Webbys, FWAs, Effies, and accolades from Communication Arts for the paint company Benjamin Moore. She also picked up several One Show pencils for work she led on Walmart, the first major awards for the world’s largest retailer. 

Before Martin, she worked at Saatchi NY as Creative Director primarily on the global accounts Olay, Iams, and Eukenuba. A graduate of The University of Texas, Vanessa landed her first job at Leo Burnett, where she cut her teeth on McDonald’s, Kellogg’s, P&G, Hallmark, and The Art Institute of Chicago.

Vanessa has written numerous brand lines, most notably "Paint like no other" for Benjamin Moore, and "Love the skin you're in" for Olay, which served as the brand's platform around the globe for a decade.

She has been honored to sit on many prominent award show juries, including The One Show, LIA, ADC, ADDY, and AICP.

With regards to pushing ideas and the traditional boundaries of advertising, Vanessa has been referred to as a “velvet hammer”, although she prefers to think of herself as a “taffeta nail gun”.

Contact: vfortier.ink@gmail.com