Editor’s note: We’ve had a couple of visitors to Fast Horse this week, and we asked them to share some thoughts as guest bloggers. First up is Colby Gergen, a junior studying strategic communications and sociology at the University of Missouri. Reach him at www.colbywg.com or tweet to @ColbyWG.

We can all learn from Lady GaGa. Stop laughing, guys. I’m serious.

Behind the Ace bandages, skeleton costume and pyromania, Lady GaGa knows what’s up.

I’m not here to tell you what you can learn from GaGa. That’s for you to figure out. I’m just here to say that GaGa is teaching us all a lesson.

“Norah Jones watch out,” boldly states one of the judges after that performance by Stefani Germanotta.

Oh no, Norah Jones, you best watch your back before Stefani Germanotta is right behind you. Along with a hundred other vocally gifted college girls who can play the piano.

Lady GaGa, on the other hand, gave the finger to Norah Jones as she went straight to the top of the charts. She stiff-armed those hundred or so college girls with heart-breaking vocals and delicate fingers. In the process, she managed to gain the adoration of a nation. A nation saying, “Norah who?”

Stefani … errr… GaGa knew that it simply wasn’t good enough to be a pretty girl with heart-breaking vocals and delicate fingers. She had already missed the proverbial train on that. So she took the voice that makes me melt, those fingers that grace the keys, and re-packaged them. She took something that was old and made it new. Made it exciting. Made people pay attention, whether they liked it or not.

She took the ordinary and made it unordinary. She looked at the standard for her style of music and said: Forget that, I can do so much more.

And she killed it.

Next is Zack Holtman, a student who visited us to see what life is like at a marketing agency. His mom is Jeanette Holtman, one of our clients at Creative Memories.

My visit to Fast Horse was a great time! I really enjoyed the opportunity to check out the business and how you go about doing what you do. Not only was it very educational and inspiring, but also an enjoyable experience with plenty of personality and humor. This visit has really given me an insight into how a company in marketing works and the kind of work I would be doing if I should decide to pursue a career in this field.

I learned the most by talking to the staff here. Their experience and knowledge about the industry was very interesting. I started off by talking to Hilary, who really helped me to feel comfortable and welcome as well as sharing about her experience with school and the job hunting process. Talking with her resonated with me, especially because we have such a similar approach to thinking about design and marketing as a whole.

I also spent time with Katie and Ben, who were happy to give advice and insight on the marketing industry as a whole based on their experiences. This was great, because they had a lot of useful advice about interviews and choosing which career would be best for me. George was also great to talk to, and was very knowledgeable when I had any questions regarding the marketing industry and his experience with it.

Thanks to everyone at Fast Horse for making me feel welcome! I’m sure it had nothing to do with the pizza…

And, of course, thanks to Allison for helping me set up this opportunity, showing me around and introducing me to everyone. It was really a pleasure to visit with Fast Horse, and I want to thank everyone there for a great time!