Search results (tags) for: "staff"

About Us: Sarah aka SarahSays

2008-09-17T11:02:00Z

Sarah Feingold aka SarahSays is Etsy's in-house attorney with real panache for the legal side of being an artist; in fact, she wrote a book on the subject called Copyright for Artists: Quick and Easy Copyright Protection. She works hard to ensure that Etsy is always shaking the hand at the end of the long arm of the law, rather than trying to outrun it. In addition to providing legal counsel for Etsy as a company, Sarah works extra-hard to provide ethical, practical, and understandable legal information for the Etsy community through her many articles and her concise words in the forums. Be sure to check out the articles that she has written for guidance in legalese, and remember she's only one lawyer – she can't give everyone a private consultation, but she's around to make Etsy a better place for you.

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Fun Facts about Sarah:

Sarah had the setting made for her engagement ring made by Etsy Seller Beyond the Rockz, and had the stone set right here at the Etsy Labs. See for yourself in the video.
She and her fiancé are going to Ninja training to become Ninjas.
She is credited with keeping the most candy at her desk, due to her healthy obsession with candy: peeps and M&Ms being among her top picks.
Unfortunately, her dentist informed her at a recent visit that her candy habit was responsible for seven cavities.
- Using her ruthless powers of persuasion (being a lawyer and all) she had the dentist down to two cavities with the option of parole by the time she left his office.
Sarah's office ,which was once referred to as "The Cabana," is now commonly called the "Lawyer Hole," thanks to Kelly, and is marked by its tiny door – which is used to keep tall engineers like George away from the candy supply.
Her parents were disappointed when she decided to go to Law School, because they wanted her to go to Art School. To appease them, she did both.
Sarah once made news headlines while a passenger on a cruise ship. A rogue wave rolled the Crown Princess at sea while on its way back to New York after a western Caribbean tour. She spoke to a Florida local news station via cellphone from the ship after the incident after which they reported this article. There was also this Forum Thread.

A young, awkward Sarah:

Baby Sarah:

Etsy has had quite a growth spurt in the past year, 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...

About Us: Bob aka fumanchu

2008-09-10T11:00:00Z

Bob Brewer, aka fumanchu, is one of our Engineers working remotely from the West coast. He specializes in Etsy software and works hard to keep the cache flowing. As you can see from his polaroid photo above, he is also a mad scientist.

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Bob Fun Facts:

During an engineering meet-up in San Francisco, he had a stamp made for "fumanchu" in Chinatown (as shown above).
His awesome collection of Hawaiian shirts are indicative of his enthusiasm for vacation.
He's allegedly the best Wii Mario Kart player in the world.
As a Python enthusiast, Bob <3's cherryPY.

Awkward Bobber:

And a very charming baby Boblito:

Etsy has had quite a growth spurt in the past year, 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 of Bob's favorite shops below...

About Us: Paulie aka OhPauleez

2008-09-03T15:50:00Z

Paul, aka Paulie D, aka OhPauleez, works on the engineering team here at Etsy — on the infrastructure and framework, in particular. He's known for being a cheerful early riser and for having some serious dance moves. Even though he lives in Philly, he pops into the Brooklyn office to work with some regularity.

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Fun facts about Paulie

Paul is his real name, but we at Etsy call him Paulie.
Attended college at night during high school and graduated early, just like Doogie Howser.
Gave up being a vegetarian to cook more Italian food and honor his heritage.
He got carpal tunnel because all he was doing was playing music and typing code.
For Paulie, anytime is a good time to dance.

And now, some awkward photos!

A Fond Farewell

2008-08-28T11:30:00Z

Last week Chris and Haim announced to us that they're moving on from Etsy. They'll be at Etsy through the end of this month, sharing their knowledge of Etsy's systems, network architecture, and all things technical.

We owe so much to these two guys. They have given their lives to Etsy, all the way down to their sleep cycles. It's been an amazing three years: the team led by Chris, Haim, Jared and Rob built Etsy from an idea in Brooklyn to a global handmade marketplace.

We were immensely fortunate to have had Chris and Haim present at the creation, leading the company's technical efforts through Etsy's first three years. Please join us here at Etsy in wishing them many more successes.

Below is a personal note from Chris and Haim to the Etsy community.

---------------------------

Friends,

The last three years have undoubtedly been the longest and most eventful of our lives. We'd like to thank each and every one of you for enabling us to build Etsy into what it is today. Through many sleepless nights your kind words and commitment to the marketplace kept us going gladly forward. The cookies didn't hurt, either.

With a heavy heart now we move onto other ventures. We hope to stay in touch with many of you, and we wish the best of luck to our fellow Etsy employees.

– Chris and Haim

---------------------------

For more information on the business and the people behind Etsy, be sure to read The Long View: Rob & Maria from Etsy founder Rob Kalin and CEO Maria Thomas.

About Us: Amber aka adubois

2008-08-27T11:16:00Z

Amber aka adubois is part of the hard-working and ever-growing Support Team and is known for the fire in her belly when it comes to busting resellers and other evil-doers on the site. Amber also shows compassion for those who may have simply misunderstood Etsy's selling policy.

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Amber Fun Facts:

Amber is a painter.
She's a Die Hard Philly Sports Fan, and has cried at the following losses:
- 1987 Philadelphia Flyers Season Loss
- 1993 World Series (7th grade)
- 2001 NBA Playoffs (while studying painting)

Suffers from a textbook case of Koumpounophobia — which is a severe fear of buttons.
Her father is known as a hairdresser to the stars (which may have something to do with why she pulls-off such a great pompadour).
Has a healthy obsession with the Cult Classic: Manos: Hands of Fate and MST3K and is even a card carrying member of the Fan Club.

About Us: CB aka longhaul

2008-08-20T12:07:00Z

Chris Bohn aka CB aka longhaul works on the Engineering Team, specifically on database administration. One of the many things that CB deals with on a daily basis are sprocs. Now if you don't know what that means, don't you worry, it is not your job to know about or deal with such things — it's CB's.

Notice how Etsy hasn't been crashing at all lately? CB is another member of the team that keeps Etsy operating as smoothly as possible. He's also working hard with Haim, Dusten, Ian, Paul, George, and Joe P to move our servers to a new — more optimized — space. These guys don't get enough credit ... because if they're doing their jobs well, you don't notice what they're doing!

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CB Fun Facts:

CB and his family live in San Francicso, and he brought them to NYC for an Engineering meetup so they could see New York.
CB's real name is Chris, but we already had admin Chris aka RevolvingDork, so he was relegated to CB.
He owns many guitars which cause him to "rock hard" according to various sources.
Has been known to belt out a mean rendition of Don't Fear The Reaper.
Give him a beer and swears like a sailor.
Among engineers, CB is used as a verb. In other words, if you go drinking with him, you're likely to show up to work the next day and say "I got CB'd last night."

CB of yesteryear, looking like a psyched funeral parlor organist.

CB cuteness:

Etsy has had quite a growth spurt in the past year, 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 longhaul items below...

About Us: Jason Seger aka jasonmseger

2008-08-13T12:12:00Z

Jason aka jasonmseger works on the Support Team here in Brooklyn, but he drawls his lovely Virginian accent and makes us all hanker for the South. He's patient, thorough and compassionate — qualities that are needed when working in customer support. He often writes hand written notes to members who have had a bad experience on Etsy.

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Jason Fun Facts:

All of his friends actually call him Jay, but because we already had an admin named Jay, we forced him to be Jason (Jay is actually Jared, but we'd forced him to be Jay because we already had Jared). (It's also said that Jason looks like Christine aka Iheartmoustaches's father, so she calls him "Dad").
Jason is a musician and writes country-folk songs with his girlfriend. You can hear his music on his MySpace page and in his Etsy Shop JSeger.
He loves vintage clothing and can rock high waters with a light rockabilly flair.
He also loves old timey music and the Kinks.
He had a full-ride scholarship to college for his baseball playing skills.
Jason is great at accessorizing and he often wears hats and vests. Perhaps his best known accessory is his penchant for hot, women's sunglasses.
Jason is sort of a luddite, and according to Mary, prefers the original invention to new versions — for example, record players to iPods.
His first Alchemy request was for an exact replica of a vintage pair of pants that he already owns. He actually sent this favorite pair of cords to the seller to measure exactly and make him a new pair.
He is a huge fan of Old Bay Seasoning and will flavor any food with it.

Jason communing with nature:

Mini-Jason (with devil eyes and crazy feet):

Etsy has had quite a growth spurt in the past year, 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).

Below you'll find some of Jason's favorites.

About Us: Paul aka pasilveira

2008-08-06T11:39:00Z

Paul aka pasilveira is on the Engineering Team where he works on System Operations. The Sys Ops engineers work with the databases and the servers — the framework on which all of us rely. He is very vocal and passionate about keeping Etsy up and running — and has even been known to go head to head with Etsy founder and engineer Haim, a very intimidating debater, about the best Sys Ops methods.

Notice how Etsy hasn't been crashing at all lately? Paul is one member of the team that keeps Etsy operating as smoothly as possible. He's also working hard with Haim, Dusten, Ian, CB, George, and Joe P to move our servers to a new — more optimized — space. These guys don't get enough credit ... because if they're doing their jobs well, you don't notice what they're doing!

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Paul Fun Facts:

Paul is from the town next to where Vanessa grew up in Southern Massachusetts.
Despite living in North Carolina for many years, he has a detectable New England accent (which is how Vanessa identified him as a "Masshole.")
He moved to North Carolina because the weather is so awful in New England.
Bob pointed out he uses ellipses ALL of the time!
He plays hockey.
He's a Red Sox fan.
According to Joe P., he likes to use "deltas" to describe standard deviations in a graph.
His management style is closest to Scrum.
He is very susceptible to Etsy Office Plague.
He loves his coffee from Dunkin Donuts and he's certain the secret to the DD is a constant 200 degrees.
He has a daughter, twin boys and another baby on the way.
Paul is of Portuguese descent and we think he can speak Portuguese though we need Beth aka bethela to confirm that.

Thank you, Paul, for digging this baby picture out of your parents' closet. Very, very cute.

Etsy has had quite a growth spurt in the past year, 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).

Below you'll find some of Paul's favorites and also some special sellers from North Carolina.

About Us: Erin aka ErinHaldrup

2008-07-30T12:00:00Z

Erin aka ErinHaldrup works on the Support Team and was one of the first Etsy employees after Matt and Emily joined the founders. She hails from Indiana originally and went to painting school here in New York City.

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As a New Orleans enthusiast, Erin did a number of Storque posts with videos about her trips there post-Katrina, her visits with some Big Easy Etsy sellers, and her time living there before the hurricane.

Erin is very passionate about Etsy. She's a painter herself and spends her free time in the studio, and she's a huge advocate for fine art on Etsy, as Anda pointed out. Her sensitive soul always prompts her to think about customer support issues from the artist's perspective.

Erin Fun Facts:

Erin and Tim were dramatically evicted (along with everyone else in the building) after only having lived in their Bushwick apartment for three days. After that experience, Erin vowed to never rent again and bought an apartment.
She likes tie-dye.
Tim and Erin have been friends since high school.
Erin once dined with her hero, Lou Reed.
She went to the Super Bowl in 2002 to see another one of her heroes, Bono.
During Pet week, Erin brought her budgie birds, Elvis and Priscilla, into the office.
Her favorite painter is Max Beckmann.
She is an amateur ballerina.
As quite the jetsetter, she has been to Japan, England, Italy, and even attended a wedding in India.
Erin got really mad at me (Vanessa) when I added a joke to her cloth maxi pad Etsy Find.
According to Jim, she has possibly the loudest cell phone ring in the office.

As you can see, she was an equestrienne in middle school:

Adorable babe:

Etsy has had quite a growth spurt in the past year, and we have the awkward pictures to prove it. We are 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).

Below you will find some of Erin's favorites.

About Us: Sinohe aka sinoheterrero

2008-07-23T12:27:00Z

Etsy's accountant Sinohe Terrero, aka sinoheterrero, balances our books and runs a tight ship over here at the Etsy offices in Brooklyn, NY. He's a CPA (Certified Public Accountant) and loves spreadsheets.

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This native of the Dominican Republic moved to the Bronx at the age of 7 and — besides his love of crunching numbers — loves the Red Sox, despite living around the corner from Yankee Stadium. For Sinohe, accounting and baseball stats go hand in hand. Sinohe also has two kids and proudly talks about his little ones.

He's a great member of the Etsy Admin Team and we're lucky to have him. You can see some of his previous posts on the Storque here.

Sinohe Fun Facts:

The name "Sinohe" was his aunt's idea. She saw a movie with an Egyptian doctor named Sinohe and loved it.
His full name is Sinohe Kenny Terrero and his twin brother is Kenny Sinohe Terrero.
Twins do not run in Sinohe's family. He and his brother are "special."
According to the Biz Ops Team, "He likes frappuccinos and other sweet and frilly drinks."
He and Etsy lawyer SarahSays have a running contest of who can eat more M&Ms.
When he was younger, he and his brother wanted to be big time music producers. Now he's an accountant and his brother is a lawyer.
When he got the job at Etsy, his twin took all his suits.

Did his twin get his fedoras too? Sinohe can't remember which one he is.

Darling Sinohe and Kenny, pumped about their new toys.

Etsy has had quite a growth spurt in the past year, and we have the awkward pictures to prove it. We are 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).

Below you will find some of Sinohe's favorites.

Etsy Announcement: New Roles at Etsy Inc.

2008-07-22T15:39:00Z

Dear Etsians,

Here are a couple important news items, from Rob and Maria.

From Rob:

I am happy to announce that, with high hopes and expectations, Maria is now Etsy's CEO. My new title at Etsy is Chief Creative Officer (CCO), a nice loose moniker that will allow me to focus on what I'm best at: product work and long-term, big-picture thinking.

I will also be spending time developing Etsy.org, a non-profit organization that will focus on the educational side of how to make a living making things. (Lots more details about this are coming soon. Right now, it's in the planning stages.)

I've been filling many roles since Etsy began, all of them new to me in some way. It's been an incredible and exhausting education, much of it public. Watching Maria, with her experience and expertise, has enabled me to make this decision. I'm excited to get back to what I enjoy most, and maybe even work less than seven days a week for the first time in a long time.

From Maria:

I am thrilled to announce that Chad Dickerson will join Etsy in Brooklyn as Chief Technology Officer September 1, 2008. As Etsy’s CTO, Chad will be the company’s top technology executive and will join Rob, me and the Etsy team in helping to shape Etsy’s strategic direction, development, and future growth. Chad will manage our entire technical organization, including application development, network infrastructure and quality assurance. He will report to me.

In my recent “Long View” article, I spoke about seeking “…a few talented, experienced people to join Etsy and help us more quickly and successfully do things we’ve never done before, while continuing to celebrate Etsy’s creative, quirky and independent culture.” Chad is the first of these few folks. He’s an experienced leader of technical teams and a home brewer!

Chad joins us from Yahoo! where he has spent the last three years leading technical teams in innovative product development. He is currently Senior Director for Yahoo!’s Brickhouse & Advanced Products team, a group outside of Yahoo’s! corporate structure designed to be more nimble and customer-focused. In this role Chad heads up a cross-functional team of engineers, designers, and product managers who incubate and launch Web-based, high availability, consumer-facing products.

Before Yahoo!, Chad was CTO at InfoWorld Media Group / IDG for five years and before that, CTO at Salon.com for three years. In both CTO roles, Chad was the senior executive responsible for technology strategy and execution.

Chad started his Web career as an Internet Developer and Gopher Administrator at "The News & Observer" (http://www.newsobserver.com/) in Raleigh, NC. He is a Tar Heel native, and his parents will be very pleased to have him back on the east Coast.

Read more about Chad at his blog: http://www.chaddickerson.com/
Here is his corresponding announcement.

Welcome, Chad. We're happy to have you.

Here's the forum thread, if you'd like to discuss the news.

About Us: Eric aka likeomg

2008-07-16T11:37:00Z

The master of SEO, likeomg! Eric is like a magician, casting spells with keywords. He's got his finger on the pulse of Etsy, and he's always masterminding how to get Etsy and sellers' shops higher up in Google rankings. You can see some of the posts he's written for the Storque — some show off his delightful dude's perspective on shopping and some have tips for sellers for tweaking their SEO status.

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Eric Fun Facts:

Eric wrote a tear-jerking chronicle of his dog, Soda Pop.
He owns more domains than anyone ever. He used to get up at 5am and watch CNN in order to find out the new buzz words, and then buy those domains.
He was in the Navy and that's where he learned how to sew, while doing laundry for sailors and mending their skivvies.
He makes music and sings in his spare time. He commissioned a personal soundproof recording booth on Alchemy.
Eric has waaay too many pairs of sneakers, and he writes his domain names on them so that people will see it on the subway.
The Bronx loft that he's building out is in a clocktower building, just like the Etsy Labs.
The engineers are thinking of buying him the url GIVEUPERICOWNSIT.COM as a gift.

Wait. Was Eric a professional surfer in California? ...No. He had this portrait taken with a skurfer at the mall in Minnesota.

Eric has furnished us with this cute, yet mildly awkward photo of him as a (blonde!) child. Weird how hair color changes that way.

Etsy has had quite a growth spurt in the past year, 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...

About Us: Lauren aka stellaloella

2008-07-09T15:38:00Z

Best known to the Etsy Community as Stellaloella (or Stellllllla!), Lauren was already a very familiar face as an extremely helpful presence in the Etsy Forums before she was hired in February 2007. Lauren has worn many hats as an Etsy Admin — working as official Forum Admin, leading up the Community Team, and now as a guru of Etsy policy, among many other things. She does a truly tremendous job of communicating and bridging the remote-worker gap, despite being all the way over in Central Time (that's far away from Brooklyn!). You couldn't ask for a more thoughtful or wonderful coworker, and we're so lucky to have her on the Etsy Team.

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Lauren Fun Facts:

Lauren is a picky eater. She won't eat anything that's green; she's anti-chlorophyl. She also won't eat anything that lived in the sea or any food that has "touched."
She does, however, love cheese.
The moniker StellaLoella is the combination of Lauren's two beloved grannies' names. Aww!
When Lauren tried to update her avatar with a new photo, the Etsy community protested, so she stuck with her old one.
Her dogs scared off a robber — what heroic pups! (Their names are Toast and Scooter.)
She previously sold pottery and handmade books before joining the Etsy Admin team.
She is originally from Milwaukee.
Matt once rented an apartment for her that was haunted, with a billion roaches as well as ghosts.
Lauren is a great writer and communicator. She's pretty articulate!
She has awesome design sense. When she learned to knit, the very first things she made were perfect.

Lauren being a teenage star. (Or runaway?)

Baby Lauren!

About Us: Christine aka iheartmoustaches

2008-07-02T16:18:00Z

We first met Christine aka Jackrabbit aka iheartmoustaches at the Bazaar Bizarre/Maker Faire in San Mateo. She'd won first place in the Upcycling Contest with her Wiener Bench, and as her prize, she received a free booth. Her crocheted video game console and other fabulous wares proceeded to catch the attention of every passerby and the Etsy admin on hand for the event.

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After having made such an unforgettable impression, Christine applied to work at the Etsy Labs, and we were impressed by her BFA in Crafts and her previous work in web design. She now makes tons of handmade Etsy swag, helps with Brooklyn Labs classes and the Virtual Labs. You might have seen her posts about the Design Face-offs she's been heading up.

Christine also happens to be one of the most unique people in the world. She is hilarious and creative and passionate about her job. All of the admin here at the office adore her and want to be her future girlfriends or boyfriends. She also has a super cute pooch named Satchel who we don't get to see very often at the Labs anymore, due to some wilding out.

Christine Fun Facts:

Christine has been a pioneer of the moustache craze.
She has a very cute Boston Terrier named Satchel and a crazy cat that has no equilibrium and stumbles around.
She seems really sweet and quiet but she's a maniac. In high school her nickname was "Domaniac."
This little miss has a BFA in crafting and stays up until 3am crocheting mushrooms and cacti.
She used to design websites, and she once had an odd job for a girls-gone-wild type website and she had to crop all the breasts from the photos...hundreds and hundreds of photos.
She owns a house.
At an earlier time, Christine ran a gallery in Pittsburgh.
She wears the same, taped up glasses that she has had for 15 years, like some kind of a hobo.
She's a fan of yacht rock.
Recently, while sporting a snappy cardigan and skirt set and a fresh haircut, she was mistaken for a nun on the New York subway.

Christine looking like a wild child from the heart of NJ.

Precious Christine baby, a timeless porcelain doll from the 50s. Classic shot, Christine!

Etsy has had quite a growth spurt in the past year, 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).

See also Christine's Moustaches Top 10 List. Some favorite shops below...

About Us: Adam Brown aka adam

2008-06-26T12:08:00Z

Adam Brown aka adam works at Etsy on the Marketing and Press Team. He heads up the Cooperative Advertising program, which many of you know and love, as well as writing the regular Press Club and Etsy in the Press series for the Storque. He's also an all-around great guy, who occasionally makes a hilarious snarky comment in the IRC (the group chat Etsy admin use to communicate throughout the day), punctuated with "Zing!"

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Fun Facts about Adam:

Adam loves softball and plays left field for the Levee Cheeseballs. Michelle coined his softball name, which is Adam Brown Betty, or Brown Betty for short.
He does yoga with his parents.
He used to work in the television industry.
He's a good poker player.
Perhaps one of his most beloved qualities, his storytelling abilities are famous amongst the admin.
As he occasionally will display with a quick flip of the tongue, he has a fake tooth. The original was knocked out in a really hardcore way.
He likes mugs, but hey, who doesn't like mugs?
He rides his bike a lot.
He was Laura Bush for Halloween!
Very fond of costuming, he's a regular at Coney Island's Mermaid Parade. Last year, he was one of the Four Seahorsemen of the Apocalypse.

Ah, the gel, the rayon shirt. But all together, he was doing a lot better than many of us at that age. Such a smooth operator!

This is so intensely cute, it's really quite amazing.

Etsy has had quite a growth spurt in the past year, 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...

About Us: Peter Corrie

2008-06-18T15:20:00Z

Pete aka PeteCorrie is an artist (he sells work out of his shop TUBULARIST) and works on the Etsy Labs team: he's kind of our offline admin. He keeps us all sorted and comes up with ways to make the office flow in an environmentally friendly way. Pete is a sort of a tattooed — and very handy — angel of fixing things over here at the Labs.

Etsy has had quite a growth spurt in the past year, and we have the awkward pictures to prove it. We'll be 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).

About Us: Julie aka julieincharge

2008-06-16T15:26:00Z

Julie bookbinder. Julie blue sequined prom dress wearer. Julie cool librarian. Julie pure creative, zen power!

As an admin, Julie aka julieincharge is in charge of the Etsy Labs, putting together classes and events here in our 3rd floor space. You should meet Julie some time, either in person at Monday Craft Night or in the Virtual Labs, where you'll often find her teaching crafty stuff or giving critiques. Julie also has a shop Yoursecretadmiral, where she sells her wonderful things.

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Julie Fun Facts:

Julie does choreographed dancemoves with her roommates.
She loves shake-face.*
Julie makes a mean special sauce for tofu and she won't share the recipe.
She always brings a healthy lunch to work.
She sleeps on the tinest and hardest bed ever.
She has the "worst luck with bathing suits," according to Pauly.
She loves the Log Lady from Twin Peaks.
Her parents are book people and we wonder if that's where she got it from.
She must have a pretty fine collection of cardigans.
She attended VCU and has wanted to be an artist for as long as she can remember.
Her fav color is green, sometimes she wears 5 versions of it and it all works.
She and Michelle have a two-person zine club.
According to Michelle, she either started the narwhal trend or was an early adopter.
She has a very soothing, gentle voice and gives great hugs.

*[Shakeface is when you do "Sport function" on your digital camera and shake that face vigorously!]

Julie knit her own prom dress!

Baby Julie looking quite cozy!

Etsy has had quite a growth spurt in the past year, 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 of Julie's own items and some from her favorite shops below...

About Us: Christina aka missbatch

2008-06-10T14:25:00Z

The latest installment of our About Us series, Christina Batch-Lee aka missbatch joined the Etsy admin Team in February of 2008 (see our original post here). She's in high demand over here at the Etsy Labs — often acting as the liaison between the Marketing, Labs, Storque, and Teams Team. She's full of fresh ideas and know-how.

Christina was the original founder of Adorn Magazine and before that worked as a craft lady preparing projects for craftbooks and magazines.

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Christina Fun Facts:

Christina does some mean karaoke.
She's crazy for acupuncture.
She's from Long Island, but doesn't have an accent. As Adam puts it, "Local Girl Makes Good."
She started her own magazine Adorn, before she started at Etsy.
She was originally a painter, before the craft set in.
She's one of the best-dressed admin, often wearing something of her own creation.
Christina broke up the "boy's club" that Matt and Adam had in the marketing office (after Vanessa moved to Storque Team).
She has a bit of a tchotchke habit, recently curbed.
She enjoys Korean barbecue.
According to Adam, she copies what he has for lunch sometimes (when we eat out of the fridge).
She is a fan of giant sunglasses.
At first glance, she seems quite "proper," but is actually pretty sassy.

Christina, girl, you wore those braces with pride! And Christina tells me she cut her bangs herself. Where I grew up, we called doing them up like that a "Bouffe," which was our mall-rat terminology. According to Christina, she was actually going for more of an edgy "Robert Smith" look.

Oh, c'mon! Baby Christina was so stylin'. I wish I had that yellow coat right now! And the wallpaper. Very, very rad. What a doll — a little Miss Batch out of a children's book, living on her own in a little brick house. 'Ello. Do come in and have some tea.

Etsy has had quite a growth spurt in the past year, 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).

Christina picked some of her favorites for the items below...

About Us: Mary aka MaryMary

2008-06-06T17:47:00Z

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Mary steps up as our next installment of the About Us series. Mary works as our Community Advocate and spends a lot of time in the forums. She uses the admin username MaryMary and you can email community@etsy.com if you have any suggestions for making Etsyland a better place to be. You can also often find her in the Virtual Labs, critiquing (in such a friendly way!) Etsy shops and doing how-tos via webcam.

Mary is one of the original Richmond, VA Etsians and she's proud of it! She's an awesome member of the Etsy Team and bring such valuable insight into the experience of being an Etsy seller. Mary still sells her jewelry and other items through her shop contrary.

Here's tween Mary, spazzing out in the snow.

And a more pensive toddler Mary, reading the newspaper.

See all posts in this About Us series.

About Us: Beth aka bethela

2008-06-03T16:53:00Z

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Beth joined Etsy about six months ago. She comes from a business and finance background and she works with us on the Business Operations Team. Beth is a smart cookie and she's totally focused on making the Etsy marketplace a vibrant and successful place for sellers. You can check out her series the Art of Pricing where she shares some biz and finance savvy. She's also impressed us by raising tons of charity money through hardcore bike races. For serious!

Below, teenage Beth counts her earnings from her afterschool job and tallies them in her book-keeping file. Beth, it's mini-you!

Itty-bitty Beth holds her baby sister. (Look at these fantastic seventies colors, vintage people!)

See all posts in this About Us series.

About Us: Charles aka winenutnyc

2008-05-28T16:10:00Z

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Charles Smith aka winenutnyc works on the Business Operations Team here at Etsy. Charles arrives early to work with a spring in his step. He's business savvy and passionate about Etsy, providing us with stats, strategic planning advice, pay checks (Mmmm, paychecks). Sellers, look for his monthly Statistics posts on the Storque; you're gonna love it. He's also father to two of the cutest little kids in Brooklyn and Twitters the funny things they say.

Charles Fun Facts:

He's a wine connoisseur.
He has solar panels on his green roof.
He used to work at a TV news station (his family is in the news business) and thus he's a pro in front of a camera.
He is a crazy good poker player and he won $650 in one hand of Black Jack in Las Vegas recently.
We videotaped him singing a mean "My Sharona" while playing Rock Band, but we won't post it and embarrass him.
He used to work for Macy's.
Matt says Charles beat Malcom Gladwell at chess.
If you hit him over the head with a mallet he turns into 100 tiny leprechauns (according to Jim).

Apparently, he's no longer on friendly terms with his prom date:

It's so funny how he has the same expressions, even as a grown-up:

You can read more articles by Charles here. Below are some of his favorites...

About Us: Rob aka RobWhite

2008-05-20T16:50:00Z

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Rob numero dos aka RobWhite (not to be confused with Etsy's founder Rob Kalin aka Rokali) works on the Community Team spreading peace and goodwill amongst forum goers, "like some kind of forums whisperer" as Tara put it. Once, late at night, Rob asked for my advice over IM about a particularly painful dispute on a forum thread he was about to lock. As I read the draft of his response, it brought me to tears. It dawned on me then that he's like an angel sent from above. He is one of the most genuine, old souls I've ever met. We recently started getting worried that he would quit Etsy for a better offer to end the crisis in the Middle East through level-headed, sensitive peace talks.

Rob also has a wicked sense of humor and can bake the most delicious cookies. He works remotely so we don't get to see him very often at the Etsy Labs, and as Bre mused, "Don't you want to just shrink him down and carry him around in your pocket?" I like to think of Rob as a good angel sitting on my shoulder, except he's not at all goody-goody...He's just right.

I'm fearing that this About Us piece is becoming too adoring, but who can not love this guy? He's the salt of the earth.

Here are some fun facts about RobWhite:

He is really good at cooking and baking.
He loves tea. Loves it.
He and his wife Xiane are nocturnal, so it seems.
He is a Dance Dance Revolution ninja.
He loves Lost.
He and StellaLoella bicker like siblings.
He plays role playing games, like Kingdom of Loathing.
He likes kitties, and has some!
He has a large traveling hat that gives him the air of Indiana Jones.
He's great with puns.
He studied computer science for a bit, but it wasn't his style.
He wants to study Psychology or Philosophy.
He's good at chess.
He's a very courteous house guest.

Check out this little dude: he was grounded and mature, even when posed in front of creepy fake wheat.

Wee angel...

Read more About Us. Here are some of Rob White's favorites below in the related items...

About Us: Mike aka MikeH

2008-05-15T16:27:00Z

Etsy has had quite a growth spurt in the past year, and we have the awkward pictures to prove it. We are 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).

Next up is Mike aka MikeH, on our Engineering Team. Mike works remotely from Massachusetts so we don't get to see him all that much here at the Labs. When he comes to visit, he strikes me as a really smart and gentle soul. Plus, he's also from the armpit of Massachusetts, a bond I also share with Etsy engineer, Alec.

One of his main interests outside of Etsy is video and filmmaking. We on the Storque Team are eager to get him to make a video for this here blog!

Mike sounds like a fellow with very interesting talents, especially when you ask the other engineers for Fun Facts:

He's a dwarf-shaman.
His cat types for him half the time.
He has a black belt in twisted.

Mike, unlike most of us, can actually play the guitar instead of just Guitar Hero.* He sent this to me as his awkward photo, but he just looks...talented.

As we all know, Mike is a ninja, but we've uncovered early evidence of him as a young pirate:

*Bonus points: in the comments below, name the other Etsy admin who also play guitar.

Mike picked some favorites below. See all posts in this About Us series.

About Us: Anda

2008-05-11T10:00:00Z

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Anda, Anda, Anda...where to start? Anda is an old skool member of Etsy, where she began selling her wares as stopsandstarts back when she lived in Richmond, VA and attended art school in 2005. Ah, the Richmond days, when life was much more affordable than Brooklyn, where she now lives and works as an Etsy admin. Anda often waxes poetical on the various stages of thrifty living. One such period renders many an entertaining tale: freegan-ish, crashing at Shakespeare & Co. stint in Paris, when she and her friends figured out how to live on nothing in one of the most expensive cities in the world. She still loves a good thrift shop and always has her eye out for dollar-stores.

Back in the early days of Etsy Labs, Anda coordinated all of the events and goings-on. Now, she works on the Marketing Team, doing merchandising and design. Yes, Anda is our go-to person for amazing illustrations and we've even made her handwriting into a font for our Etsy video series and other design-y visual elements. Sometimes bursting into hysterical laughter and sometimes a prickly pear, Anda is truly unique Etsy admin with great taste, a talent for making just about anything, and a disarming knack for telling it like it is.

Here is early proof of her sense of style. (Check the Reebok hightop with the yellow laces in the background.)

Anda is someone who shoots for what she wants with incredible focus. When her then-soon-to-be-husband Pete was in grad school in Scotland, Anda decided she wanted to have a baby. And despite being an ocean away and working like crazy at Etsy Labs, she made it happen. And such was the beginning of the cutest baby in the world, Sidonie. Sidonie is also officially the first admin baby (except for Charles' babies, who are cute too but weren't born on our watch).

Whilst hugely pregnant, she made her own wedding dress with Burdastyle's help. She had a really fun, last minute DIY wedding.

Anda's mom Appalachia, who is also a seller, should feel very special this Mother's Day because Anda is always talking about how awesome her mom is (and her dad, too)! She passed on the crafty gene to Anda and she will surely pass on the crafty gene to little Sidonie.

Anda Fun Facts:

Anda's real name is Amanda.
Anda used to be a substitute teacher.
She can recite the entire script of Goonies, according to Matt (who is a known pathological liar).
She hated living in Scotland because it was dreary.
She has mad Scrabble skills.
Like some kind of Rainman, she can remember sequences of numbers from years past. And she loves math.
She and Pete have two kitties.
She claims to have synesthesia.
Julie notes that Anda can make dumplings out of random dregs found in the back of the kitchen cabinets (she has boasted of this multiple times).
In art school, she was the most coveted nude model because she would bust out crazy poses, plus she was skinny and had great muscle definition. One time she was so hardcore about holding a contorted pose that she fainted. And that, in a nutshell, is Anda.

She's picked some favorites below. See all posts in this About Us series.

About Us: Jay(red) aka Jay

2008-05-07T14:07:00Z

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Jay is one of the first engineers to be hired at Etsy. He came to us via his wife Luca of Lollibomb. Jay is a smarty-pants but he's not in your face about it; rather he's just has this very cool and approachable way about him. He's a true gentleman and geek at heart. It's so nice to work with someone who sincerely wants to help and make Etsy a better place!

Jay Fun Facts:

His real name is Jared, but Etsy admins decided to rename him Jay, so as not to be confused with Jared Tarbell. No one else in the whole world calls him Jay. Just us. His mom hates it.
Jay recently relocated from sunny Florida to be closer to Etsy Labs in Brooklyn. Jay lives in New Jersey.
Jay is usally dressed in all black.
He's very accident prone -
- he's a member of the Etsy Admin Head Trauma Club.
- he was hit in four separate hit-and-run accidents in one year.
- he fractured his toe in his sleep!

Despite all the injuries, he still manages to play some mean hardball.

Baby Jay — so cute!

You can see some of Jay's posts here. See all posts in this About Us series. Some of his favorites are below.

About Us: Zak aka zakj

2008-05-05T17:42:00Z

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Zak aka zakj was once the world's youngest insurance salesman. Now that he's outgrown that career, he works as an engineer for Etsy. The Storque has a special place in its heart for him as he's currently making improvements on this here superblog. He lives out in San Francisco so we don't get to see him all that often, sadly.

Zak Fun Facts:

He's a security expert.
He is Lakin's secret twin.
He's a Mac fan-boy.
He loves Jelly Belly jelly beans.
He's deathly afraid of mounties on llamas.
Zak is originally from Australia and, according to MarietheBee, always forgets the American versions of two words: "dressing gown" (robe) and "face washer" washcloth.
He loves Lamingtons and misses them so much. Marie recommends you please send him Lamingtons.
He also feels a bit tormented by having lost his Australian accent and the allure it entails.
Apparently, he also gets really snoozy.

And here's the little Zak munchkin!

You can see some of Zak's posts here. See all posts in this About Us series.

Introducing Maria Thomas

2008-04-22T18:14:00Z

We're super excited to introduce Maria to everyone. She's our new Chief Operating Officer (COO). At the moment she's in the Southern hemisphere, taking a brief break before jumping into Etsy. So in the meantime, here's a video portrait we shot just before she left.

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Find out more about the Etsy admin in our About Us series.

Music by Eric Beug.