Forever remembered for his five-goal performance in an Academy of Art men's soccer uniform, Andrew "Boomer" Cruz, a 2014 graduate from the School of Advertising, has gone on to develop his professional career and score a life-changing opportunity as a senior manager and copywriter for Salesforce.

After enhancing his advertising portfolio with student awards in his final year at ART U, Cruz immediately entered the workforce as a freelance copywriter at a San Francisco ad agency called Heat. He was tasked with writing roughly 200 GIF headlines for EA Sports' Madden NFL 15, a digital campaign that eventually garnered numerous international awards. Off to a tremendous start, Cruz was ready for his career to take off like a striker rushing on a breakaway, but it was not to be.

"I thought I would get a job quickly after my student awards and the Madden project, but it just didn't work out like that," Cruz said. "I finished the project, graduated, and moved home thinking that people were going to come knocking on my door. After not hearing anything for a few months, my dad told me, 'You can stay here, but your rent is going to be to reach out to 10 people in your industry every day."

Targeting professionals and continuously following up, Cruz found himself complementing the work of Mekanism, an independent ad agency, and its founder Tommy Means. Connected to Means through a former Academy of Art instructor in Richard Blair, Cruz was asked to share his favorite ad of all time in a fleeting interaction and nervously responded with the "Nike – Find Your Greatness" jogger commercial that departed from the company's traditional approach. Despite the interaction, Cruz became concerned not hearing back thereafter and, in desperation, his last follow-up was even more unconventional.

"My email was: 'Dude, I'll work for Skittles. Just put me to work,'" Cruz said. "Two minutes later, after months of no response, I got a message back that said: 'Word.' The next day I received a call to notify me that they'd like to bring me in for an internship. And I found out later that they didn't have an internship program; they created one for me."

Over the course of the next two years, Cruz progressed from an intern to a junior copywriter, working with clients like Jim Bean and Pepsi while also breaking out with a Muscle Milk project that incorporated two-time NBA Champion and Golden State Warriors superstar Stephen Curry into a major television production. From there, Cruz continued his professional development when he landed a copywriter position under advertising legend and "Got Milk?" commercial innovator Chuck McBride at the ad agency Cutwater. Working for nearly a year and a half in what he called a "boot camp of advertising," Cruz sharpened his tools while sometimes struggling through the challenge of long hours and difficult projects.

Defined by the lessons he learned, Cruz followed his next opportunity to DDB, a worldwide marketing communications network, where he developed an award-winning concept for Energy Upgrade California, "The Most Energy Efficient Campaign Ever." From darkened television spots to whispering radio ads, the campaign cleverly demonstrated the energy-saving actions for which it called. Alongside his work at DDB, Cruz also found his journey coming full circle with a chance to return as an instructor at Academy of Art. Periodically returning to check out School of Advertising Associate Director Mark Edwards' classes after work, Cruz's genuine intrigue with the ideas in the room soon led him to host a class called "The Art of Presentation."

"I was always fascinated with teaching," Cruz said. "And I always told myself that when I got done with school, I'm going to go back and teach the way I would have liked to have been taught. I would tell my students that you have to understand the process of learning and knowing where you're at in the process will help you get to the next step faster. It also allows you to have empathy for yourself."

Exhausted with so much on his plate now approaching year five since his graduation, Cruz resolved to make a big change in the coming spring, arbitrarily circling an end date of April 14, 2019 in his journal. The universe would respond, turning his entry into a prophecy as a recruiter from Salesforce unexpectedly contacted him ahead of that date and he started his next chapter as a senior copywriter with the cloud-based software company thereafter.

In his first 10 months as a contractor, no project was more significant for Cruz than his contribution during DreamForce 2019. Affectionately known as "Disneyland for businesspeople," DreamForce is an annual multi-day event where creatives unite from around the world to exchange ideas in downtown San Francisco. After unforeseen events took his boss away, Cruz was suddenly in charge of a portion of one particular artificial intelligence summit that ironically featured his idol, Albert Einstein. Cruz, operating sans an art direction partner, put together "Einstein's 360 Express," a collection of virtual gondola rides exploring Salesforce's offerings with stops like "Commerce Crag" and "Mt. Marketing,"  authoring eight minutes of a script complete with voice and tone.

"It was such a difficult project, but it was so fun," Cruz said. "I probably quote Einstein once or twice a week and he's probably my favorite person of all time historically. When I was asked to create something for Einstein, I was so excited because that was like Michael Jordan to me. I had to visualize the entire world with each ride so I tried to find tangible metaphors for something that was overall very technical and I think that's why I succeeded."

Achieving success following an idea pitch comes not only from Cruz's experience in the advertising industry, but also his work on the soccer pitch. A dynamic forward and team captain, Cruz spent the final two years of his collegiate soccer career scoring 11 goals for Academy of Art en route to becoming the program's first Urban Knight to earn All-Region Team honors. Cruz immediately broke out as the 2010 PacWest Newcomer of the Year and All-PacWest Second Team honoree after a five-goal match on Sept. 29, 2010 put him in rarified air as, to this day, one of just three men's soccer student-athletes to do so in the conference.

"As a student-athlete you've got to be able to get kicked and keep playing; you have to be ok to fail," Cruz said. "I learned two main things: how to not take things personally and how to work within a team. When you're on the battlefield, you have to focus completely on the solution, understand your role, and hold others accountable for their roles. There's an art to getting the best out of people – you can't dictate, you have to inspire."

Now working to inspire the writers on his own Salesforce team and those around him in the industry, Cruz appreciates mentorship and its collaboration more than ever.

"I made mistake of trying to work for a brand instead of trying to find right boss," Cruz said. "Your experience day in and day out is made or broken by your manager. That relationship is so important. I think about one's first role in advertising as an apprenticeship so that's why you want to find the right person to shadow."

The future is yet to be written for Cruz, who may someday pursue a movie script he wrote with fellow Academy of Art Athletics alumni Hunter Hayden. Until then, his role at Salesforce remains cause for (post-goal) celebration.

"I'm comfortable where I am at now," Cruz said. "In my opinion and for my situation, this is the best nine to five job I could possibly have. I thank God every day. I'm so lucky that this recruiter reached out to me randomly and brought me into this amazing company. It's a blessing."