Mary Zimnik
In 2024, Studio-MZ celebrates its 25th anniversary. Its founder Mary Zimnik is a creative communications subject matter expert and educator with a career spanning three decades. She has excelled as a creative generalist and strategist, working prominently as a writer, designer, and educator. Mary’s portfolio encompasses a variety of diverse contracts.
In her communications work, Mary has focused on media and public relations, brand development, and marketing. Her educational endeavors include both in-class and online courses in adult education, with Mary developing between two universities more than 85 courses, 31 workshops, and developing or co-developing 14 programs. For 20 years, she has taught at prestigious institutions such as Emory University and Southern Methodist University. Since 2012, she has specialized in instructional design and teaching in the e-learning environment. She continues to be the primary instructor for Emory in the online Digital Marketing Certificate she developed.
Before transitioning to academia, Mary thrived in the film industry as a location agent, representing universities for on-location shoots. Her filmography spans 50 feature films, documentaries, and commercial projects. She negotiated contracts with major film studios, and her location contract template became widely adopted by state film departments. She secured the most lucrative on-location university contract in filming history. The mini-series A Season in Purgatory achieved the highest-ever per day fee at the time (ref: New York Times). She surpassed this achievement a year later with Scream 2 and concluded her film career with the 2004 film Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius.
Mary embraces a clicks-and-mortar lifestyle, balancing her roles as a career creative and digital nomad. While traveling, she maintains a full workload teaching, writing, designing, and shooting photography. In her leisure time, she explores various art forms and engages in creative writing pursuits.