TARA HEBERT

Hometown: Houma
Age: 24
Artistry: Digital and brand strategy, writing, project management
Website: threesixtyeight.com

A large rectangle of sunlight shines in through the ceiling onto the reclaimed wood and remnant brick mélange of ThreeSixtyEight’s new loft-style office—a former warehouse turned hipsters’ clubhouse for the marketing agency that’s among the newest creative residents of Mid City.

Up at 5 a.m. and exercising by 6, the group’s 24-year-old senior strategist Tara Hebert is almost always the first to step into that beam of light.

“I like to get my mind awake, and I feel so much better after some physical activity,” Hebert says.

Young even for this relatively youthful agency, the loquacious LSU grad started as an intern with an earlier incarnation of the company, but quickly began rewriting content for clients. When the agency rebranded, all the disparate things she’d been doing were codified under her new title.

“I do find comfort and clarity in having a plan,” says the Houma native who meal preps and meticulously maps her grocery shopping based on where items are located in the store.

Because clients are not always the most experienced storytellers, Hebert’s job is to hunt for the truest, most resonant narrative the client should be telling, and to help the team at ThreeSixtyEight realize that story across a variety of media. Those clients span a multitude of industries, from healthcare to telecommunications, and aerospace defense to bathroom accessories.

Hebert advises creatives to begin each day setting their own agenda. She doesn’t return emails or make calls until an hour in. As communication and collaboration begin to flow, her process is one of an old-school “physical planner.” She makes detailed lists in her notebook, workshops concepts on a white board, and fills Post-It Notes with everything else.

“As soon as I have a thought, I want to get it into a physical space, then the next thought comes, and I can organize them later,” she says.

Hebert is in the middle of developing a plan for the USS Kidd to share its trove of firsthand accounts of World War II. These recollections were submitted by veterans years ago but almost lost in some forgotten folder on an old computer.

“We live in a world that is so noisy with things coming at us, so you have to find something that connects you to your customer on a personal level,” she says.

When juggling projects gets hectic, Hebert leans on her organizational planning, and takes a route that, to some, could feel counterintuitive.

“I don’t think you get your best work done when multitasking,” Hebert says. “For me, focusing my mind gets me in the best space to be creative and confident. And being creatively confident is the key.”