4 THINGS YOU DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT GYPSIES TRAMPS + THIEVES FOUNDER/EXECUTIVE CREATIVE DIRECTOR, MARK ABELLERA, that you need to know right now. in 3 minutes.

ONE OF MARK'S FIRST JOBS IN ADVERTISING WAS TO TAKE MESSAGES FOR GWEN STEFANI'S DAD.

​Mark's first gig in advertising was answering phones at Chiat/Day/Mojo back in the day. Part of the job was to write down missed phone calls for the former No Doubt lead singer's father, Dennis Stefani, who was Head of Research and Strategy at the time. Years later, Mark would later return to TBWA/Chiat/Day to write award winning campaigns for Nissan, Infiniti and Kinko's...and once in a while, a few messages for his art director.

BOTH OF MARK'S PARENTS IMMIGRATED TO THE STATES FROM THE PHILIPPINES.

​His parents came to the states separately in the 50s and met here. His dad was a doctor, his mom an operating room nurse. Which means to this day, they have no idea what their son does for a living.

HE ONCE PLACED 3RD IN A WRESTLING TOURNAMENT BY LISTENING TO THE OPPONENT'S COACH.​

As a 105 pound grappler on his high school team, he was trying to ward off a single leg takedown and kept hearing someone yelling "Half Nelson! Half Nelson!!" so he threw the guy in a Half Nelson and ended up pinning him to win 3rd place in the Conference Tournament. When his teammates asked "What was that?" Mark told them it was the Half Nelson. Turns out, it wasn't his coach but the other team's coach yelling it to his wrestler! But Mark learned a valuable life and career lesson he uses to this day: "You never know where good advice will come from, so take it when you get it."  (FYI - Mark still has the bronze medal pinned to his letter jacket at his parent's home)

HE HAS TWO EMMY’S. BUT HE’S ONLY WON ONE.

(NO, he didn’t steal the other one) One of the first commercials Mark wrote was for HBO. He was fortunate enough to be awarded an Emmy for it, the agencies first ever -BBDO/NYC. But when he received it, he noticed they had spelled his last name incorrectly on the band so he requested if they could send him a replacement band with his name correctly spelled. 6 weeks later, not only did they send him a replacement band, they sent him a replacement Emmy, his “2nd one”. The correctly spelled Emmy resides in the corner of his office, the original is more proudly displayed on a shelf at his parent’s home.

ABOUT GYPSIES TRAMPS + THIEVES

Gypsies Tramps + Thieves is a small NYC based creative branding consultancy that brings together talent and ideas and clients looking to do big things. To learn more about what makes Mark tick, how GTT works and what GTT can do for you, drop him a line at mark@gypsiestrampsandthieves.com!