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Meet Marilyn, Creator and
Host of Priority Messages.
When you are akid, | feel like adults are always asking you: “What do
you want to be when you grow up?” Throughout my young life, | gave
many different answers to this question, some which included: an
astronaut, the conductor at the New York Philharmonic, a lawyer, a
docent at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, a psychologist, an
archeologist, and a college English professor.
I’msure | probably gave more answers than that, but never once do |
recall saying “a graphic designer,” whichis, ironically, what | have been
for over 25 years. Life is funny that way | suppose.
Regardless of what else | put on my list of career goals, there was ALWAYS one other thing that |
includedinmy answer, regardless if | wanted to go to space or teach college kids about literary classics: |
wanted to write a book. | didn’t know about WHAT yet, but! knew! wanted to write one. As you can
probably gather, |read a LOT in my childhood. . while most kids would ask to go to Toys R Us, |asked to
go to the library or the bookstore. Some of my fondest childhood memories are of going to one of
America’s best indie bookstores, The Strand in NYC, which we were lucky to have just one short bus or
train ride away from Union City, NU, where | grew up.| would go with my father and we would spend half a
day in there. ..which consisted of him following behind me while | walked in wonder down every aisle,
amazed that there was SO many books and SO many different authors and subjects. | made ita silent
wish to one day join those authors on those shelves. ..wondering how! could someday be “good
enough’ to write something that other people might be interested enough to read. | abandoned the
astronaut dream along with most else as | got older, but | never abandoned that goal of writing a book.
In 2020, | thought | had arrived at that goal. | didn’t just write a book, | wrote TWO of them, one being
business related, and the other as aself help eBook that | decided to give away at no charge for my
friends and family. With a global pandemic raging throughout most of it, 2020 was a rough year for ALL
of us. | always found that my best time to do self reflection was whenever | had “down time.” Since it
seemed the whole world was having that at the moment, | thought it was a good idea to give people
some food for thought and inspire them to make some positive changes, one being to remember to
take better care of their mental health.
Upon finishing these books, | thought | could finally check the goal of writing one off the list. BUT. ..when
it came time to do so. ..| could only bring myself to check it off in pencil…because for some reason, |
didn’t FEEL done. And several months later, began to write another, longer book (which is STILLin
progress, because… DRUM ROLL…)
Inthe summer of 2021,| found a pile of old USPS “Priority Mail”
stickers in my office closet that | had been carrying around for
years. | was initially going to just toss them, but in looking at them
with “fresh eyes” | noticed. ..they had alot of writing soace on
them. And how cool would it be to write something funny or
thought provoking on them and place them somewhere? | put
thatidea in the “mental hard drive” and shortly after, (Geptember
20, 2021, to be exact), | just pulled out a Sharpie, and wrote down
something that | had been contemplating at the time, along with
something to support what | had written, and | posted it to my
personal Facebook page.
Many people interacted with the post. Many asked to share it.
One person wrote to me privately to thank me, and said they were
inthe middle of a crisis of conscience about what to do abouta
very sticky personal situation they were in. When they opened up
Facebook that day, this was the first post they saw, and they felt
like it was some kind of sign validating that the change they were
thinking about making was in fact, the correct course.
This was, needless to say, not the response | had
expected to a simple sticker, but it made ME think,
too. Because, aside from my continued desire to
“write something that other people might be
interested enough to read” I’ve always had a deep
drive to help people in some way…by sharingan
experience, or teaching them something, or helping
solve aproblem. ..it’s just my nature. So, after some
deliberation, | wrote another similar message, and
another… .until |found myself doing one once a
week. ..and| continued to get a good response.
Arguably the very first video “Priority Message”
Click on the thumbnail to view.
Fast forward to the spring of 2022 where | was going through an extraordinarily difficult time personally,
one that | didn’t share with anyone outside of my closest friends. While everything seemed so heavy and
difficult then, writing these messages didn’t. It felt cathartic in a way, evenifl wasn’t writing them based
on things | was going through at the time. They were things | found relatable just as ahuman, or that | had
had experienced in the past and was able to work through. | have always felt that the valuable lessons
youlearn in life become even MORE valuable when you share them with others. That is one reason why |
love the saying that was birthed by the internet in the last few years: “I don’t know who needs to hear this,
but…” Sometimes sharing your story can make a big difference in someone else’s…even if you don’t
personally know them…and if it provides them with just what they needed to hear at that particular time,
then your story becomes so much bigger than just your own.
It was this line of thinking that made me stop in the middle of writing amessage one day, grab my iPhone,
and record the video above. ..which has never been seen outside of my personal Facebook page. Init, |
explain my thoughts of moving what! was now calling “Priority Messages” to video. | got sucha good
response that | decided to try it…and the rest is history.
Fast forward to today and Priority Messages went from being only shared with Facebook friends to a
YouTube channel a couple of months later, thenin 2023 to TikTok and most other sharing platforms.
What started out as a “passion project” coming from wanting to scratch my writing itch and a desire to
spread some GOOD inthe hopes it would help others. ..has now evolved into a social presence that has
over 10,000 followers and counting across various platforms, and it includes stickers, merchandise, and
downloadable materials. This “side hustle” takes up just as much time as my “real job” does. But truth be
told, | wouldn’t have it any other way. | continue to get lots of encouragement and positive comments
both publicly and privately from friends and viewers all the time, and that makes it all worth effort tenfold.
| plan to continue working on making Priority Messages bigger and better as we move along, offering
some new things in the near future, too. Stay tuned!
If youare still here reading this, first let me say thank you for sticking withit. And, here are some
personal tidbits about ME: lam married to the woman of my literal dreams since August of 2023. She is
my biggest source of encouragementin alll do, and I’m incredibly grateful for that, and for her. We live in
asuburb of beautiful Tampa, Florida with Bryce, our handsome and loveable greyhound who is the
world’s most loyal office dog, and Chewie, our beautiful and sassy, VERY vocal cat who is my sometimes
co-host and regular commentator on our videos. When she’s not busy judging our life choices, that is.
When I’m not working on Priority Messages, lam busy working in the award winning graphic design
studio | have owned since 1998, or I’m spending time with my wife going on adventures, both ordinaryand extraordinary, and hunting for books and vinyl records to add to our collections.
Thank you all for being here. | cannot wait to see where this journey takes us together.
For business inquiries, guest
appearances or partnership
opportunities, contact us at
marilyn@prioritymessage.com
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