Etsy's Handmade Blog
About Us: Sean a.k.a. sean11
Story by sean11, Vanessa
Published on June 12, 2009 in Etc 		Photo by

Vanessa

Sean works on the Product Team, developing new site features. Right now he's focusing on the shopping experience. As many of his colleagues point out, Sean has an absolute passion for user experience, product management and design. Perhaps even more impressively, he can clearly explain dry computer-y stuff and make it really interesting.
About Us: Sean Flannagan

Fun Facts:

  • He consumes vast quantities of mints.
  • He's a foodie, but Lauren notes that he doesn't know how to cook.
  • He didn't like his lab coat photo so we combined it with his avatar photo!
  • Sean's obsessed with Rhode Island history and hosts RI birthday parties (evidence!). Sean and Vanessa are the two Admin who share Rhode Island roots.
  • Played for a straight-edge hardcore band and published a straight-edge hardcore fanzine in high school. No longer straight-edge; now really interested in Belgian beer. KC confirms Sean's love for witbiers.
  • He's a former wannabe graffiti artist and claims to have skateboarded with Shepard Fairey in his youth. Anda comments that he practices graffiti all over his notebooks, though she can't vouch for his skater skillz because she's never seen him skate.
  • First concert: Verbal Assault (a Newport, RI hardcore band), afternoon matinee, age 13. Sean sang for a hardcore punk band called Non-Conformity in the eighth grade.
  • His favorite TV series is The Sandbaggers.
  • He thinks public data should be put to good use.
  • KC notes that he refuses to use iTunes to listen to his music.
  • Sean is big into old-time comics and spent formative years in cartooning classes at RISD. He vaguely looks like a Chris Ware character, according to Alison.
  • He loves books and notebooks (evidence!).
  • His father has the largest handlebar moustache in Rhode Island and possibly the East Coast.
  • He's been a vegetarian (or rather pescetarian) since age 13.
  • His Etsy username is sean11 because 11 is his "life path number" in numerology.
  • He's seen almost every movie shot in New York City in the 1970s and thinks all the best music was made in that decade.
  • Jen points out his Nike sneaker fetish. Pete says, "He started wearing Nikes on Fridays and then extended it to other days of the week as he became more 'casual.'"
  • Before Etsy, he worked for the 92nd Street Y.
  • He has an endearing habit of rubbing his hands together.
  • Sean is on a mission to visit and document every island in Narragansett Bay (there are 30).
  • Lauren found a college class that uses his blog as a reference for how to create good wireframes.
  • Self-proclaimed Big Nerd!

Sean submitted this as an awkward photo, but we think it's pretty rad:



Sean used to compete in breakdancing competitions in the '80s. Again, pretty rad:



Baby Sean sees his first wireframe:

And one more cute one, for good measure:


Etsy has had quite a growth spurt recently and we have the awkward pictures to prove it. We've been posting a series of About Us pieces to help you get to know the Etsy admin (and since many of us work remotely, for the admin to get to know each other!). You've seen the admin badge, and maybe you're a bit curious about the person behind it! For more on Etsy's mission and about the company, please see our About page (the link is in the little blue footer of every Etsy page).

Some favorite shops below...

Tags About Us, admin, employees, ETC, product manager, Product Team, Rhode Island, sean11, Sean Flannagan, staff, user experience, work
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78 comments     Login to add your own!

June 12, 2009 at 1:26 p.m. Greenbriar

Really neat crochet covered stones! I also love the leaf silhouette!

June 12, 2009 at 1:28 p.m. Greenbriar

I love the breakdancing photo! Go Sean!

June 12, 2009 at 1:29 p.m. notebooksetc

I love these Etsy team interviews. Always an interesting read!

June 12, 2009 at 1:32 p.m. Jewelles

the best music is from the 70's !!!! rock on :)

June 12, 2009 at 1:33 p.m. pumpkinhaus

Sean is cool.

June 12, 2009 at 1:34 p.m. Sigmosaics

such a rad little cutie .. aged 5 :-) interesting read indeed!! great for us to get to know YOU guys better too

June 12, 2009 at 1:34 p.m. FlanneryCrane

Nice to meet you~

June 12, 2009 at 1:34 p.m. rememberer

awwwwwwww so cute! i love his handwriting!!

June 12, 2009 at 1:36 p.m. kathryncole

Great Interview! Thanks for letting us know a little about you. I love the old pictures.

June 12, 2009 at 1:36 p.m. gildem

RI is rad.
Sean, thanks for sharing!
from: a native Rhode Islander

June 12, 2009 at 1:38 p.m. odiliafu

Sean, nice to meet you! Love the Etsy interview series.

June 12, 2009 at 1:39 p.m. foamywader

The Batman shirt photo is priceless.

June 12, 2009 at 1:40 p.m. thestapeliacompany

Those photos are wicked cute! I love getting to know the Etsy folks! :)

June 12, 2009 at 1:44 p.m. VintageEye

now we know batman's true identity!

June 12, 2009 at 1:46 p.m. moonovermaize

Aww, love the batman shirt photo...my 4 yr old son won't take his off!

Nice to know a bit more about you, Sean. Thanks for sharing!

June 12, 2009 at 1:49 p.m. findingfabulous

That was really fun!!

June 12, 2009 at 1:56 p.m. TheCottageCheese

Sean, you rule. Seriously.

June 12, 2009 at 2 p.m. boygirlparty

cool moose healey!! he's going, going, gone!
didn't know vanessa and sean were RI'ers -- i raise my coffee milk to you both!

June 12, 2009 at 2 p.m. thebestvintage

That's really fun!

June 12, 2009 at 2:02 p.m. farfelue

i think those pictures are awesome!

June 12, 2009 at 2:03 p.m. beachhouseblues

The site design of Etsy and the ease to set up shops is AWESOME!!!

June 12, 2009 at 2:05 p.m. workingforpeanuts

Hi Sean! Thanks!

June 12, 2009 at 2:06 p.m. 1AEON

hi, haha! nice breakdancing!!!!

June 12, 2009 at 2:08 p.m. studiolyon

Fun read! Thanks so much for featuring my "Earth Mother" in the related items! :)

June 12, 2009 at 2:10 p.m. michon

looking forward to your contributions!

June 12, 2009 at 2:12 p.m. BabbidgePatch

It's nice to meet the faces in the Big Etsy House

June 12, 2009 at 2:13 p.m. jenniferlynnstudio

I really enjoy reading about the people behind Etsy..and cute pictures!

June 12, 2009 at 2:15 p.m. EJPcreations

So nice to meet you!

June 12, 2009 at 2:17 p.m. SteppingStones

Nice to meet you Sean from RI... I'm Tracy from RI!

June 12, 2009 at 2:24 p.m. daniellexo

I love working with Sean! Here's my fun fact: He likes to hang out in the Virtual Labs and is always looking for feedback from the community.

June 12, 2009 at 2:39 p.m. zime

Cute pics!! Nice to meet you Sean!!
(^v^)

June 12, 2009 at 2:39 p.m. Slowshirts

Very nice penmanship!

June 12, 2009 at 2:47 p.m. emilybidwell

yeah SEAN - yur the bestest! let's breakdance.

June 12, 2009 at 2:56 p.m. steinschmuckdesign

Hi Sean,
thanks for letting us having a look at you.

June 12, 2009 at 2:57 p.m. pinpinn

HHAHAHA! Bust a move! Love the sig. ^_^

June 12, 2009 at 3:01 p.m. MyJunkyTrunk

A star is born! LOL! Thanks for sharing!

June 12, 2009 at 3:09 p.m. edgyapparel

A fun read. thanks

June 12, 2009 at 3:23 p.m. LaLah

I love meeting the etsy team and "sean11" is a very interesting guy- just like all the other interviews I've read. THANK YOU

June 12, 2009 at 3:25 p.m. uncharted

yay for foodies who don't know how to cook!

June 12, 2009 at 3:38 p.m. beautifulbridget

Sean rocks....oh yes he does!!

June 12, 2009 at 3:40 p.m. belovedbaglady

Thanks for "letting us in!" RI is definitely on my list of places to visit! Cheers to the weekend : )

June 12, 2009 at 3:53 p.m. weirdwolf

Wow first concert Verbal Assault. Nice.

June 12, 2009 at 4:18 p.m. itsalljustmenagerie

Hilarious, and the pictures are pretty rad.

June 12, 2009 at 4:56 p.m. lilworkerb

Great story!

June 12, 2009 at 5:05 p.m. LisaFerinDesigns

Sean is a pretty cool dude! Thanks for the intro.

June 12, 2009 at 5:05 p.m. livingstonandporter

Love the interview and the skater dude PIC...Love Jill Rosenwald and love this collection but where are the books?

June 12, 2009 at 5:50 p.m. lovelygifts

Nice article and pics.

June 12, 2009 at 5:50 p.m. mojospastyle

it's nice to learn more about the Etsy team that make it all happen. Baby pictures are too cute! Thanks for the smile.

June 12, 2009 at 5:55 p.m. KOALACaddie

The Touro Synagogue in Newport, Rhode Island, is the oldest synagogue building still standing in the United States, the oldest surviving Jewish synagogue building in North America and the only surviving synagogue building in the U.S. dating to the colonial era. (I'll bet Sean knew that!)

June 12, 2009 at 6:07 p.m. zwzzy

Does that say "altered boobs" under 'what do you make'? hahahaha I kid. ;D

June 12, 2009 at 6:23 p.m. jodieflowers

Neato!

June 12, 2009 at 6:26 p.m. sean11

KOALACaddie speaks the truth!

June 12, 2009 at 6:26 p.m. Vanessa

Yeah, Sean! Hope to see those breakdancing moves sometime soon.

June 12, 2009 at 7:32 p.m. Faeriedtreasures

So basically, what you're saying is that sean11 is like the neatest person ever.

...So I've had this "life goal" since I was probably 12 years old, where I decided that someday I would rule the world from my secret lair in Rhode Island, because no one would ever suspect Rhode Island.

June 12, 2009 at 7:44 p.m. Xenotees

"He's seen almost every movie shot in New York City in the 1970s and thinks all the best music was made in that decade." I totally agree. I was just thinking about that today... Well & most days :D

Wow, I lived in Prov for 10 yrs - moved to Philly 3 years ago at the height of the real estate boost. Even the west side was getting too expensive!

Good to meet ya!

June 12, 2009 at 7:46 p.m. Xenotees

I mean *boom* not boost, oops.

June 12, 2009 at 8:25 p.m. recycledwares

hey sean,
next time, put a video of you busting a move on the dance floor, i bet you're even better today.
;)

June 12, 2009 at 10:22 p.m. OneEcoTree

Good work Sean! Looking forward to more Etsy web updates!! Awesome finds!

June 13, 2009 at 12:49 a.m. HansenSoapCo

Cool!! Awesome skating talent! Tony Hawk look out!! ;P

And what a cute little kid he was!! OMG! That face is adorable. But you can still see "mischief" in those eyes of his recent pic, LOL!! As I mom I know that look! ;)

June 13, 2009 at 4:54 a.m. Lampreia

Wonderful!

June 13, 2009 at 9:38 a.m. japanesepalm

Sean: you're not in this photo are you? //bit.ly/pGdhY... We have way too much in common, including our first show being Verbal Assault at age 13.

June 13, 2009 at 10:47 a.m. HighDesertRose

thanks for sharing your world with us and for the great job that you do.

June 13, 2009 at 11:16 a.m. thenoisyplume

Wow.
Sean is wicket cool (I'm not from Maine).

June 13, 2009 at 12:56 p.m. VintageBookStore

those are great pictures!

June 13, 2009 at 1:50 p.m. BelleMereBelleFille

Good to know the people behind the scenes. Love to delicately shuffle through Sean's 'rare book' collection. Kudos in the memo, Sean!

June 13, 2009 at 11:21 p.m. jennyleefowler

Hey, welcome aboard! Had a great time looking at your favorites the other day.

June 14, 2009 at 1:23 a.m. baconsquarefarm

Sean, love that breakdancing pic and the skateboard too~ thanks for sharing with us a bit about yourself. Cute baby pics too. Nice to meet ya as well.

June 14, 2009 at 4:40 a.m. SundraSandrusi

Great Interview!

June 14, 2009 at 5:08 a.m. kidacollective

Hehe... what a cute article. And I love it when people rub their hands together. :)

June 14, 2009 at 11:55 a.m. heartfeltvintage

Do you still breakdance Sean !

June 14, 2009 at 12:26 p.m. BayMoonDesign

I will tell my nephew about you and your job. He just graduated from RISD and is doing an intership at MIT. He hopes to do graphics for video games. The last RISD grad I discover is David Wiesner the Caldecott winner for the book "Flotsom". What a really cool book. The illustrations are amazing. If you love the water and beaches, this is a must to see.

June 15, 2009 at 6:51 p.m. adam

Sean rocks it. His notebook doodles are awesome. Glad to hear you came around on the beer, dude.

June 16, 2009 at 2:32 a.m. slumptown

Love this series, it has been great reading about all of you.

June 16, 2009 at 2:37 a.m. CutieDynamite

Too cute!

June 16, 2009 at 11:54 a.m. tldgrainwear

Nice Batman tshirt! I used to have one as a child, XXX.

June 16, 2009 at 7:04 p.m. pamwares

this was fun!

June 25, 2009 at 3:07 p.m. Mattamorphis

What a hunk! I could just pinch those cheeks! He looks like Gene Kelly. Wasnt Gene Kelly swell! I loved him in every movie, but why was he always wearing a sailors uniform.

Golly!

July 11, 2009 at 1:19 a.m. Tina669

awww so cute!

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