I’m the toddler.

The cat’s name is Sweetie. Mine, technically, is Elena. But I couldn’t say that. So I did what any future copywriter would do—I rebranded.

I called myself “Yay-Yay.” And it stuck. Teachers used it. So did my dentist. For a while, I had better name recognition than the third Property Brother.

Eventually, Yay-Yay gave way to Elena. But I’ve kept the instinct to play with language. Words matter. The right ones stick. And sometimes, the best ones are the ones you make up.