Chicago, Illinois. Relocating to Los Angeles, no relocation assistance needed. Open to remote.
adamsienk@outlook.com
LinkedIn

I've spent twelve years in rooms where the deadline was tonight's broadcast, the client's launch, or the network's expansion, and my job was to make sure the team could hit it again tomorrow. At WGN-TV that meant thousands of graphics for one show and the automation that kept them coming. At NewsNation it meant branding eight shows and building the template system and the team that carried a network toward 24-hour news. At Epsilon it meant the onboarding, workflows, and training that let a distributed team deliver for global brands.

In between, I spent a year as a contract storyboard artist for Encyclopædia Britannica, turning scripts and expert notes into the videos that open the lessons in Expedition: Learn, its science and social-studies platform for grades 3–8.

In 2026 my role at Epsilon was eliminated in a restructuring built around AI tooling. I spent the months since doing what that restructuring was betting on: I founded Mautonce LLC and built RecLet, a writing and audio studio for iOS, Android, and web, by directing AI coding agents with briefs, standards, and review gates, the way I've always directed designers. Eighty-plus releases later, it's heading into the App Store.

I'm not an engineer, and I don't pretend to be. I'm the creative lead who knows how to make production trustworthy, whether the producers are people or agents.

Story theory is the method

Story drives creative, branding, marketing, communications, and sales. Understanding how a story is built and how it is received decides which line of copy makes sense, how the brand and the marketing should align, even which palette a product wears, because an app made to calm someone cannot be harsh red. RecLet ships A.E. Ponders' 4-Act Story Structure as free templates for writers; I brought the method into the product and productized it.

What I'm looking for

A director-level role in brand, creative operations, or product marketing, on a team that is figuring out how to do more with AI without lowering the bar. I'm in Chicago and relocating to the Los Angeles area. I'm covering the move myself, so there's no relocation package to negotiate; I just need the role in place before I go. Remote anywhere in the US works, and so does on-site in LA.

Where it started

I have been making video since 2010. Junior year of high school I was doing three hours a day of video production through Gallery 37, and senior year that became five, with two more through After School Matters, Chicago's paid apprenticeship program that puts teenagers next to working professionals. I was also in the University of Chicago's Collegiate Scholars Program through those years. By the time I reached a newsroom I had already spent years learning that a deadline is the format, not an interruption.

Off the clock

I completed all five levels of Second City Training Center's improvisation program in 2016 and trained there in voiceover, which is where the comedy fluency behind Man of the People comes from. I've also been an extra on three Chicago-shot series: Empire, Shameless, and Easy. And I spent the first week after the Epsilon layoff finishing five leadership certificates before I started building.

Education and training

• B.A., Communication, Media and Theatre; Minor in Media Studies — Northeastern Illinois University
• Second City Training Center, Chicago — Improvisation Program (all five levels), 2016; Voiceover
• LinkedIn Learning professional certificates (2026) — Succeeding as a Senior Manager · Impacting the Business as a Senior Manager or Leader · Change Management · Essential Business Communication Skills · Sales Management Foundations
• 2015 Silver Dome Award, Best TV Use of Graphic Design — Illinois Broadcasters Association