Uprising: Why Donatella Taraborelli Refuses to Waste Time

Since childhood, art director at Together w/, Donatella Taraborelli has always viewed life through a creative lens. A naturally ‘quiet, curious and observant’ person, she used the arts to express her creative spirit and now finds an outlet through her career in advertising. As a child, every room of her house was adorned with arts and crafts pieces - Art Attack inspired creations and papier-mache balloons.

Born in Argentina, and living in the US temporarily before returning to her home nation, Donatella describes herself as a ‘chameleon’ who has benefited from being immersed in a variety of cultures from a young age. She says: “My parents have always taken us on trips to different countries. Today I've been to all the continents - 34 countries, and counting. The experience was rich and irreplaceable. I believe these experiences help me cope with new environments and adapt easily to new tasks.” 

The young art director is, in fact, still learning - in a very literal sense. Donatella is currently finishing her bachelor’s degree in advertising at the University of Belgrano in Buenos Aires, where she considers her ability to study and work in the industry simultaneously as the true achievement. 

Her first brushes with the advertising industry were during a marketing internship in her second year of study and when she worked as a graphic designer for her father’s company during the lockdown. Now, she has begun her advertising career at the agency Together w/, where her dreams of creating adverts have started to become a reality: “Since the first day of university, I knew I wanted to create the big billboard everyone sees in the street. From there on, I continuously pursued that project and already, a work I've done has been published in México.”

Donatella describes the craft of art direction as a ‘compilation of experiences and teaching’ and expresses that she feels indebted to teachers that have influenced her career and attitude for the better thus far. Showing her thankfulness in particular for her high school art teacher, she describes how she was encouraged to innovate and experiment, and also shares a useful lesson from a teacher at the Brother Ad School - which she attended from 2019 to 2020: “An idea is a remix.”

The young creative’s first professional project was for Argentinian bank, Banco Supervielle -  a social movement inspired campaign that gave women’s voices a platform on the bank’s Instagram account. The campaign allowed her to create something that engaged in an issue she has a genuine passion for. Donatella describes the campaign as a ‘propulsion of what is yet to come’ from her career. 

What brings the most joy in her burgeoning career is the freedom to start anew at each project - the unique possibilities that the initial blank page of each brief brings. Although this demand for fresh creativity can become taxing, especially when a creative like Donatella puts pressure on themselves to excel, having a stranger approach her and ask “How did you come up with that?” makes the process worth the intense effort that the art director puts in.

Despite just getting her footing in the industry, Donatella already looks ahead to the future of the space and the potential for innovation that awaits. She says: “With the advancements in technology, advertising ideas are born with new genes. This allows constant changes in the trending topics of society.” A recent change in the industry (and in general life) that she had to overcome was the lockdown experience: “The days all seemed the same, so I found a routine inside this new narrative. Suddenly, the world had stopped, no more jobs to go to, no more classes, no more human contact.” To endure this difficult and uncertain transition, Donatella used painting as a source of comfort. A hobby that she says ‘makes her heart wiggle’ with joy - in her spare time, she can be found sitting in front of an easel for hours and enjoys surrealism amongst other artistic movements. 

When she’s not painting, working or studying, which evidently takes up a considerable amount of her time, Donatella likes to exercise and enjoys playing football and padel tennis at the weekend. Her more extreme and risky side also comes out when she is exercising, expressing her desire to achieve a 360° jump when wakeboarding next summer.

As such a busy person, balancing her university studies with work and hobbies,  it’s clear that Donatella wants to make every second of every day count. She believes that this is a hunger that was nurtured by her father when she was growing up and is one of the key motivators of her life and career going forward: “My dad taught me that time is the most valuable thing we have, and it cannot be wasted. So what motivates me is the continuous search for activities and things to do, constantly learning and absorbing new knowledge.”