Terry Balagia

Born and raised in Austin, Terry Balagia graduated from the University of Texas, School of Communications and went right to New York to start his advertising career.

After 30 years as a creative director of major multinational advertising agencies in New York and Los Angeles, writing and shooting commercials for some of the biggest brands in the industry and writing his novels at night, Terry left to put his creative energy into a longer story format.

He came back and taught in Austin at UT before heading to Miami. He now lives in LA and teaches remotely at the Miami Ad School.

Terry is debuting his first novel "The Hunt for Frederick Douglass" at SXSW and sharing the unusual inspiration that led to his writing this fabulous adventure.