Search results (tags) for: "about us"

Handcrafting Etsy

2009-12-17T09:15:00-05:00

I recently heard Professor Richard Sennett, author of The Craftsman, speak and was pleased to hear him connect traditional crafting cultures to the culture of computer programming. Here at Etsy, we think of software coding as a craft and fully embrace one of Sennett’s central ideas: namely that craftsmanship, by combining skill, commitment and judgment, establishes a close relationship between head and hand, man and machine.

Against that backdrop, I am thrilled to introduce the newest additions to the Etsy team: Jason, Greg, Isaac, Matt and Stefan. They are the team behind Adtuitive, a New York-based company which yesterday became part of Etsy. These are five highly-skilled craftsmen with deep technical expertise in algorithmic search, machine learning and data interpretation, and advertising infrastructure. In other words, five really smart guys who can help Etsy accelerate progress towards our longer-term goals. All five members of the Adtuitive team will immediately join the Etsy team.

Etsy bought Adtuitive, the company, but ultimately companies are made up of people. This team of crafty coders – with their deep knowledge, experience of working together, and fit with the Etsy culture – will help us to more quickly and successfully serve our sellers and delight our buyers. They will work on key initiatives for 2010: improving Etsy’s search algorithms and expanding Etsy’s Showcase advertising system with an eye to improving the overall user experience on the site.

Please join me in warmly welcoming Jason, Greg, Isaac, Matt and Stefan to the Etsy community.

John Allspaw Joins the Etsy Team

2009-11-19T00:27:00-05:00

One day in early 2005, I got a call from a friend and former colleague asking for career advice. My friend was considering a role running site operations at a fledgling Internet company that was creating a whole new way of connecting people on the Internet. They were a small but inspired operation running in a data center in Vancouver and the site was starting to really ramp up. The company needed his unique blend of good humor, playfulness, creative spark, world-class technical chops, and unmatched ability to get things done. I was already an early adopter and major fan of the company he was considering and told him it seemed like a solid bet. The company was Flickr, and the friend was John Allspaw.

Fast forward to the present, and after five very successful years at Flickr, John and I talked recently about another career move, but this time it was a little closer to home: John will be joining the engineering team at Etsy as VP of Technical Operations, responsible for the site operations, database, and quality assurance teams. I think his reasoning for making the move from Flickr to Etsy illustrates just what a great fit John is for Etsy:

“The reason I stayed here for five years wasn't for the vesting or the accolades. It was because I worked with people who *care* about building something that people *care* about. This also happens to be the same reason why I chose my next step: Etsy. They care, and it shows.“

I couldn’t be more excited for someone with John’s incredible experience to be joining Etsy. Before Flickr, John and I worked together at Salon.com and IDG/InfoWorld. He then went on to Friendster, one of the earliest social networking sites. Once he got to Flickr, John built site operations from 20 servers in a small Vancouver data center into a cultural phenomenon spread across six data centers around the world, with 40,000 photos being served per second and four billion photos being managed. Over four years, traffic to the site grew 40x while the number of users grew tenfold. All the while, John and the excellent team he built were the ones turning the knobs and pulling the levers to make it all work along with the developers at Flickr.

John recorded his hard-earned knowledge in a well-regarded book about capacity planning for web sites (The Art of Capacity Planning) and became a favorite speaker at technical conferences – when you’re successful, everyone wants to know the formula. With all of that happening, he also found time to play guitar in an itinerant bluegrass band, filing in the gaps between the washboard and the banjo. And have two kids!

John will joining us officially in late January, bringing his know-how to help us make Etsy better. I can’t wait to work with John again. Without further ado, please join me in welcoming John to Etsy!

About Us series | Tech Updates

About Us: Neelam Hasni a.k.a. Neelam12

2009-10-30T13:30:00-05:00

Neelam, a.k.a. Neelam12, is our web analytics guru. Neelam dives into the numbers and helps us make sense of what is happening with site traffic and activity on Etsy.com. She works on the Marketing Team and is a relatively new hire at Etsy, having starting in the spring of 2009. Let's welcome her to the fold!

Fun Facts:

She's a Jersey girl. She recently decided to move to New York City, and it was cute how shocked she was by Manhattan rental prices and the lack of space you get for your money.
Neelam is the third youngest of four sisters, and one of her sisters is her roommate.
SarahSays wants to be her BFF. They had met each other a number of times randomly before Neelam started working at Etsy. It is their destiny.
Mike B says both of her parents are renowned archaeologists.
She once seriously considered being a secret service agent after watching Rene Russo in the movie In the Line of Fire.
She loves watching I Love Lucy reruns.
Nizzi claims that she definitely had some Britney songs in her music selection for Etsy's 4th birthday party.
Anda has two words: "frat girl."
Michelle thought it was awesome that Neelam shouted the seller's name "VulvaLoveLovely" loudly enough for everyone to hear in an all-company meeting the other day.
Danielle loves how Neelam says something really important or crazy but in the most "yeah whatever" kind of way.
Adam stressed how much she loves shopping, and Christina notes that she admitted to fantasizing about having a sugar daddy to escort her on shopping binges. Anda added that Neelam, Ian, and Matt all stalk gilt.com obsessively. Christina then gets her to do a fashion show for the Marketing Team.
Adam has observed how she'll cut a piece of pizza in half, pretend like she's only going to eat that half, and then eat the whole thing. Mike B is also suspicious of her coy eating habits: "She's been bringing in healthy lunches since we moved to this office. Like a plastic container with two slices of turkey and a cucumber..." Then she'll be the first to rip into the package of Double Stuf Oreos.
Bernadette recalls the time Neelam said to her, surprised, "I didn't know Sweeney was an Irish name!" Mike B made it The Quote of the Week.
She had a funny realization moment when she figured out that "decor8" is pronounced "decorate" and not "decor...eight."
Nizzi adds that Neelam lives near Magnolia Bakery and has been known to bring cupcakes in on request.
Ian from Etsy Hacks did a little research and according to Wikipedia, "Neelam" means "sapphire."
Nizzi is always trying to get Neelam to speak Gujrati with her so they can have their own secret Etsy language that nobody else at the office would understand, but she's too polite for that.
Christina says Neelam has a major crush on Anderson Cooper... and the guy from Mad Men.
Adam says she loves pop culture and celebrity trash. But, she was trying to tell him something about Jon Stewart and couldn't remember his name. She was grasping for it, "You know, he's a comedian, he has his own show...?"
Whether or not she's a "fancy dresser" is under debate. Vanessa recalls Anda being surprised when Neelam wore jeans one day, because she seems like she's dressier than that. But Nizzi says that for some reason, we're not good enough for her to wear high heels to work, but she puts them on when she goes to meet her former Bloomingdales colleagues.
Her hardest day at work was when she was working in Macy's one summer in college and had to work all day in the gift wrap department without any training on wrapping gifts.

Too bad Neelam didn't rerun this Halloween costume at last night's office party!

Obvioulsy, Neelam developed her poise and professionalism at a very young age.

Etsy has had quite a growth spurt, 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. 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 Neelam's favorites below...

About Us: Jesse a.k.a. eetzee

2009-10-16T14:00:00-05:00

Jesse Hertzberg, a.k.a. eetzee a.k.a. Gonzo, is the Business Development Team at Etsy right now. This means he gets to talk on the phone a lot and make deals. A New York City native son, Jesse brings his enthusiasm and sportsmanship to Etsy's Brooklyn office. He's always got something up his sleeve and knows how to "make it happen."

Fun Facts:

Jesse was a one-time professional soccer player. Christina notes that he's been gearing up for the World Cup in South Africa for forever. He sometimes wears soccer cleats to the office.
He sold Matt and Anda hook, line and sinker on those MBTs fat shoes.
When Anda made him his avatar photo, she emailed it to the wrong address and got a message back from a random girl who wrote, "I think you meant to send this to someone else, but thanks for the hot guy in my inbox."
Neelam says on the outside, he's a hardcore negotiator, but he'll agree to anything for some cupcakes.
He's the one who wrote Pete's name in bubble letters with a heart around it on the chalkboard next to Pete's office.
Liz reminded us that Jesse forgot to get his wife a birthday present, so he baked her some cookies.
Matt claims that Jesse was a theater geek in high school and in college. Matt says he almost got the part of Wayne in The Wonder Years. He does great impressions, especially Ronald Reagan and Crocodile Dundee.
Anda once saw him get kicked out of a bar.
He was allergic to the sun until he was nine.
Colin from Men at Work sang at his bar mitzvah.
His favorite TV shows are Airwolf and 21 Jump Street. Matt says Jesse tried unsuccessfully to make Airwolf his nickname.
His intense crush on Olivia Wilde during the Handmade Moment contest made everyone slightly uncomfortable.
Vanessa suspects that he gets really nervous public speaking even though he claims not to be.
Anda points out that Jesse is in meetings more than any other Admin in the history of Etsy. "If you look at his calendar every day, there will be like a 15 minute open space, during which I think he hangs out over next to Matt trying to get him to go 'shoot hoops' after work with him or something."
His three-year-old daughter Lila is absolutely adorable. Adam thinks those pipe cleaner flowers on his desk were made by her.
Whenever we get a random business coldcaller or email, we send it to Jesse.
Jesse grew up above a pizzeria in Manhattan.
Adam notes that Jesse looooves his labcoat. He sported a bowtie for the Handmade Moment Contest judging.
Matt says he has an idea for a TV show about "an adult Punky Brewster type who works at an Internet start-up."
Christina says that if Jesse were a Simpsons character, he'd be Mr. Bergstrom, Lisa's substitute teacher on whom she had a crush.
Neelam recalls the time Jesse stepped in Dottie's poop and dirtied his converse sneakers.
Neelam says he thought he was so cool by turning his big computer monitor vertical and thought everyone would do the same thing but none of us did.
Jakob and Jesse know each other from plays. They're really tight.
Jesse likes to give hugs.
He has some embarrassing Bowie story about Suffragette City, but I couldn't follow what he was talking about.
As Vanessa was compiling these Fun Facts, Jesse came around and gave everyone homebaked cookies as thank yous for helping him with the Handmade Moment Contest. And then she felt really bad.

It's so weird to see crazy long-haired Jesse! These days, this guy has to get a haircut every other week.

Tiny little old man Jesse puts on his game face. Adorable!

Etsy has had quite a growth spurt, 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 for us 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 Jesse's favorites below. Yes, he's a cuff links man...

About Us: Dan a.k.a. McFunley

2009-10-02T14:00:00-05:00

This is a special edition of our About Us series, in which we profile Etsy staff. Today, we're not just getting to know Dan McKinley, a.k.a. McFunley. We're also paying tribute to Dottie, a.k.a. Dottie Matrix, his miniature daschund, in all her speckled glory.

Dan, a mainstay in the prickly pear contingent of Etsy's Admin, has been an engineer since September of 2007. He's got a lot going on in the ol' noggin. You never know when, after a brief moment of simmering silence, Dan will either burst out in a bright, slightly unhinged peel of laughter, or if he'll grumble a snide remark.

Similarly, you never know if Dottie will run over to your desk for an extended snorgle session, complete with belly scratches and frollicking, or if she'll lay a turd in the middle of the floor. Hard to tell what's going on with these two, but we love them! Dan is an excellent engineer and Dottie has become the Etsy mascot.

Dan Fun Facts:

Dan seems to have a deep, personal connection to Hunter S. Thompson, judging by his T-shirt collection.
Amy says she keeps "waiting for the 'dress as your favorite Etsy Admin' day so I can dress as Dan with a Spoon T-shirt, stuffed dog and Haskell book."
Dan once authored an Etsy Finds posts entirely about the Mountain Goats. Anda says he can sing all the lyrics of all their songs.
Nicholas also notes that Dan's favorite programming language is lisp.
Tim describes him as stern but never cross. He adds, "One time he half-smiled in my general direction."
Starpoli claims to make him homicidal every time she cheerily says, "Good morning, Dan!" So she says it a lot.
Gerry says he keeps a book about atheism at hand for bathroom reading.
Starpoli says Dan came up with one of the best names for our conference room naming contest (the theme was mashups of food and rockbands): Soy Division.
Eliz, whose desk was targeted for pooping under, is not a fan of Dottie.

One of the categories of his blog is "angst." From his bio: "I have severe disdain for C++, Java, PHP, and XML, but so far haven’t figured out how to avoid them." Dan's mindset is full of disdain.
Anda recalls that at the Etsy holiday party two years ago, Matt made us all sing Christmas carols and Dan busted out his guitar and sang. A lot.
He says he's in a band, but none of us can confirm that. Eliz points out that he does have 9583290 guitars.
Eliz says he likes to spend his time staying up late formulating arguments for emails, mostly to other engineers.
"Dan hates everything" — Ian, a.k.a. imm.
Sean says Dan is an ISTP personality type. (He hates Myers-Briggs personality tests.)
At Etsy's Fourth Anniversary Party, we all had name tags that said "I make _____". Dan filled in the blank with "eliz angry."
Sean dug up some of Dan's old posts for The Storque (back when we forced all Admin to contribute). "Dan pens baroque Etsy Finds."
Dan, who is the only engineer left on the team who understands The Storque's special Django programming language, won't touch The Storque's code with a ten foot pole.
Kevin adds, "Dan loooooves vim."
Kyle says that Dan was "all about keg stands while in a college frat." (See awkward photo below.)

Dottie Fun Facts

Nicholas points out how she likes to walk around holding her toy in her mouth and whining at people to throw it for her.
Her muzzle can barely mouth a tennis ball's full diameter.
Dottie loves playing hard to get. However, she also loves to have her belly rubbed.
Eliz hates her.
Starpoli loves her, but Dottie plays hard to get. "But then she lets me scratch her belly sometimes, and I feel like I'm the luckiest person ever."
Nicholas notes that Dottie will sit on your lap while you work, especially if you have a snack on your desk.

Dan takes Dottie to work in the wicker basket mounted on the front of his bike...like he's in Wizard of Oz or Elliot from E.T.
Dottie has her own Facebook page.
Alison and Tara love her, and they get down on their hands and knees and let her play in their long hair — hair-scapades!
When Alison dog-sat for Dottie, the little pup was quite high maintenance and needed to be in constant contact. Dottie even needed to sleep in Alison's bed — at the foot, deep under the covers. "It was most 'ENH!'," Alison says.

Dan claimed to not have an awkward photo for this post. Pshhht! Here's one compliments of Eliz, who documented this failed keg stand attempt, recalling Dan's frat boy yesteryear, late night at the Etsy fourth anniversary party.

Dan in more peaceful times (note the early indicators of angst):

Etsy has had quite a growth spurt lately, 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 for us 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 dachshund related items below...

About Us: Adrian a.k.a. adrian1

2009-09-18T13:00:00-05:00

Adrian, a.k.a. adrian1, has been a steady member of the Support Team since November of 2006, one of the first Admin to be hired. He's always worked part time, and so he is a bit of a mysterious, though charming, figure around the Etsy offices. His fingernails often caked with paint, this artist/Etsy Admin moonlighter always seems absorbed in his work and ready to share his thoughtful take on support issues.

Fun Facts:

Adrian is a painter and a graduate of the New York Studio School's Master's program in fine arts. Matt describes him as an "really good, intense painter." Adam says that at one point, Adrian's studio had no heat, though he carried on painting, bundled in a coat and gloves.
He's also a great musician.
In her previous job at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Erin brought Adrian to draw every Monday when the Museum was closed to the public. Once they stayed so late they got in trouble with a guard and were kicked out. Erin adds that Adrian could teach anyone a lot about art.
Adrian used to be the Admin in charge of MATURE content and spent his days looking at these items.
Because he only works part time, he'll sometimes look at you and not quite remember your name. Dan gripes that Adrian only knows one story about Dan and brings it up every time he sees him. (The story involves our former receptionist Jakob smooching Dan in the elevator.)
Jason mentions Adrian's peculiar habit of using Youtube as a radio station.
Claire notes that he was featured in GQ magazine last year in a style shoot where he was "the New York painter."
The Support Team acknowledges that his desk is filthy. From Claire's vantage point, all she can see is 1.5 liter Poland Spring water bottles littering his desk.
Lauren points out that Adrian has always worked part time at Etsy, which is rare, especially considering that he's worked here longer than most Admin.
After inviting himself to Danielle and Jim's wedding (Adrian loves weddings!), he didn't even show up because he was in Italy. (As Danielle put it, "He goes to Italy like it's going out of style." And Italy never goes out of style.)
He came to Etsy through Matt (like many of us). His graduate school friend and fellow painter Erin came along on the interview and that's how she was hired as well.
His mom went to school with Matt and Emily's moms.He's family friends with Jakob.
Adrian comes from an illustrious family — artistically and politically — from D.C. and Cambridge. His father is the head of Brookings Institute.
His grandfather Constantino Nivola was a famous Italian sculptor. Adrian is actually in Sardinia right now overseeing the dedication of a park in honor of him. Adrian was close with him as a child and fondly recalls his grandfather playing country music while he worked.
When he's in Italy, he has 50 cousins who all want to party with him all night long.
Claire overhears him talking on the phone in Italian — and it's pretty much a steady stream of "Bene...Va bene."
His first attempts at drawing maps were "a disgrace," according to Time Magazine.
Adrian once gave ProjectMatt a bottle of lotion and to this day, he has no idea why.
Adrian is a very private person.
Dan adds, "WTF is up with this guy?"
His nephew Sam is totally into Thunder Chicken and dressed as the cartoon for Halloween one year.
ProjectMatt also notes Adrian's longstanding love for cereal.
However, Emily points out that Adrian went to Luciano's Restaurant, one of the few restaurants across the street from the old Etsy office and which he referred to as Lucky Luke's, everyday for lunch — even though it made him sick.
He's like a beautiful Roman statue, but more hirsute.
He loves eating sweets and reciting poetry.
Adrian has a nice, earnest way about him — he's very smart but seems like he always just woke up from a nap.
He always gives an insightful view into a Support situation. Lauren gave him the nickname Mr. Sensitive Ponytail because of his special gift of empathy.

Here's young gentleman Adrian looking like he has his hands full with a teen girlfriend.

What a little doll! He looks like an illustration in a children's book.

Etsy has had quite a growth spurt in the past few years, 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 are new, 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.)

All about Etsy FAQ Series: Welcome to the Etsy Labs

2009-09-17T13:08:00-05:00

We here at the Etsy Labs are often asked questions about what the Labs are and how the community can get involved. We realize there isn't really any published material about the Etsy Labs on the site other than our Merchandise shop, so we hope that we can clear up a few of the most frequently asked questions concerning the Etsy Labs in this article.

For more on this All About Etsy FAQ series, check out the intro, the All About the Teams post or the All About The Storque post.

What are the Etsy Labs?
The Etsy Labs are the physical Etsy offices located in Brooklyn, New York: Etsy central! Within the offices, the Labs functions as a community workspace where we hold Craft Nights and occasional events. The Etsy Labs folks run the community workspace, host events and visiting members of the press, design and make handmade Etsy merchandise and press kits and promos, manage the Etsy Labs shop, host online workshops and tutorials each week and represent Etsy at craft shows. We also work as Admin who are here to help you whenever you need shop advice. Whenever we have an event here at our offices, we try to broadcast it via webcam to the Virtual Labs. In short, Etsy Labs is much more than an office: We work to bridge the online and offline worlds of Etsy.

Can I come visit the Etsy Labs?
We welcome visitors at the Etsy Labs and love putting faces with names and avatars! The best time to come by and say hello is on Mondays from 4 - 8 p.m., when the community space is open to the public for Craft Night. We are now located at 55 Washington Street, Suite 512, Brooklyn NY, 11201. (We moved from our 325 Gold St, Brooklyn location in August 2009.)

How do I keep up with what's going on at Etsy Labs, like finding out about events and online workshops?
To find out about events at the Labs and any online workshops that are coming soon, we'd recommend joining the Etsy Labs mailing list to receive occasional updates from the Etsy Labs straight to your inbox.

Also, you may wish to keep an eye on the Etsy Labs column of the Storque or the Events section of the Storque. We're always updating what's going on and how you can be a part of it!

If you're a member of Meetup.com, please do join the Etsy Labs Meetup group. If you're a fan of flickr.com, you can keep track of what's going on at Etsy on our flickr page and our Etsy Labs Show & Tell group.

What is Craft Night and how can I get involved?
Every Monday from 4 - 8 p.m. we hold a free weekly, walk-in Craft Night where the community space in our offices is open to the public. Each week the Etsy Labs organize a skill-sharing project. We provide supplies, tools, and know-how. Participants are also welcome to bring their own projects to work on. This is the perfect time to see the space, use the equipment and supplies free of charge, and learn a new skill. Just stop on by!

If you're not in the area, visit the Virtual Labs where we fire up the webcam and share in the fun.

If you would like to lead a Craft Night or have a suggestion for a project, send your ideas to labs@etsy.com with "Craft Night Idea" as the subject line. Have you participated in Craft Night? Share your photos with the Etsy Labs Show and Tell Flickr group!

The first Sunday of each month from 2 - 6 p.m. the Church of Craft meets at the Labs, which also serves as an open crafting time, and you are welcome to join in.

Do you still offer classes at the Etsy Labs?
At the beginning of 2009, we discontinued our class program here at the Etsy Labs and embarked on a collaboration with the Brooklyn artist facility, 3rd Ward. This collaboration is called Etsy at 3rd Ward, and it is a craft education program born from Etsy and 3rd Ward's shared spirit of hands-on innovation. Together we present the opportunity to learn skills to expand creative know-how and craft a handmade life. Check out this program for a host of exciting craft classes.

May I rent equipment from Etsy Labs?
Tools and supplies are available for use during our weekly Craft Nights. We have a slew of crafty equipment on hand and open for use during Craft Night, including sewing machines, sergers, a one-inch button maker, paper cutters, fabric, paper, sewing notions, rubber stamps, linoleum carving tools, irons, cutting mats, and a whole lot more. To use specialized equipment at the Etsy Labs, like sergers, we ask that you have demonstrated previous experience. To use the button maker, please bring your own button one-inch parts.

At this time, our screenprinting equipment is reserved for use by Etsy for in-house production of promotional materials.

What are the Virtual Labs and how do I participate in an online workshop?
The Virtual Labs are Etsy's online, interactive, multi-user chat room. We use the Virtual Labs to connect with our community, host events, live webcam how-to's, Team meetings, newbie chats, show and tell, shop critiques, and more! To find out what is happening in the Virtual Labs this week, just visit the lobby of the Virtual Labs for a schedule or check out the Virtual Labs Storque articles for the details. More info about the Virtual Labs here.

Apply to host a workshop in the Virtual Labs here.

Why is your Blogspot blog so out of date?
Our Etsy Labs blog is what we used to communicate with the community before The Storque made its debut on Etsy. Now that The Storque is here, we now keep in touch with you guys over here. However, since there is so much useful information and so many resource links over at our old blog, we wanted to leave it up for you all to access everything that still lives over there.

Do you accept donations of crafting supplies?
Through your generosity we have a full house of donated craft supplies and equipment at the Etsy Labs, and we are pretty much filled to the brim. We are limiting what we can take at this time, so if you would like to send a donation, just send us an email to labs@etsy.com to work out the details.

Can we have an Etsy Labs in our city/area?
It would be wonderful to have an Etsy Labs in every state or in non-U.S. countries. It is our hope that through the Etsy Teams and partnerships, people will be able to meet up and form their own community workspaces in their areas where they host skill shares, get donations, and generally help each other spread the Etsy love. If you'd like to take on a project like this, please keep send your idea to labs@etsy.com.

Soooooo...all you ever wanted to know about the Etsy Labs! Didn't see the answer to your question in this article? Send us an email to labs@etsy.com or post in the comments below, and we will be sure to get back to you with your answer!

Love,

The Etsy Labs

Happy Two Year Anniversary, Storque-lings

2009-09-09T17:00:00-05:00

The Storque, Etsy's blog, is turning two-years-old this week. We, the Etsy Admin who fluff the Storque's feathers and keep her flying (Alison, Tara, EricB, our intern MichelleT and myself), celebrated today by munching on a plum torte I baked last night. We're still settling into our new nest; the new Etsy office in DUMBO is still a bit sparse — thus our picnic on the floor of the video editing room. (Yes, it's plum torte, even though it looks like deep-dish pizza in the photo.)

It's crazy to look back and think about all that has happened over the past two years. (Remember the newscasts?) We've published over 5000 posts and have had about 800 people contribute posts. We've honed in on certain series and let others go. But most of all, we want to say thank you to our readers who leave insightful comments or just comments that let us know we delighted you. Thank you to those of you who read our posts and watch our videos and share the links with friends. We now have about 2 million pageviews a month, and that is thanks to you!

There's much in store for the coming year. As we enter our "terrible twos," let us know if you have some advice or words of wisdom in the comments below. What's your favorite Storque post or series? What would you like to see more of or less of?

Find out who else on Etsy has a birthday today.

About Us: Ian a.k.a. imeyer

2009-08-28T13:30:00-05:00

Ian, a.k.a. imeyer, a.k.a. imm, is our prickly pear on the Engineering Team. He works with servers and such to keep Etsy running smoothly and faithfully.

Fun Facts:

Ian is a great photographer. Here's his website to prove it and his Flickr too.
Apparently, he has bursitis.
Ian is concerned with efficiency. He once used a timer that calculated how much money we were wasting by having an all-engineering meeting every day.
Ahmed claims to have once seen Ian "on a hotel roof after Arlo & Esme on a Friday night with no pants screaming 'I'm a golden god!'" This sighting has not been corroborated.
He loves to go out to the club but refuses to ever dance.
He brought us our office manager, Sarah S., a.k.a. rockstarpoli. They know each other from working at Right Media, which was acquired by Yahoo. "The first day I met him, he was late for work because he went to a sale at Barneys."
Project Matt brought Ian to Etsy. They know each other from the club.
Vanessa thought his handle "imm" was an IRC robot.
Sarah S. says he has the cutest cat named Dexter, of whom he has taken about 10,000 pictures.
Sarah says he's OBSESSED with that Leighton Meester song.
Alison points out that she and Ian are the only Iowans in the Etsy office, though Sarah S. says he pretends he's from Philly.
Adam described his outfit at the Etsy 4th Anniversary party as Don Johnson-esque. Some unfortunate late-night events that occurred on a fire escape were not as smooth as Don Johnson, however.
Ian "eats really slow," according to Ian's boss Mike, who knows nothing else about Ian because he only concentrates on working people to death and sending them to the data center.
His first concert was Joan Jett.
He takes no guff.
Ian is upset that Ian from EtsyHacks got hired. However, Ian from EtsyHacks is upset that we hired an Ian before him.
He likes to bait people in the IRC.
Lauren and Ian got into an argument about his dislike of the Midwest. She accuses him of being scared of boredom and ashamed of his heritage.
When he first appeared in the Etsy office, we thought he was Jared Tarbell, back from the desert and clean-shaven.

Ian claimed to not have an awkward photo from his teen years, so we went for this gem:

And then we found this specimen online with the caption "Man or woman? Nobody knows?"

Here's the young cat-lover:

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 Ian's favorites below...

About Us: Mike Becak a.k.a. mikeynice

2009-08-07T13:00:00-05:00

Mike Becak, a.k.a. mikeynice, is our resident email guru on the Etsy Marketing Team. Do you subscribe to the Etsy emails, like Etsy Finds or Etsy Success? Mike is leading the charge to make these emails more compelling and user-friendly.

He's also a total sweetheart and a great guy to have at the Etsy office.

Fun Facts:

Mike is a marathon runner and then some. He ran 50 miles straight this summer, though he claims to hate running. Not surprisingly, the next day he could hardly walk. He wants to do a marathon through the arctic.
He's very sweet to his wife and recently surprised her while they were on vacation by arranging a vow renewal ceremony.
He "thinks better" while sipping red wine and refers to the bottles he whips out at the end of the workday as "his guns."
He's a Mets fan.
None of us are quite sure how to pronounce his last name. Sarah S. says she likes to pronounce it like a rooster. Bee "CAWWWWWWK!"
He likes to wear his lab coat around the office.
Dan announced that Mike has officially unseated Steve as the most "Bro" guy of the Etsy Admin.
Kevin notes that Mike has had the same carton of muscle milk in the fridge for at least three months.
He watched 13 straight hours of the television show Wife Swap.
Nizzi says he does a great impersonation of his mom, whom he evokes during marketing brainstorms while considering her demographic.
He looks good on the phone. Anda suspects that "Mike, Matt and Jesse are all on one conference call with one another all day long — 'You hang up...' 'No YOU hang up first!'"
He's "so money."
Danielle claims that he can be bribed with inflatable dinosaurs.
Neelam says he follows a wide array of celebs on Twitter: P. Diddy, 50 Cent, Britney Spears, and Martha Stewart.
Tara mentioned his fancy sneakers, and Christina notes that he actively works on his quirky t-shirt collection.
Christina says he initiated the Marketing Team's "Quote of the Week" — a real crowd pleaser.
Mike dreams about The Little Mermaid soundtrack, according to Christina, and Nizzi says he knows the entire Les Miserables score by heart.
According to Mike, he can eat more Chicken McNuggets than anyone here.

Mike was a gamer nerd and a Simpsons nerd:

Baby Mikey started off with cake and then moved on to the beer and ciggies:

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 Mike's favorites below...

About Us: Vanessa

2009-07-24T16:00:00-05:00

Vanessa Bertozzi, a.k.a. Etsy blog editrix-in-chief Vanessa, is a beloved figure around these parts. This Massachusetts native is one of the most talented and driven folks I've ever known. While she always strives to get the job done, she simultaneously maintains an ever-optimistic, forward-thinking and friendly demeanor that is truly an inspiration. Vanessa is deeply committed to the Etsy community, their interests and stories, and is truly one of the most giving people I've ever had the pleasure to meet. I'm honored to call her both a co-worker and a friend, and without her, this blog may have been but a sparkle in Etsy's eye! Today's About Us is dedicated to the woman behind the blog. Check out our list of Fun Facts!

Fun Facts:

Vanessa only likes "untainted" chocolate. No peanut butter for this lady! She likes her candy pure.
"This sweet and warm-hearted lady grew up on farm and is a very gentle human being — maybe because of it," says Christina. (Aww!) She adds that Vanessa can make anything look good, especially her grandmother's clothes. (She rocks a metallic skirt!)
Adam says, "She has the most impressive education of any of us." Matt adds, "She went to MIT and starred in a one woman show where she played a single-celled organism." Vanessa graduated magna cum laude from Harvard, and received her master's from MIT with the Comparative Media Studies group.
Her brother is a well known comic artist and illustrator, through whom she met her husband, also a well known comic artist and illustrator.
Her American Gothic Wedding to said artist-cum-ping pong champion was really a sight to behold.
Always a master of transformation, Vanessa "made an awesome Tammy Faye at Halloween — I didn't recognize her," Christina says.
Vanessa is no stranger to costumes and makeup. Anda says, "Vanessa got knocked in the face with a falling hammer right before an Etsy party, so we accentuated her black eye with makeup so she'd look like she was in a bad fight!"

Speaking of looking roughed up: both Adam and Vanessa have lost teeth! Vanessa got a grill in place of her missing canine and rocked it like none before her. As Project Matt puts it, "She has an ICED GRILL."

Vanessa is a talented filmmaker. Her film, Secondhand Pepe (available in her Etsy shop!), has screened at the New York Museum of Modern Art and festivals. She's also appeared in Funny Ha Ha (with fellow Etsy co-worker Justin, of all people!).
Speaking of multifaceted talents, Vanessa worked for the award winning Kitchen Sisters on NPR prior to working at Etsy.
Vanessa is super optimistic and always sees the bright side of things.
Adam adds, "She's got that crazy decorative weapon thing next to her desk (a Ukrainian mallet she acquired on her honeymoon), yet never brandishes it." Beug silently disagrees with part of this statement.
Vanessa did the video and podcasts for Etsy in the early days. Check out this greenscreen gem, showing off the Etsy Labs.

Vanessa has trouble getting out of bed in the mornings, so her husband Mickey gives her coffee in bed. If she doesn't get her morning brew, her curly mass of hair "rises in anger," says Alison. (As Adam states, "Her hair is like an independent organism, especially in summer.")
Matt says "Vanessa's nickname is Loch Ness Monster.'" (Not really!)

Vanessa's formative years were turtle-necked and nerdy!

Check out this chubby cheeked babe! Aww!

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: Matt a.k.a. matt

2009-07-10T16:15:00-05:00

Matt Stinchcomb, a.k.a. Dr. Professor Stinchcomb, a.k.a. matt, has known Etsy since it was just a twinkle in Rob Kalin's eye. Matt was Rob's roommate when the Etsy's founders were first launching the site, and he joined the team as one of Etsy's first employees. He shepherded Etsy through the heady start-up days — doing everything from screenprinting tote bags to hobnobbing with the press, from designing ads to handling Etsy's marketing and communications, from founding Etsy Teams to Etsy's "Artist-in-Residence" program (that only happened once).

Since Etsy has been hiring more Admin, Matt has now passed on several of the hats he'd been wearing for many years. Today, in his role of VP of Community, he keeps us all honest (and hosts a dance party or two in the Virtual Labs). He's a beloved co-worker — and we have an epic list of Fun Facts to prove it.

Fun Facts:

He loves to garden in his Brooklyn backyard and eat the fresh vegetables he's grown. He's a really good cook and will invite you to dinner, but then he always seems to already have dinner plans. (So he must invite a lot of people to dinner.)
He goes through health food diet phases — for a while he was ingesting nothing but vinegar.
Sarah points out his special uncomfortable shoes that force him to balance and are therefore "more healthy."
Matt is originally from Washington D.C. and was a hardcore Orioles fan growing up.
Emily, who knows him from growing up in D.C., says his biggest childhood fear was "goatboy peering into his window at dinner."
Jakob, also an old friend of Matt's, says that he used to have a fohawk.
Matt is married to the lovely Benedikta of BurdaStyle, our fashion-y friends who run the open source sewing pattern website. BurdaStyle used to rent space in Etsy Labs, but now they're located downstairs.
Danielle claims that Matt started the cowl trend on Etsy: (photo by dandelionblu)
He loves wearing white, especially white pants. One time Danielle was working a Philly craft show with him, and it started to pour. He was wearing all white that day, and the ladies went wild!
He plays tennis and once dreamed of starting a clothing line for retro tennis outfits.
Matt is the earliest riser, often waking at 5 a.m. to go for a long walk. His bedtime is 8 p.m.
Matt fixed the toaster, according to Sarah.
Matt paces around when he's on the phone. Adam adds that when he paces around, he often picks things up and then leaves them elsewhere.
Beug says Matt has the second best hair of the Etsy Admin. However, he can't grow a beard and has no sideburns or body hair.
Matt is one of the most charming people you'll ever meet.
Danielle claims that he flips her the bird when no one is looking.
Alison described how he's really well put-together and often wears a blazer and tie, but there's always something amiss: stains, missed button on his shirt, tear in his jacket.
Beug is right when he says we all love his winning smile.
Julie notes that Matt wants to start a girl group, Phil Spector style. Tara notes that he loves the Shangri-Las.
He likes to assess people in terms of their "vibe."
Lauren says that Matt subconsciously sings when he's happy but also when he's scared.
Emily says that he was known only as "Matt Wad" in college after the porn star John Wad.
Matt has a huge flame tattoo on his leg but you'll never see it because he never wears shorts. He has two other well-concealed tattoos.
Adam points out that Matt is a prolific Etsy shopper, and his house is filled with beautiful Etsy items and antiques.
He designed the Etsy donkeycorn poster.
He doesn't own a TV, but if he did he'd be watching random movies on Lifetime in the early morning.
He makes the Marketing/Community office smell pretty with his hippie incense.
Emily says he wrote a song called "Tranquility Tea."
Anda says he had a speech impediment as a child and spent years doing mouth exercises to correct it. That's why he smiles so much.
Adam fondly recalls that Matt would lead Christmas carol sing-a-longs in the evenings around the holidays.
He goes to Germany all the time. He owns a pair of adult men's lederhosen.
He came up with "Bad News from a Kitten" and wants to make it into a ringtone. He, Adam, and Anda berated Christina so mercilessly about her ringtone that she cried.
When Matt and Emily lived in Portland for a summer, he worked at a gas station and lived exclusively off of Sour Patch Kids from the BPmart. He kept the uniform and wore it every day.
He went to Oberlin and was a big theater nerd in high school.
Matt used to be in the rock band The French Kicks.
Before he and Vanessa ever met, her friend told her about sitting beside these crazy guys who were in the band called The French Kicks at a Bruce Springsteen concert. They were all dressed up like Bruce and singing along.
He once traded a car for a guitar. Dan vouches for Matt knowing all of the bass parts on Led Zeppelin IV.
Lauren notes that there's a park in Oklahoma City named after him.
He used to run his own screenprinting company.
No one has ever seen him mad at anyone — except for a few of us seeing him mad at Rob.
Let's just say Matt can be impulsive.
According to Emily, he wore black turtlenecks with a horoscope medallion necklace in high school.
He is a big history buff and executive produces an animated History Channel show.
Matt is famous for his brainstorms and knowing famous people.
Lauren notes that he really likes to point out places he's seen Keri Russell in Brooklyn. Anda adds that he loves to talk about the celebrities he's met.
Half of Etsy staff go to the same doctor and dentist because of him.
For Julie's birthday he picked a random thing off his shelf and offered it to her as a birthday present.
Rockstarpoli saw him get really excited about banana juice.
He would proudly accept the title of being the King of Dumpster-diving. When Vanessa found an amazing painting in the trash, Matt claimed he'd already found it in the trash years ago and then threw it away again when he was sick of it — two years before she ever found it. He has another painting hanging in his office at Etsy that he got from the trash or a yard sale years ago, that turned out to be by Vanessa's friends.
Emily said he tried out to be an extra in John Waters' film Serial Mom for the concert scene at Hammerjacks in Baltimore, but was REJECTED.
He can do a really good Baltimore/D.C. accent.
His wedding band Dexter Lake Club Band used to practice at Etsy Labs, but he refused to play at Danielle's wedding. The band recorded a music video at the Etsy Labs. Click on "media" on their website.
Jim asks, "Did anyone mention that he puts hummus in his coffee?"

Lookin' cool in high school:

Matt on bass:

Matt's first camping trip:

Matt and cupcakes go way back:

About Us: Bernadette a.k.a. bernsweeney

2009-06-26T14:10:00-05:00

Bernadette Sweeney, a.k.a. bernsweeney, heads up Etsy's Support Team. Before starting at Etsy in May 2009, Bernadette worked for companies such as Community Connect Inc. (now Interactive One) and 1-800-Flowers.com. She brings with her a wealth of professional experience and also her warmth and concern for our members. Please join us in officially welcoming Bernadette!

Fun Facts:

Bernadette, KC, Ahmed and Tara share Queens as their hometown.
She's a Mets fan.
Bernadette is a first-generation American. Both her parents are from Ireland, and many of her relatives still live in the Motherland. Lucky for Bernadette, she gets to visit them every other year or so. Unlucky for Bernadette, they get to come visit her, and consequently, she's taken the tourist trolley around Manhattan more times than she can remember and will be taking the Sex and the City tour with her cousins visiting from England this week.
She has kissed the Blarney Stone which is supposed to give you the "gift of gab." She says this could explain why she "can't stop talking."
She adores Bono and is so excited to go see U2 in the fall. Her first concert was Molly Hatchet, but she wishes it had been U2 or Bruce Springsteen or the Police.
After college, Bernadette backpacked for three months in Australia. She blew her life savings and had to move back in with her parents. She still loves to travel and recently went to a wedding in Spain.
Facebook lost some of its cool appeal for Bernadette when her 70-year-old mother joined. But that said, her mom is pretty cool.
"She completed her doctoral research Performing the Body in Irish Theatre" at the University College in Cork, Ireland. Oh. Wait, I think that's a different Bernadette Sweeney.
Tim says she was named after the song "Bernadette" — not The Four Tops one, but the gospel song about St. Bernadette. ("Bernadette!")
She took part in a special task force on internet safety held at Harvard Law School's Berkman Center for Internet and Society.
Bernadette is very sporty: She rides her bike, kayaks, and hikes.
She bribed the Support Team with cookies after her first interview at Etsy.

Family photos by the Christmas tree. Classic! Bernadette's mom is an expert knitter and made those cabled Irish fisherman's sweaters!

First Communion Bernadette looks like a little angel. But what is with that guilty look and that imprisoned baby crying for help in the background, hmmmm?

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: Sean a.k.a. sean11

2009-06-12T13:22:00-05:00

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.

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! x2!).
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...

About Us: Danielle aka daniellexo

2009-05-22T14:40:00-05:00

Danielle, a.k.a. daniellexo, a.k.a. preciouspups, has worn many different hats during her tenure as an Etsy Admin. This former full-time seller really shines when sharing business tips with sellers. You'll often find her sharing info in the Virtual Labs (she also co-hosts Shop Live!), leading show and tell on Monday Craft Nights, collecting bits for the Etsy Success email list, and organizing with the Teams. She's a wiz when it comes to posting how-tos for sellers, as well as shopping articles, here on Etsy's blog, The Storque.

In addition to her work at Etsy, she also blogs at Fact and Fancy and Gold School.

Best of all, she has an infectious laugh. We love you, Danielle. More than Jim.

Fun Facts:

Danielle was a child model.
She's originally from Las Vegas, but also lived in Canada for a while. She was shocked when we didn't know what a "duotang" was. There's actually some confusion about whether she's an illegal alien or not.
She loves to LOL with her Momz.
She's obsessed with peanut memorabilia.
According to her husband, Jim, "She and Patton Oswalt slept in a walnut and rode around New York in a pea pod."
Julie recalls that Danielle and Jim met through an online comedy nerd club. Jim points out that Danielle met Julie while working at Etsy.
Dan says that Danielle and Jim first met Etsy founder Rob Kalin while buying hot dogs at the Renegade Craft Fair.
Alison points out that Danielle loves her Sidekick.
Everyone loves Rudy, Danielle and Jim's ewok-dog. He's a Brussels Griffon, but Danielle has her eye on a bulldog too. She also wants a pet bunny.
She's barely five feet tall.
She went to metalsmithing school in Toronto, and she's very crafty.
She doesn't have a driver's license.
She has a fiery temper.
"Lucky for her," she was the recipient of baby wipes as a birthday gift from Michelle. She also got a comb.
She has a tattoo of a lotus flower, which she got when she was a yoga instructor. According to Beug, she actually got the tattoo to cover up another tattoo which was the symbol of "WOMAN."
She loves Amy Sedaris so much that she can quote Strangers with Candy at the drop of a hat.
If you need a sugar fix at the Etsy Labs, sneak over to the squirrel nut candy jar on Danielle's desk.
She's obsessed with this Carrie Underwood's "Before He Cheats." It's even her ringtone, much to Jason's chagrin.
She's a foodie who hates food.
She was a tennis champ in high school.
She was in a riot grrrl band and had pink hair at one point.
Michelle says that Danielle started her shop "preciouspups" thinking she was gonna strike it big with jeweled dog tags!

Grunge phase alert! Danielle's locker opens to reveal her secret obsession with Johnny Depp and Smashing Pumpkins.

Did I mention that Danielle was a child model? So cute!

Etsy has had quite a growth spurt, 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 some 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: Amy aka amydec

2009-05-15T13:40:00-05:00

Amy DeCicco, a.k.a. amydec, joined the Etsy Admin in April of 2009. She comes to us via National Public Radio and brings her expertise as a librarian. Amy will be working on Etsy's taxonomy, specifically the organization of the Etsy Categories and how they relate to tagging.

Fun Facts:

In college, Amy wanted to be a sociologist or anthropologist, but decided academia wasn't for her.
According to her former boss at NPR, "When Amy is upset and disagrees with something, she sends her boss memos so well written, so clear, specific and precise outlining her disagreements that her boss has no choice but agree with her!"
Her first gig at NPR was interning for the music librarian, which has to be one of the best jobs ever. That's where she fell in love with opera. Which brings us to our next Fun Facts...
Her favorite opera singers are Enrico Caruso and Juan Diego Flores.
Her former NPR boss weighed in on the opera theme too, "She has been known to travel to the suburbs to catch the Met Opera simulcast in HD. (On public transportation, of course!)"
She's a good cook and likes to host dinner parties.
Her celebrity look-alike is Brittany Murphy.
She grew up in the Blueberry Capital of the World in South Jersey (Exit 28, Expressway).
Amy dreams of joining a marching band.
From looking at her flickr stream, I got the feeling she's into shoes. This Fun Fact has been verified by her NPR blog post about librarian fashion. She also told me her taxonomy inspiration is Endless.com.
She has worked as a barista, florist, cheese monger, research coordinator, and news librarian. No, she is not a taxidermist.
Her To Do List for the year includes organizing a double-dutch jump rope team and learning to play the xylophone.
She can drink wine seven nights a week with little or no after-effect.
Amy can write backwards in cursive.
She's an example of the reason why you shouldn't get a tattoo in high school. She wouldn't spill the beans until I guessed what it was on the first try! Now I'm sworn to secrecy.
Don't challenge her to a game of dice.
According to other folks on the Product Team, Amy is preparing to blow everyone else in the "messy desk contest" out of the water.
Her first concert was Faith No More and Helmet.

Amy (on the right) gives Tara a run for her big-haired money. I love how the bouffants seem to be casting shadows along the far wall.

Amy got into karaoke before everyone else, way back when blue shag carpet, Mr. Potato Head, and — as Eric put it — "Burt and Ernie shirts" were de rigeur. Amy, "You should be dancin', yeah!"

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 Amy's favorites below...

About Us: Eric aka objecked

2009-05-08T15:00:00-05:00

Eric Beug, a.k.a. objecked, a.k.a. Beug, works with us here as an Admin for Etsy's blog, The Storque. After interning with our friends over at Make Zine, he moved to our office in March of 2008. Before that he was a graduate student at NYU's Interactive Telecommunications Program, where he invented amazing musical machines. He is much beloved to us. However, as Adam points out, many of us are still unsure how to pronounce his last name.

Eric is one of those rare and wonderful birds who marries tech-savviness with artistic sensibilities. He programmed the nifty video player you see when we have scheduled site maintenance (known around here as "late night at the Etsy movies"). When something goes haywire with our video equipment or RSS feeds, Eric is the one we turn to. His artistic abilities seem to know no bounds; for instance, he hand-draws the titles for our There's No Place Like Here video series. He really is a renaissance man. He's our video shooter, editor, music composer, drawer, animator, blogger, maker, cute-video finder, snacker, and lover of handmade and vintage. He also has great fashion sense (who else can rock a pair of Google socks, polyester pants and a bolo tie as office attire, or a red velvet suit to a wedding?).

Fun Facts:

When Eric composes original music for the Etsy videos, he wears his headphones, and all we hear is his tappity-tap-tapping out the song on his keyboard. We are always excited to hear the music!
Eric heads up Etsy's involvement in Handmade Music Night with Make Zine and CreateDigitalMusic at 3rdWard. Watch a movie he made about it here.
He is an "honorary girl" on the Storque Team. He's been known to include a virtual *gasp* when writing about cute things.
He knows about computers' brains.
According to Dan, "eric b. has 5% body fat."
He rocks an amazing 'stache, which he strokes thoughtfully, which as Jakob points out, informs our choice of walrus for his spirit animal.
You think he's taking notes in meetings, but he's actually methodically drawing intense patterns. He's in the zone.
His girlfriend Kelly is an improv and sketch comedian who works at Vice. She broke the story of the hipster-grifter.
Eric went to Evergreen College in Washington and learned about all kinds of interesting subjects.
He and Julie have the same sandals (see Alpine photo below).
He's only six degrees of separation away from being bff's with Neko Case.
He quotes Twin Peaks sometimes. Right now he loves Tim & Eric (he has a beaver bounce t-shirt), and he and Project Matt are mutually obsessed with Lost.
He calls Adam by his alter-ego, "Chauv."
Lose the glasses and he looks like 1970s Nick Nolte, but Maria thinks he's a "boyish Walter Cronkite."
Christina notes that he takes free hugs from EVERYONE with a "free hugs" t-shirt.
He geeks out on music technology, according to Jason. And Adam adds that he also has some mean dance moves.
He has a "Butt-freckle"(.etsy.com), about which he and Danielle made a movie.
Matt nicknamed him Hambeuger Helper.

Precocious and awkward videoblogger pops off his raw coverage of George H.W. Bush:

Baby videoblogger, honing his skills:

(And another photo — we couldn't resist! *gasp* We want to Alchemy a grown-man size of this outfit for you, beug!) When not videoblogging, lederhosen baby chillin' in "the Alps":

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 some 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 Eric's favorite shops below...

About Us: Bryan aka bschwab

2009-04-24T15:25:00-05:00

Meet Bryan Schwab, an Etsy Admin who works on the Engineering Team. Bryan has been with the Etsy engineering team since January of 2008 and focuses mainly on payment system projects. He's based on the West coast, so we don't get to see him face-to-face all that often. We wish we could! His well-tempered voice comes through as insightful and business-minded when we hear him on the daily Engineering Team conference call.

Bryan Fun Facts:

Bryan used to work at eBay.
He speaks German and has a viking beard.
Schwab actually means Q-tip in German.
Bryan is also very tall.
He's a family man, with a wee one (actually not so wee! A 10-pounder!) recently born.
He lives in the San Francisco Bay area with his wife and two young children, though he lived in Manhattan for one year.
He is obsessed with Abe Lincoln.
He recently bought a painting with Boston terriers.
He ran a marathon.
According to Dan, he's really good at shaking exactly two aspirin out of the bottle.
He's an iPhone wiz and has every app known to man or beast, including that one that recognizes music.
His ringtone is Starship's "We built this city."
His first concert was Pearl Jam.
Bryan is a really good guitar player, and you can see awkward youth Bryan jammin' below. We think he looks like the perfect Zep fan.

Yum!

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: Liz Wald aka muka

2008-12-19T14:06:00-05:00

Bonjour, G'Day, Guten Tag, Hola, Konnichiwa Etsy!

My name is Liz Wald and back in November, Maria mentioned in her post on the Etsy blog that I would be joining Etsy to work on international development. My first day is January 5th and I'm really looking forward to being a part of the team. I just wanted to say a quick hello, wish you all a very happy New Year, and let you know that I'd be reaching out to some of the international Team leaders so they can introduce me to their Etsy worlds.

My Etsy name is "Muka," a nickname I received while working with artisans in Rwanda. It's an abbreviation of a Kinyarwandan word that loosely translates to "a woman who lifts up others." It was generous of them to give me this name because I always felt like the artisans did as much to lift me up as I did them, and I can already tell that the Etsy community is a place where people lift each other up every day. While I'm sure there are far too many international buyers and sellers to get to know you all, please feel free to convo me if you'd like to share some thoughts.

Etsy has had quite a growth spurt, and we have the awkward pictures to prove it. You've seen the admin badge, and maybe you're a bit curious about the person behind it. Check out our 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!).

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: Sarah aka SarahSays

2008-09-17T11:02:00-05:00

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:

About Us: Amber aka adubois

2008-08-27T11:16:00-05:00

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

2008-08-20T12:07:00-05:00

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

2008-08-13T12:12:00-05:00

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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A video we found on the internet!

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: Erin aka ErinHaldrup

2008-07-30T12:00:00-05:00

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

2008-07-23T12:27:00-05:00

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.

About Us: Lauren aka stellaloella

2008-07-09T15:38:00-05:00

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

2008-07-02T16:18:00-05:00

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

2008-06-26T12:08:00-05:00

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

2008-06-18T15:20:00-05:00

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

2008-06-16T15:26:00-05:00

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...