Helen began her advertising career in the accounting department at Chiat Day in Los Angeles. After a supervisor recognized her skill and attention to detail, Helen was recruited to join the media department. She valued the challenging work and the colleagues whom she still remembers fondly, but she was especially grateful for the opportunity to work part time. That gave her the flexibility to volunteer in the classrooms of her daughters, Kelly and Karin.
After working at two smaller agencies, Helen joined Russ Reid in Pasadena and discovered her passion for serving nonprofits, including St. Jude, Habitat for Humanity, Operation Smile, and numerous local food banks and rescue missions. This phase of her career was especially meaningful because she could apply the advertising skills she had developed earlier to causes that were making a difference.
When TrueSense acquired One & All/Russ Reid, Helen worried that her direct mail experience might not translate to an ever-changing digital landscape. Instead, her TrueSense team members — whom she describes as “brilliant, down-to-earth colleagues who shared her passion for helping others” — welcomed her, reassured her that her experience was a true asset, and gave her a sense of belonging. TrueSense became more than a workplace; it became a community of empathetic professionals who felt like family — and who soon became a lifeline during one of the most difficult seasons of Helen’s life.
Two years ago, a devastating wildfire shattered the peaceful life that Helen and her husband, Ed, had built in Altadena, California. They fled the home they had loved for 30 years — the house they had moved into when their youngest daughter, Karin, was two months old. They took what they could, but needed to leave behind irreplaceable keepsakes, including their wedding rings, Helen’s wedding dress, and a lifetime of family photographs. They were unable to find one of their cats, but they were able to take one cat, Finn, with them as they fled their home.
One treasured heirloom survived: Helen’s grandmother’s 35-piece ceramic nativity scene, with only two pieces missing. While sifting through the ashes, Helen found the ceramic baby Jesus and a little sheep — reminders to be grateful for what remained and what could still be recovered.
During the crisis, TrueSense provided paid leave while she rebuilt her life. Freed from work responsibilities, she and Ed moved among temporary hotels and Airbnbs, met with architects, and began the difficult rebuilding process. When Helen was ready to return, the team again welcomed her warmly, showing that its commitment to employees was as genuine as its dedication to charitable clients. Once again, Helen was grateful.
As retirement approaches, she’s looking forward to moving into the rebuilt home that she will share with Ed and their daughter Kelly, who has special needs. The move will end two difficult years of uncertainty and allow them to return to a community they love. Helen is eager to leave temporary housing behind and make the house a home, including cultivating a backyard garden.
Helen will also direct her energy toward local nonprofits. Living half a mile from a Ronald McDonald House, she hopes to volunteer there and put the skills she has carefully cultivated throughout her career to use. She also plans to serve delicious meals to her family, volunteer at her church, advocate for Altadena’s recovery as her neighbors complete their own rebuilding journeys, and enjoy quiet afternoons, grateful to return to her home and her community.
Helen jokes that retirement will also mean reclaiming her mornings from Finn, who
When she does rise each morning, Helen will not start her day at a computer, but with an early-morning walk, grateful to be back home.