Image Source: copyright: Bert Stern http://www.northwood.edu

A paper by Melissa Russell

“Well, I am not afraid of love, and I have always lived my life full tilt to the wind," Mary Wells Lawrence said in the last line of her book, A Big Life in Advertising. And after reading her book, readers will see she's not afraid of anything. At all.

As an advertising legend, two-time cancer survivor and mother of two, Wells has definitely lived life "full tilt." Professionally, she was the founder of Wells Rich Greene, and taking it public made her the first female CEO of a firm traded on the New York Stock Exchange. She is a member of the Advertising Hall of Fame and the Copywriters Hall of Fame, and one of Ad Age’s 20 most influential people in advertising in the 20th Century.

And she did it all in good company. Hobnobbing with Bill Bernbach, Jack Warner, Princess Grace and many other talented legends, Lawrence has learned from the best and taught them a thing or two.

"I feel ageless," she said in an Ad Age interview. "I want to eat everything and try everything. I am profoundly interested in everything. I do not want to die without having tried everything." continued on page two