Real People: An Interview with Adrian Rojas Elliot, Senior Writer & Director

I was recently interviewed for Authority Magazine, and when responding to their questions, I kept coming back to the amazing team that we’ve built here at Tangible. I talked about how they approach every client with respect, humility, and a true team spirit. I talked about the research, craft, and care that they put into each project. I truly believe that the key to building a successful business is to hire smart people who are experts in their craft and to trust them to lead alongside you toward a shared goal.

So with that in mind, we are launching a new interview series that shines a light on the talented people who make Tangible real. “Real People” will give you a peek into what our talented crew gets up to behind the scenes. Our first subject is Senior Writer & Director, Adrian Rojas Elliot!

What is one interesting thing that people should know about where you live?

That’s a fun question. One interesting thing is that–where I currently live right now, which is where I am in this moment–I can see from my living room the hospital where I was born. But I was not raised here. I was born here in Los Angeles and then raised in New Jersey, and only came back to Los Angeles in 2017. It’s this kind of bizarre full‑circle where I was born here, but can’t really claim to be from here, even though I now live so close to where I was born.

What’s one thing that colleagues or clients don’t know about you that they should?

First thing is that I can be found rock climbing almost every day after work, and it’s how I met the majority of the significant people in my life, because it’s a very community-oriented sport. Something that coworkers and clients should know about me is I will always tell the truth if I think something is working or not. So, if you hear me say that I think something works, it’s because I think it works–it’s my job to tell you if it doesn’t. And that has been really productive in my career. I also want to be told when I am wrong about something—that’s how I learn.

What’s your superpower?

I would say, personally, one of my superpowers is how I’m able to engage with people and make them feel like they’re the only people in the room. I love to connect with new people. One thing that people say about me a lot if they haven’t known me for very long is, “I can’t believe I’m telling you all of this.” That makes it really easy to make friends, and makes it really easy for people to know that they can confide in me and that I won’t judge them. So, that enables me to have really deep, rich connections and friendships because I think people see me as authentic and genuine.

Professionally, a couple of things come up. I could sort of translate what I just said into a professional context, in that clients and partners, colleagues, co-workers, and collaborators tend to find it pretty easy to work with me. And that’s because I don’t really have an ego. So the “no ego” is a superpower professionally. A number of people have said that about me, especially when I’m directing, which is a role that tends to attract people who do have big egos. And then I think another superpower is that I have a lot of different skills from filmmaking to branding to writing to design to photography. So that has given me a really rich and interesting career because I’ve been able to do a lot of different things rather than specializing in only one thing and doing that exclusively.

One thing that makes you such an asset to our clients is your incredible storytelling ability. What makes you such a good storyteller?

Human beings have always told stories. It is an anthropological fact. It is a reality that as humans, we love stories, we need stories, we think about our existence in terms of story. You can think about so many different kinds of creative work through that lens: It’s not just an email template–it’s a story. To be a great storyteller, the most important thing is to pay attention. Because when you pay attention, you see that stories are everywhere and everything is a story. And that’s how people become great storytellers.

Thank you to Adrian for sharing a bit of your story and getting real with us!