By Katy Nally

What’s the worst that can happen? That six-word ethos has propelled Erin McCaul across careers, countries, and cliffsides until it landed her here at 2A as our consultant for web projects. As you might have gathered, Erin isn’t afraid of much. Like her sci-fi role model, Sarah Connor, she terminates challenges with her ability to see problems from all sides and turn up creative solutions.

The left side of the road

Just after college, Erin found herself on the other side of the Pacific, teaching English to a classroom of students in Japan. She didn’t speak Japanese, she didn’t know anyone in the rural town of Kunisaki and she had never driven on the left side of the road before. But none of that stopped her. She broke her students out of their shells, made friends with her neighbors, and developed an affinity for her egg-shaped car. She even successfully set up a wireless router relying only a manual in Japanese and her intuition.

The limitless grey areas

But she couldn’t stay away from the Pacific Northwest for long. See, Erin likes the grey areas in life (Seattle included) because they give her room to roam. She doesn’t like to be boxed in when it comes to problem solving because she enjoys exercising her curiosity and trying unexpected solutions. And Seattle’s tech industry was just the place for her grey-area approach to flourish. First at the SEO software company Moz, and now at 2A, Erin has unblocked developers to construct marketing assets and deploy them across channels. When problems arise, Erin gets a twinkle in her eye and calmly tells her crew, “this is just our chance to get creative.”

The granite way forward

While solutions to marketing challenges might be murky, the path forward looks crystal clear compared to the obscured, craggy route up a 15-pitch climb in Squamish, BC. That’s Erin’s happy place, and where you’ll find her on the weekends—with chalky hands atop giant granite boulders. With an outdoorsy spirit rooted in a what’s-the-worst-that-could-happen attitude, Erin crushes climbs, then tops it off with some trail running. And lucky for our clients, that boundless energy extends to their projects as well.

Need someone to think outside the box to solve your marketing challenges? Erin’s happy to wade through the muddy grey areas and dig up solutions. 

By Katy Nally

Once upon a time, Katherine cracked open a book. She was smitten. The more she read, the more she appreciated books and their ability to transport the reader. That enthusiasm grew over the years, until books and reading slowly sowed their way into her identity. By the time she moved to Seattle she had liquidated her possessions—except for her book collection. It was the one thing she couldn’t part with. Today she pays tribute to her first love by working with the Microsoft book store, writing spellbinding copy to hook readers, and promoting a happily ever after for all.

Never an idle protagonist, Katherine has taken charge of the narrative of her career. Facing a professional turning point, she decided to get her Project Management Professional certification to open new career opportunities. And she’s not stopping there. Next up is her PMI-Agile Certified Practitioner exam. All that know-how has bolstered her love of thinking strategically and building processes to achieve a goal. As a project manager at 2A, Katherine supports the Microsoft book store, leveraging her penchant for strategy to help drive the team’s marketing campaigns.

The Microsoft book store feeds her need for books—Katherine thrives amongst her fellow bibliophiles and enjoys getting an inside look at the publishing industry. She’s right at home curating and publishing lists of favorite reads, and writing snappy copy to make her lineups pop. Before joining 2A, Katherine worked as a copywriter at Zulily. Her way with words comes in handy for the Books Merchandising team, which publishes her copy on the books storefront and across various marketing channels. Her keen sense of project management, plus her writing skills keep her team highly efficient and running smoothly.

Katherine has always been dedicated to helping people live happily ever after by building a more peaceful world. In addition to her history and international studies majors, Katherine also earned a peace studies minor. Her education sparked a stint in AmeriCorps, working for the International Rescue Committee. These days she’s a member of both the Seattle-Perugia Sister City Association and Seattle-Isfahan Sister City Advocacy, which promote an inclusive and diverse city. When she sees a cause that deserves advocacy, Katherine doesn’t hold back. She’s already converted a few friends to the sustainable blockchain Burstcoin, after learning about its green solution to reduce energy waste in coin mining.

Project manager, writer and advocate all rolled into one. Let’s see how she can build your story. 

By Kelly Schermer

Everyone knows it’s wrong to hire based on a person’s origins, but what if the person happens to be from the Renaissance? Are we supposed to overlook the fact that he can do a little bit of everything really well? Seems so… biased. Hardwiring for technology, his ability to observe, and his stark perseverance make him a poster child for the golden age and our go-to for consulting and project planning.

Functions as a linchpin

Recently Kyle transitioned his role at 2A from a go-to-market project manager embedded within Microsoft to a member of our in-house consultant group. In addition to managing client accounts and working with team members to create content, he also leads our team’s technology adoption, spearheading and troubleshooting our internal adoption of Microsoft Teams. His ability to listen closely, understand and anticipate needs, and propose solutions make him instrumental in his clients’ and teammates’ success.

Displays mechanical and emotional intelligence

From a young age, the machine force has been strong in Kyle. He and his dad used to spend hours together fixing cars, computers, and other appliances. He claims that he can diagnose and solve problems just by listening carefully. In his everyday job, he uses the same practice of reflection and emotional intelligence to listen and observe what’s going on around him before choosing a course of action.

Conquers the unknown with the known

Kyle’s pragmatic pursuit of art and his ability to nurture his passion from a spark of inspiration to a profitable product demonstrate his perseverance and willingness to learn. Between 1999 and 2008, Kyle parlayed vanilla-flavored piano lessons into a one-man industrial band. He single-handedly wrote, performed, and produced a half dozen albums under the name Inelex. During that time, he developed an interest in photography, which he grew into a freelance job after graduating college with his bachelor’s in business. Kyle looks for opportunities to use what he already knows to figure out what he doesn’t know…yet.

It’s not often you meet a bona fide machine whisperer who feels just as comfortable taking a campaign to market as he does cutting an album or writing a case study, but that’s what we’ve found in Kyle. Next time you need a Renaissance expert-in-anything, you know who to call!

By Katy Nally

This year she traded in her pliés for a chance to pop and lock. While the moves may be new—venturing from years of ballet to freestyle hip hop—this drive to expand her breadth of expertise is Annie’s telltale MO. With a former life as a fashion buyer, a background in Middle Eastern studies, and a penchant for marketing strategy, Annie applies her multitude of perspectives to see client projects from all angles.

A historian at heart with an analytical appetite

Who says a liberal arts education is dead? Annie is living proof that you can still get your money’s worth. Studying history at the University of Washington left her with a zeal for digging into information to understand the why. That analytical appetite has come in handy when devising marketing strategies for clients. And it’s part of the reason she chose 2A. Annie relishes a good challenge, and has no fear when it comes to defusing big BOMs, aka bill of materials.

A double dawg with a business bent

Fresh out of college, Annie parlayed her passion for fashion into an internship at Nordstrom. She learned the ropes quickly and worked her way up to become a merchandise analyst. After tasting the business side of things, Annie was hungry to learn more. Turning back to UW she started her journey as a double dawg, earning her MBA at night and working full time during the day. She scored a job at Amazon where her love of marketing flourished—driving in-house fashion brands with go-to-market strategies.  

An envelope pusher with a smack of snark

Throughout her career—and equally outside of work—Annie has grown her breadth of knowledge, collecting nuggets of information in each endeavor, then pushing the envelope to learn more. Her love of learning has no end in sight—case in point the several book clubs she’s in and her well-worn library card. In each pursuit she makes it her own with a heavy dose of snark, inevitably building connections through her sense of humor and wit. It’s how her puppy earned the name Zopa, which stands for zone of possible agreement. Annie chose the name after acing negotiation tactics first in class, then later at home.

Got a new topic that Annie can sink her teeth into? Give us a call!

By Katy Nally

When you summit a 20,000-foot peak, you rely on your rope team to get to the top. If you’re traversing steep glaciers and icy slopes, it helps to know your group is linked together, and someone is there to pull you back up if you fall. With a lifetime of experience in outdoor education, our operations manager Mel Hodgman knows the value of a dependable rope team. And now that she’s at 2A, she’s making sure we all benefit from that same safety net so we can summit together.

The glue that keeps our team together

Before she came to 2A, Mel flexed her logistics muscles by coordinating mountaineering expeditions for guided groups around the world. She was the point person for each trip, making sure the crew had exactly what they needed to summit. Now she’s doing the same for our 2A office. She’s the glue that holds us all together. Whether we’re meeting on Mondays to plan our week, or onboarding new hires, Mel anticipates needs before they arise. Her instinct to snag inefficiencies before they cause trouble makes her a huge asset to our team.

The educator who leads by example

In between living in Joshua Tree National Park and summiting Mount Aconcagua, the highest mountain outside of Asia, Mel somehow made time to get her master’s in education. 2A isn’t exactly a classroom, but that hasn’t stopped Mel from teaching us a thing or two. Her human resources training has led to a more inclusive office where we all pitch in to recognize the culture contributions of our colleagues and appreciate a diverse and growing pool of perspectives.

The fearless problem solver

Making the transition from outdoor education to marketing seemed like a big leap at first, but Mel was game. Maybe it was all that mountaineering, but Mel was keen on trudging into unknown territory. She was excited to join 2A and help refine our foundational systems to maximize efficiency. She’s a natural born problem solver and digs in to find answers to new questions. She’s eternally searching for new ways to improve processes and do the job better, faster, and beneficial for all.

Put simply, Mel makes our adventures at 2A possible.

By Katy Nally

Archaeology is the search for fact, not truth. If it’s truth you’re interested in, Dr. Tyree’s Philosophy class is right down the hall. So forget any ideas you’ve got about lost cities, exotic travel, and digging up the world. We do not follow maps to buried treasure, and “X” never, ever marks the spot…

…sure Indiana Jones, sure. What that famous whip-wielding archaeologist meant was, if “X never, ever marks the spot” then you just have to look harder! An early student of Professor Jones, Amy Wagner took this idea to heart and started her quest for knowledge at a young age. Today, as a project manager with an appetite for finance, she employs her powers of discovery to unearth new skills, solve financial mysteries, and reap intrinsic rewards—with her trusty dog Indy by her side.

A collector of priceless skills

A mystical puzzle, forgotten enigma, or uncrackable pivot table? Amy will get to the bottom of it. She can’t stand it when her team encounters knowledge gaps, so she takes it upon herself to study new subjects for the greater good. Driven by the notion that it’s never too late to learn something, Amy has stacked up an impressive range of skills from motorcycle maintenance for old Suzukis to finance protocols for multi-million-dollar budgets to HAM radio lingo. Her ever-expanding knowledge means she’s the veritable database for our team.

A solver of financial puzzles

While Indiana drew a clear line between archaeology and philosophy, Amy doesn’t see it that way. As a project manager she employs tactics from both fields: she skillfully unearths new facts then digs deep to reach an expert level. Amy developed her love of philosophy in college and is always willing to debate intricate topics or unravel arguments. At 2A, she delights in the analytical rigor of her job and makes mastering complex financial systems look like a piece of cake.

A DIY-er seeking intrinsic rewards

But what about that buried treasure? For Amy, the reward is embarking on something new and the feeling of accomplishment that arrives when she inevitably aces the challenge. Whether she’s restoring her grandparents’ old mopeds or crafting fully themed Christmas ornaments for each season, Amy’s DIY nature fuels her search for intrinsic rewards.

So the next time you’re searching your financials for an X that marks the spot, call on Amy to decode your budget.

By Kelly Schermer

As a firm believer that good design becomes great when it has purpose behind it, Radhika wholeheartedly embraces the challenge of creating with intention. Her green thumb for storytelling is rooted in her openness to the unexpected, her trust in her intuition, and her ability to layer those elements together through rock-solid design fundamentals.

Welcoming the unexpected

Radhika works by the improv credo of “yes and…”. Not only is she open to experimenting and exploring with her process, but she welcomes the emergence of unexpected elements that stretch her thinking.  When she paints, she starts with a stroke and lets that element guide her journey from there. When she designs, she uses client feedback to expand her understanding and shift her point of view. Radhika appreciates fresh perspectives and enjoys trying on ideas to see where they lead.

Designing by intuition

Outside the office, Radhika feeds her creativity by experimenting with film photography, drawing, painting, collaging—she’s even a serial beginning salsa dancer (it’s a thing…more on that later). These different pursuits help her learn to trust her own process and to follow her intuition. Slipping into the zone can be meditative, heart racing, even frustrating for her. But, above all else, it allows her brain a safe place to unwind an idea while she’s obsessing over the smallest curve or following a stroke into its scene.

Building on the fundamentals

This past fall, Radhika completed her fourth salsa class for beginners in her fourth city. While she has more than acquired the skills to advance to an intermediate class, she’s not in a rush. All of her teachers, from New York to Seattle and in between, seem to agree that you can’t practice the basics too much. In the same way, Radhika relies on her solid grasp of design fundamentals and her rich variety of experiences to help her weave together the unexpected with the new ideas.

Wondering what intentional and intuitive design looks like in action? See for yourself how Radhika’s green thumb makes stories bloom!

By Katy Nally

A square dance can’t happen without a caller to guide couples through upcoming do-si-dos and allemande lefts. With Laura at the mic, the dance goes off without a hitch. Keeping partners moving isn’t just her specialty on the dancefloor—it’s been the cornerstone of her career. Laura’s knack for keeping everyone in sync and her commitment to helping others is what makes her an extraordinary project manager.

Partner dedication

After college, Laura opted for two years in the Peace Corps, teaching English in a 3,000-person village in Thailand. Little did she know her role would open doors for her in the corporate world—helping companies cultivate their partnerships with Microsoft. Attracted by a dot.com boom, Laura parlayed her teaching experience in Thailand into a position at Microsoft where she managed an online training program for partners. Two decades later she’s still dedicated to partner marketing, and today serves as an adviser on the subject.

Altruistic motivation

If she could stay in Thailand, she would. It’s where she fell in love with papaya salad and tropical beaches. It’s also the place that ignited her lifelong passion for helping people that fuels her to this day. In between traveling abroad, square dancing, paddle boarding and partner marketing, Laura still manages to carve out time for nonprofit pursuits. In the past she’s helped Big Brothers and Big Sisters fine tune their marketing strategy, and these days she’s on the board of the World Association for Children and Parents.

Career circulation

Ending up at 2A was a bit of a do-si-do in itself. While working at Microsoft, Laura hired a few content experts who went on to establish 2A. She liked them so much she kept in touch, and later accepted a job at the budding agency when 2A needed someone with deep expertise in partner marketing.

In need of a caller to choreograph your marketing moves? Laura can lead your partners in the right direction.

By Kelly Schermer

The office at 2A is full of big personalities, but if I’m being honest, it’s the design pod that really brings it—each in their own way. I think of Thad as Thad Allen, partner in design, which I recommend singing to the tune of Transformers, robots in disguise because that is exactly what I mean. Thad has earned mutant robot status in my mind through his ability to transform copy and ideas into powerful stories in record time. Some might even say he’s got the touch.  While he did technically get a degree in this stuff (a BA in Interactive Media Design), his passion for finding ways to improve on things seems to be enmeshed in his DNA and the way he approaches the world. 

A PowerPoint prodigy turned professional

About the age most kids make their first flip book, Thad was playing around in PowerPoint, building cartoons for his own entertainment. Today his self-taught and school-perfected capabilities result in elegant, cohesive decks that delight our clients. Not to mention, every month, he brushes off his childhood hobby to build quirky animations for 2A Circle Time, when we share the projects we’ve been working on and the lessons we’ve learned with our team.

A maker who remixes and repairs

In his off-the-clock hours, Thad finds enjoyment as a maker (more in the tinker-DIY way and less in the homemade-honey-and-bread way). He gets jazzed building with existing things. He describes it as remixing or repairing which is an important distinction from building new in that it translates to how he views his work. Thad thrives on collaboration and input. For him, it’s not about building his own creation but partnering with others to bring their ideas and expectations to life. Some of his favorite projects have been those that challenge him to fuse together different elements—from audio and video, to coding, to graphic design—to create something more.

A conundrum unfazed by tension

Along with this mastery across media comes an eye for quirky combinations and an ability to quell the tension inherent in them—just by being him. Case in point, Thad wore a 2-piece, poinsettia-red suit to 2A’s understated holiday party last year and totally rocked it. His capacity to hold divergent ideas simultaneously fuels his work. Take the idea of a car being an alien in disguise. Does Thad believe it’s true? Probably not. But, it’s not his way to deny it, and in that tolerance lies so much opportunity for creating.

Find yourself in need of transforming what you have into something more? Give us call and we’ll see what Thad Allen, partner in design, can do for you!

By Katy Nally

Armed with an MBA and a computer science degree, Jerri has a knack for seeing the potential of technology to change lives, and the knowhow to make it happen. At two of Seattle’s major, international corporations—Starbucks and Microsoft—she used her background in software engineering and program management to guide development teams and nail business objectives. Jerri is a tour de force taking Seattle by storm, driven by the opportunity to uncover answers and master new skills.

Shaping product development

Straddling tech and business presents a lot of career prospects for Jerri. She found her niche at the nexus of the two—product development. As a product manager at Starbucks she worked across engineering and business teams to evolve the company’s rewards program, then deploy it throughout the Americas and support its launch in Asia. At 2A she took on a program management role within the Partner Apps Experiences (PAX) team at Microsoft, focusing on education and helping K-12 solution providers bring their products to the Microsoft Store for Education.

Managing at a global level

Not only is she fluent in tech and business, Jerri also speaks Chinese (Mandarin and Cantonese) and uses her skills to push the international boundaries of her career. Before joining 2A she worked on the Windows Phone team, strengthening connections in China by building strategic partnerships with in-country game developers, payment providers, and telecom giants. In that role, Jerri mastered the intricacies of cross-border collaboration to launch successful technologies.

Conquering with enthusiasm

Whether she’s launching a loyalty program in India or attracting ISVs to a new platform, Jerri gets the job done with unwavering enthusiasm. It’s how she approaches most things in life—like her international quest for the best cultural dish or her latest outdoor adventure: stand up paddle boarding on Lake Washington.

Find yourself in need of an expert translator who knows both sides of the technology coin? Jerri can help you out.