Executive Team Member Spotlight — Michelle Gunn
Name: Michelle Gunn
Title: VP, Creative Director
Michelle has devoted her career to telling brands’ stories and nurturing durable donor relationships. Her passion for powerful content dates back to the second grade, when she would use a cassette recorder to create radio spots for various household items. (“Toilet.TM A flush above the rest.”) After years of creative consulting, Michelle went from Fuse-adjacent to Fuse-official in 2024. She holds a PhD in English from Emory University, and is a recovering academic.
Getting to Know Michelle:
1. Q: How do you like to spend your free time away from the wonderful world of direct response?
A: On weekends, I volunteer at a nonprofit urban farm — and look after a herd of rescued donkeys and goats, as well as a brood of elderly hens and a pair of angora bunnies that don’t really do anything other than look cute. This would all be unremarkable were it not for the fact that I, myself, am profoundly indoorsy. Like, my idea of nature is brunch on a patio. But somehow, wrangling this lovable, ragtag assortment of critters affords me a sense of okay-ness that I never anticipated. In fact, I’m pretty sure the animals are volunteering to look after me.
2. Q: Tell us about a favorite campaign that you’ve worked on.
A: That’s a tough call, but I’m still partial to a year-end multichannel campaign I did many years ago for Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. It was anchored by a montage video that featured the struggles and triumphs playing out at the hospital on a very average November day. The campaign racked up scads of impressions and donations. But I think it was the intimacy of the patients’ stories, the authenticity of their experiences, that made the campaign so beautiful and, ultimately, so successful. It was a privilege to be a part of it.
3. Q: What do you think is in store for our industry in the future?
A: This is such a complex time for nonprofits — especially, but not exclusively, humanitarian organizations. Right now, we are being forced to interrogate and unravel some of the most essential elements of our identities as fundraisers, as donors, and as a nation: Who are we, really? What do we value? What are we willing to give, and to give up, for others?
I must believe that, in the asking and in the answering, we will create new ways of connecting. That we will bear witness to others’ experiences with greater candor and compassion. That we will use this difficult time as a way to let in the light.
Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack, a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in
– Leonard Cohen, “Anthem”
4. Q: If you could have any superpower, what would it be?
A: An invisibility cloak. You have no idea how much mayhem I would cause.
5. Q: What was your dream job as a child?
A: When I was two years old, I informed my mother that I intended to grow up and become a clock. A few years later, I announced my intention to become a cashier at the Piggly Wiggly. “Because,” I explained to my parents, “You get to use a cash register and meet a lot of people.”
6. Q: If you had to choose a different career path, what would it be?
A: Clergy or meteorologist. Which are kind of two sides of the same coin, now that I think about it.
7. Q: What would be your entrance song?
A: “Family Affair” by Mary J. Blige. Because I think we can all agree we don’t need no hateration, holleration in this dancery.
8. Q: Fill in the blank: The quickest way to my heart is _____________.
A: Tex-Mex, reruns of “The Golden Girls,” and naps.