[1][8][10] When she returned to the Twin Cities in 1966, Ron Anderson, known as the “godfather of Minneapolis advertising,” offered her a position at Knox Reeves,[11] where she became the agency’s first female art director.
[1] Two years later, Crolick moved to Michigan to become the only woman art director at MacManus, John and Adams in Bloomfield Hills.
There she worked on accounts that included General Mills, Andersen Windows and Land O’Lakes, and won a number of the agency’s top awards.
[1][8] After a nine-year run at Martin Williams, Crolick struck out on her own in 1981 to open an office in Minneapolis specializing in advertising and design for creative entrepreneurs.
[1][12][3][14] She offers “graphic design with the directness and humor often found in advertising.”[13] Instead of abstract symbols in her logos and design work, Crolick prefers literal images, “the kind everyone could understand.”[9] To promote artist representative Sandra Heinen, Crolick created an image of a walking drawing table by adding high-heeled shoes to the table legs.
In an insurance ad for Ministers Life, she dramatized the difficulty clergy have in making a living by showing a cab driver wearing a clerical collar.
[1][7][3][9][13][18][19] Through her involvement in Creatives for Causes and Art Buddies, Crolick was honored as a Purpose Prize Fellow by California-based Civic Ventures for being a transformational leader in social innovation.
[4][5] Crolick has been a featured speaker at advertising and design events around the country, including conferences in Seattle, Phoenix, Portland, San Diego, Milwaukee, Sacramento and Miami.
Crolick has also spoken to organizations, including the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Target, IBM Design, Syracuse University and Etsy, a New York-based online marketplace for creative goods.