Betsy Jablow has been an art producer for over 18 years, the last 13 at BBDO NY. At BBDO she managed every aspect of print production on a number of global accounts, including GE, FedEx, Mars and Pepsi, and had the opportunity to work on a lot of great pharma projects as well, for clients like Pfizer, Abbott and Takeda. Jablow is stimulated by the work and the creative challenges it presents, and enjoys interacting with all sorts of people—agency creatives, photographers, production teams and clients—and derive great satisfaction from a job well done.
Jablow loves to travel and feels fortunate projects have taken her to five continents in addition to some of the most obscure and far-flung places in the United States. Some of the locations were so remote they could only be reached via seaplane or small motorboat. More than once, she clocked hours traversing unpaved roads in off-road vehicles. In the course of these adventures, she developed a tremendous network of photographers, CG artists, illustrators, reps, model makers and production teams.
Most of her professional life prior to advertising was spent at museums. After receiving a PhD from Stanford, my first job in New York was as the first Newhall Fellow (a curatorial fellowship endowed by Ansel Adams) in the Photography Department at The Museum of Modern Art, where I worked under the legendary John Szarkowski. While there, I curated a few solo exhibitions and oversaw the reinstallation of the permanent collection galleries. Later, I was an administrator at MoMA managing circulating exhibitions. After MoMA, I worked at The Museum of Art and Design on a series of exhibitions, catalogues and conferences charting developments in 20th Century American Craft.
While she does not pretend to be a professional photographer, taking pictures has been a lifelong passion. To help support herself in grad school she photographed babies and children. When her husband became Executive Producer of the Macy’s Parade in 2001 she immediately volunteered at the starting line, understanding it would give her access to photograph the action close-up and behind-the-scenes at the Parade. Every year she produces a calendar with quirky, candid and unexpected images for the Parade staff and my fellow volunteers. 2024 will mark her 24th Parade!
