With a degree in business, 2A’s motion designer, Jeff, found himself working in the world of finance after graduating from college. While he enjoyed the business of… business, he also wanted to explore his creative side. A major movie lover, Jeff bought a motion camera and started taking freelance jobs filming and editing. Working with a boutique production company filming spec commercials, he steadily gained experience and a passion for creative work. To be clear, Jeff still had a full-time finance job, so he was spending his off hours working this second job, which quickly gained momentum.
After copious hours of editing film, Jeff became obsessed with motion graphics, designing stylish video overlays, beautiful backgrounds, and snazzy transitions. Experimenting with various design software opened the door to a world where anything was possible. Jeff dove headfirst into learning all things motion design via the School of Motion and a multitude of animation boot camps. He soon parlayed his experience and talent into full-time work as an agency designer—check out a very cool 3D racecar project Jeff created for IBM.
Calling the shots on the field and on the job
Fun fact about Jeff—he played lacrosse in high school and coached it for six years! At one point, Jeff was working a finance job, taking freelance film and design work, and acting as head coach of a high school team—all at the same time. Needless to say, Jeff has no shortage of energy. One of the many perks of having him at 2A? He is always up for a challenge.
Jeff’s experience as a coach not only brings a can-do attitude and team-player approach to his work ethic, but contributes to his expertise at negotiating for the best outcome. His calm, level-headed demeanor coupled with a drive to bring his team success was essential for the kids he coached back then, and is a major win for his collaborators and clients at 2A.
Bringing projects to the next level
A key aspect of Jeff’s work ethos is considering how to make designs better. In his words, “I love having the opportunity to experiment and push a design further. Perhaps we’ve seen something similar before, so how can we do something different to elevate it?”
When Jeff’s not busy adding sparkle to 2A design projects, he’s golfing and being a dad to adventurous 4-year-old twins. Whether he’s perfecting his golf game or experimenting with new design techniques, Jeff’s enthusiasm and desire for constant improvement make him an essential part of the passionate 2A team.
One of my favorite things about 2A’s culture is all the different affinity groups that employees can join to share their interests and identities. Are you a bookworm? Join the Page Turners chat. Want to post adorable pics of your dog? Let’s see it in the Dog Parents chat. But one of the first that came about is particularly close to my heart: the Yellow Ball chat. Let me explain.
A few months into my first role here as a consultant for the marketing agency, I was struggling with aspects of the role related to my ADHD, such as auditory processing during meetings. I had only been diagnosed a few months before starting my job and was still learning how ADHD both aided and caused challenges for me at work. I realized I needed to ask for help. When I talked about it with Abby, one of 2A’s partners, she went beyond offering me tools and support. She connected me with our managing storyteller, Forsyth (after getting permission from both of us, of course), who has ADHD too.
Forsyth is an accomplished storyteller with decades of experience (and who also happens to be whip-smart). She can explain the difference between an em and an en dash, tell you all about large language models, and then immediately and seamlessly switch contexts to interview an executive about cloud technology. I was thrilled to find support from someone else with ADHD whose career I admired—and even more excited when she suggested we meet every other week. Our meetings became wonderful opportunities to talk about our work, career successes and setbacks, and joke about our everyday ADHD challenges.
A few months later, Forsyth and I decided we wanted to share our perspective on working with ADHD with the broader team. As part of 2A’s Diversity Resource Roundtable series, we talked about our own experiences living and working with ADHD and educated our peers on the nature and hurdles of this neurodivergence.* Sharing my story was uncomfortable at times (I even got a little teary eyed), but it felt freeing and powerful to reveal this key part of my identity at work. We also took this as an opportunity to make our group official and open it up to anyone else at 2A who identifies as neurodivergent.
Turns out, there’s a lot of neurodivergent people at 2A! And to be honest, it makes perfect sense. 2A hires people who are creative, generous, and passionate about what they do—traits that go hand-in-hand with neurodivergence.
We gave ourselves an official name—the “Yellow Ball Chat”—based on one of our member’s proclivity for bouncing a yellow ball to keep her mind engaged during our meetings. We have a Teams chat where we share challenges, successes, and memes, and we meet every other week. Now, when new people onboard at 2A, they are invited to join the group, which is among a dozen identity-based or common-interest chats employees can opt in to.
While there are a lot of benefits to being part of the group, like sharing tips and tricks that work well for our brains, for me the most powerful part is the feeling of community. I love having a group of people I can reach out to when I’m feeling frustrated who just “get it,” and can share their own similar experiences. It’s also inspiring to be part of a group of neurodivergent people in different career stages and disciplines, all of whom have completely different lives, to see the amazing trajectories neurodivergent people can take at work and at home.
As 2A keeps growing, I’m looking forward to welcoming more neurodivergent folks to our Yellow Ball Chat. Not only do I learn so much from every new member that joins, but it’s also a great chance to learn how we can keep making our company a welcoming and supportive place for people with neurodivergent brains.
*A term that describes people who have neurological differences like ADHD, autism, and dyslexia.
“Stop drinking Cokes, Jane,” they say…but how can I when Microsoft has entered the chat? Coca-Cola signed a $1B, five-year deal (partially funded by me) to use Microsoft’s cloud computing and AI services. “But how can this poisonous drink get any better?” you may ask. Don’t worry, the amazing taste that lights up your entire brain and sends your pancreas into a tailspin won’t change—they’ll just be summarizing emails and whatnot.
Telefonica Germany is moving one million 5G customers to AWS. This is the first time an existing mobile operation has switched its core network to a public cloud. I bet the AWS person who led that deal gets drunk at bars and screams at locals, “DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHO I AM? I GOT THE TELEFONICA DEAL…IT’S THE FIRST…YOU PEOPLE DON’T KNOW…you don’t know….” ::sobs into melty gin and tonic::
And what timing: AWS signed a multi-year deal with Mavenir—a cloud-native network infrastructure provider for networks—“to create a new telco-grade deployment model.” I still miss the good old days of Bananaphone. (Tell me that won’t be in your head for the next week.)
Like AWS, Microsoft is going heavy on industry. It recently developed copilot templates, integrations, and capabilities for areas such as manufacturing, retail, agriculture, and energy. Several industry players have announced deals this past month: Anglian Water in the UK is moving several workloads to Azure; Hexagon, a German manufacturing intelligence company, is rolling out applications using Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service; and UK electrical retailer Currys is moving to Azure.
In an article written by a journalist who ignored 50 out of my 50 pitches while I worked in the depraved world of PR, we learn that News Corp has made a deal worth $250M with OpenAI. Per the five-year agreement, ChatGPT will use content from the empire that brought us Alex Jones. Reddit has a similar deal with ChatGPT, so fasten your seatbelts!
Bright Machines, a software and robotics company serving the manufacturing industry, is collaborating with Microsoft to create a software-defined manufacturing environment that spans the entire manufacturing lifecycle. I asked ChatGPT to write a joke about this and I got: It’s like giving your factory a software upgrade—now it can finally stop asking for a break every five minutes! 👀👀👀
MongoDB and Microsoft announced an alliance with its MongoDB AI Applications Program, a “one-stop shop” for businesses wanting to build generative AI solutions.
Media and technology company Axel Springer is working with Microsoft “to support independent journalism around the world” (sureeeee) through AdTech and other AI-driven experiences for users, once referred to as “readers.” In the meantime, news publishers are concerned that Google’s new AI-powered search will be “catastrophic” to their website traffic.
If Broadcom dumped AWS, then AWS is out at the club with IBM taking selfies and posting them on Insta to make Broadcom jealous. The two have taken their relationship to the next level by “streamlining access to AI and hybrid cloud solutions.” How? IBM’s software products will be available in 92 countries through AWS Marketplace. Analysts view this as a “significant development” in the cloud industry.
AWS and CrowdStrike are speeding up their cybersecurity consolidation. AWS will integrate CrowdStrike’s Falcon platform for advanced security while CrowdStrike will leverage AI tools from AWS, including Amazon Bedrock and Amazon SageMaker, to develop generative AI capabilities for its solutions.
World domination
In a huge commitment to France, Microsoft will invest $4.3B in the country’s AI sector (which includes datacenter infrastructure and renewable energy). The goal is to attract foreign investment and establish an AI skilling initiative to train one million French peeps by the end of 2025.
Coming to Germany by 2025: an AWS “sovereign cloud,” which will be “physically and logically separate” from AWS regions. This will help AWS customers meet the country’s comparably stricter data-residency requirements, and hopefully persuade reluctant public agencies to move to the cloud.
When I visited Wisconsin, the best thing I saw was Katy Nally. The second-best thing I saw was a 12-person, 5-foot-tall beer bong, followed by a 50-pound cheese wheel. I guess Microsoft realized these advantages when it decided to invest $3.3B in a regional cloud-computing and AI hub (ChatGPT, show me how to set up this bong. Include the number of beers I’ll need to fill it.). Some money will also go to a manufacturing-focused AI Co-Innovation Lab at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee.
Microsoft is collecting datacenters like Pokémon cards. In a continued spending spree/unhinged datacenter obsession, Microsoft purchased more land outside Columbus, OH; is launching an Azure cloud region in Queretaro, Mexico; and is opening Thailand’s first regional datacenter. (But Microsoft is closing its Africa Development Centre in Lagos…without providing a reason.)
Amazon is spending almost $9B to expand its cloud infrastructure in Singapore, part of its larger investment in the Asia-Pacific region.
AWS has launched datacenters in Israel and plans to invest $7.2B through 2037. This will allow the Israeli government to migrate workloads to the cloud, run applications, and store data using in-country datacenters.
Gossip (for nerds)
After Uncle Sam essentially issued an ultimatum to Microsoft about its AI and cloud-computing base in China, Microsoft has asked nearly 1,000 of its China-based staff, who are largely Chinese engineers, to relocate to the US, Ireland, Australia, or New Zealand. Since New Zealand is utopia, I have a plan: My husband and I will stack two-high in a trench coat and then travel to China to romance one of these engineers, who will then marry me (but kind of us; he’ll find out later), and then we can all get New Zealand citizenship! FLAWLESS PLAN.
Broadcom, which now owns VMware after a $61B deal, is moving its VMware workloads to Google Cloud—AND decided that it will take over sales of its VMware cloud product on AWS (among other policy changes that make me think Kendall Roy has taken over). This uber pissed off AWS, which sells a VMware Cloud on AWS service. As a result, AWS is incentivizing users of its own VMware Cloud on AWS service to move. This is a juicy drama and something I can get behind. I’m invested in this hot mess, and I’m ready for the next punch to be thrown between these two, because I’m a suburban working mother over 40 and I need this.
Meanwhile, Microsoft is also offering incentives to VMware customers that migrate and run their workloads using the Azure VMware Solutions service.
Last quarter, Microsoft brought in $26.7B in revenue (from cloud alone). Microsoft saw a 20% rise in share price…before announcing these figures at the earnings call. When you have that much money, you can afford to build a datacenter out of 50-pound cheese wheels. I’m just saying, you know, ideas.
On its quarterly earnings call, Amazon announced 17% revenue growth YoY for its cloud unit.
Is there…hope? Microsoft banned US police departments from using its Azure OpenAI Service for facial recognition via its terms of service. As someone who lives in a state where face masks could soon be banned in public FOR ANY REASON without exemption, I appreciate this solid, Microsoft. 👊
Eight newspaper publishers are suing Microsoft and OpenAI over copyright infringement. The papers, which include the Chicago Tribune and the NY Daily News, claim that the tech companies reuse the papers’ articles without permission and incorrectly attribute inaccurate information to them.
The Storytelling team at 2A is growing to love Perplexity AI, a search engine that reduces the work of Googling. But Microsoft has banned its employees from using the platform (which also happens to be a huge Azure OpenAI customer). Here’s why.
New stuff
Microsoft launched Phi-3 Mini, the first of three “lightweight” AI models the company plans to release. What makes it teeny? It’s trained on a comparatively smaller data set than its bigger GPT cousin. In this case, it learned from children’s bedtime stories—but hopefully not that creepy one,Love You Forever, where the elderly mother straps a ladder to her car and drives to her fully adult son’s house in the middle of the night so she can climb through his window to cradle him. Anyway, these models are appealing because they’re cheaper to run and perform better on personal devices. Microsoft also released the new iteration of its ChatGPT offering, GPT-4o. It supports text and image, shifting how the model interacts with multimodal inputs.
Amazon Q Developer is now generally available. In a jargon-ridden post that would endlessly frustrate Forsyth Alexander, AWS announced this game-changing reimagining of the software development lifecycle. Amazon Q in QuickSight is also available and offers generative business-insight capabilities, such as answering questions the dashboard doesn’t explain and generating reports and executive summaries.
Don’t forget Amazon Q Business, which helps employees access company data, view summaries, and gain other business information by connecting to enterprise repositories.
Google thinks it can get more customers with honey than vinegar, so it has announced that it will support Azure and AWS clouds, letting businesses manage their security solutions across clouds.
After partnering with NVIDIA on integrations, the cloud giant is offering customers an AMD alternative for AI chips. AMD and NVIDIA are competitors, and this contentious move from Microsoft resulted from difficult-to-obtain (and costly) GPUs from NVIDIA. Perhaps this chip polyamory will be short lived once Microsoft starts selling its custom Cobalt 100 chips, which it directly compared to AWS Graviton chips.
Users can now import their own custom AI models into Amazon Bedrock. It’s only in preview, but tbh, I don’t know anyone who needs this today, so we’re good.
Professional pivots
For no obvious reason (unless I’m dense), AWS CEO Adam Selipsky is leaving AWS and will be replaced by Matt Garman, SVP of Sales, Marketing, and Global Services. And Baskar Sridharan, formerly an engineering VP at Google Cloud, is now VP of AI/ML services and infrastructure at AWS.
Jason Taylor went from Meta to Microsoft. As corporate VP and deputy CTO, Taylor is responsible for pushing forward the next set of AI systems.
Ma’am, I’m going to have to call security
Two congressmen on the House Homeland Security Committee have requested Brad Smith, vice chair and president at Microsoft, to testify at a public hearing—part of the government’s investigation of historic nation-state attacks. Anyone wanna play a drinking game where you take a shot every time Brad says, “I don’t recall”? (Or do you want to live?)
The company just released new Zero Trust guidance for its Department of Defense customers…. Weird, that’s the same amount of trust I have in the DoD! (I was a military wife, so I get a free pass on this statement.)
Best Friends Forever
Siemens has expanded its partnership with Microsoft to make the Siemens Xcelerator as a Service portfolio of industry software available through Microsoft’s cloud and AI platform.
Cloud-computing services provider Rackspace Technology’s Foundry for AI has gained several new Microsoft specializations, including Analytics on Azure and AI and Machine Learning.
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) will work with AWS to offer generative AI solutions to customers. But first, TCS must learn how to do that, LOL. That’s why AWS will help train “25,000 TCS employees [on] the latest cloud and GenAI skills.”
Generative AI copilot provider Moveworks has partnered with Microsoft, bringing its copilot to Microsoft Marketplace and integrating with Azure.
Platform engineering company Xoriant earned its Analytics on Microsoft Azure Advanced Specialization.
NVIDIA Healthcare integrated with Amazon SageMaker and AWS ParallelCluster to streamline ML model deployment and management. NVIDIA customers can also access prebuilt pipelines on AWS HealthOmics. (Don’t worry, if you’re a woman, doctors will still just tell you it’s “stress.”😒)
Book out your next few months. 2A is filling your TBR (to-be-read) list with fantastical fiction, memorable memoirs, tearjerker tales, and nail-biting novels.
When I asked the team at 2A for their fiction and non-fiction recommendations, I should have known the suggestions would be as creative, diverse, and thoughtful as our talented team. And also, sometimes, really weird. (Okay, fine. Guilty.) So no matter what you’re into, we’ve probably got it. Cooking? Check. Video games? Yep. Mortality and existential dread? Um, sure, if that’s what you’re into. The concept of grief as explored by a robotic hive mind from the distant future researching human emotion? You get the picture. Enjoy!
P.S. Consider buying from your local bookseller. With Libro.fm (for audiobooks) and Bookshop.org (for physical copies) you can find a comprehensive selection of books—and the profits go to a bookstore of your choice. Find a bookstore near you, or filter your search results by BIPOC-owned, queer-owned, and more.
Fiction faves
Dead in Long Beach, California – Venita Blackburn Psychological fiction A bestselling sci-fi writer discovers her brother’s body following his suicide and, in the thick of grief, begins texting people from his phone, pretending to be him. A raw, heartfelt, and often very funny story that made me think in completely new ways about how we grieve and remember. Also, the book is narrated by a robotic hive mind from the distant future researching human emotion, so. -Jack Foraker
Binge: 60 stories to make your brain feel different – Douglas Coupland Short stories I’ve been a fan of Douglas Coupland since Generation X, and I find myself referencing and re-reading Binge again and again. It’s funny and smart, and the short stories are the perfect low-commitment reading snack. This book makes me laugh out loud, and I can guarantee you’ll never look at a car’s rooftop cargo carrier the same way again… -Andrea Swangard
Heaven No Hell – Michael DeForge Comic anthology This collection captures some of Michael DeForge’s best work yet. His writing makes me laugh in a way few writers can, and I’m always surprised how his evolving illustrative style still manages to challenge me. (His drawings have evolved dramatically over the last decade.) Michael DeForge continues to push what is possible in the genre, reveling in the vulgar without ever seeming crude, and exploring complex themes (identity, class, sex) without feeling pedantic. -Brian Dionisi
White Noise – Don DeLillo Postmodern literature Ever found yourself zoning out in front of a toothpaste section at the neighborhood CVS wondering why any of this matters? I’m doing it right now. This story takes a deep dive into the heart of our consumer-crazed, media-drenched world, mixing existential dread with the constant hum of the capitalist machine. This is the perfect read for your hipster pal or near-burn-out fintech bud questioning the sales-pitch reality and the layers of our buy-now culture. Therapy not included. -Felip Ballesteros
Maame – Jessica George Contemporary fiction This book reminded me of my early 20s, discovering the world and who I am in it. I see myself, my girlfriends, and so many of my life experiences in the protagonist. It’s hilarious, heartbreaking, silly, and most of all honest. -Sal Hill
Demon Copperhead – Barbara Kingsolver Literary fiction Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver is my favorite book of all time, but I have to say that this one was almost as engrossing and had a less tragic ending (the tragic part is in the middle). Based on David Copperfield, this is a story about a really blighted area of the South where North Carolina, Virginia, and Tennessee all meet. Industries have left and drug addiction is high due to despair. This is a long sad book that’s uplifting at the end, and I loved every word because I could hear the accent of the narrator throughout the whole story. -Forsyth Alexander
The House in the Cerulean Sea – T.J. Klune Contemporary fantasy I was charmed, outraged, and completely rooting for all the beautifully developed protagonists from Linus, the curmudgeon with a heart of gold to the charming unidentifiable green blob. Best of all, the sequel is coming out this year! -Annie Wegrich
The Haunting of Hajji Hotak and Other Stories – Jamil Jan Kochai Short stories A short story collection with the cohesiveness of a well-executed concept album. Pure perfection from the opening sequence to the final note. And in the predictable midsection where the bridge tends to sway? Only depth and dimension. This book set a new bar for the possibilities of storytelling. -Madeline Sy
Chain-Gang All-Stars – Nana Kwawe Adjei-Brenyah Dystopian fiction No words. Go read it. And know I cried like a li’l baby at the end. -Ashley JoEtta
The Three Body Problem (trilogy) – Cixin Liu Science fiction [Forgive me Timothée Chalamet *prayer hand lipstick emoji*] Forget about Dune for a minute and dive into something truly out of this world with Chinese sci-fi legend and Hugo Award winner, Cixin Liu. The story takes you from the Red Revolution straight into the next 400 years, an upgrade on the Western-styled space drama. It’s thought-provoking and made me question: Will we ever be ready for what’s out there? -Felip Ballesteros
The Tatami Time Machine Blues – Tomihiko Morimi and Emily Balistrieri (Translator) Science fiction When our unnamed protagonist finds a time machine, it’s clear what he must do: Go back in time 24 hours to heroically prevent his “worst friend” (a brilliant descriptor) from spilling Coke on his dorm’s AC remote control. Nothing hits quite like weird fiction, and thankfully, Morimi’s unusual story elements and out-there humor are captured perfectly in Balistrieri’s translation. -Carolyn Lange
Iona Iverson’s Rules for Commuting – Clare Pooley Contemporary fiction I read another Clare Pooley book first, The Authenticity Project, which I enjoyed because of the characters and their struggles to be authentic in a book where authenticity was key. So, when Annie recommended this one, I ordered it right away. It’s a wonderful redemption tale for a cast of characters who become unlikely friends on a commuter train with a poignant twist at the end. –Forsyth Alexander
Black Sun – Rebecca Roanhorse Fantasy What does it mean to be a hero? What does it mean to be a villain? Are you good? Are you bad? Are you an outsider or an insider? Generational trauma? Bisexual mermaid/siren/sea-captain? When you open your eyes, maybe you’ll be a god. -Ashley JoEtta
Remarkably Bright Creatures – Shelby Van Pelt Contemporary fiction I was not prepared to fall so deeply in love with an octopus. -Annie Wegrich
Non-fiction picks
Sure, I’ll Join Your Cult: A Memoir of Mental Illness and the Quest to Belong Anywhere – Maria Bamford Memoir Maria Bamford’s book plays cleverly with the memoir format while talking us through her mental health challenges and the many “cults” she’s joined over the years: 12-step programs, public speaking courses, and even, as she says, her own family. As with her comedy, I love Maria’s empathy and willingness to let her freak flag fly. Also, it’s funny as hell. -Nora Bright
The Kindness Challenge:Thirty Days to Improve Any Relationship – Shaunti Feldhahn Self-help Do you want to feel at peace and happy? Who doesn’t!? The Kindness Challenge covers how you can transform your heart and any relationship through kindness. It also explains the eight types of kindness and seven ways you may be unkind and never realize it. I challenge you to do the 30-Day Kindness Challenge! -Liz Mangini
Being Mortal – Atul Gawande Health & wellbeing This is a must-read if you plan on getting older. It explains how the body changes as you age and examines the options when you can no longer take care of yourself. -Laura Templeton
The Many Lives of Mama Love – Lara Love Hardin Memoir You know those books where y’know it’s gonna be good from the first sentence? This is one of those books. The real-life story of PTA mom turned inmate turned ghostwriter. “Escape was always my real addiction, the one true high. Books were just my gateway drug.” -Madeline Sy
Doppelganger – Naomi Klein Social & political analysis This book got me thinking a lot about twins, doubles, and the hidden versions of ourselves. Not really sure how Klein jumped from COVID conspiracies to fitness influencers to WWII history, but she did, and I loved it. -Jack Foraker
Masters of Doom: How Two Guys Created an Empire and Transformed Pop Culture – David Kushner History & Industry Centering on the scrappy development of Doom in the 90s, Kushner weaves together the stories of two tech whiz-kids: analytical programmer John Carmack and charismatic software designer John Romero. A fascinating, fun, and in-depth look at creativity, teamwork, and the swift advancement of technology that’s thoroughly entertaining far beyond “how they made one game.” -Thad Allen
Gender Magic – Rae McDaniel LGBTQIA+ Therapist Rae McDaniel guides readers through various gender journeys with a gender-expansive, queer-supportive approach. They provide therapeutic exercises, offer actionable advice, and define key terms for transition, gender exploration, and trans and gender-nonconforming freedom. -Ren Iris
James Tiptree, Jr.: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon – Julie Phillips Biography This biography was mesmerizing. Alice wrote science fiction in the 70s. She couldn’t get her work published as a woman, so she created the pen name, James Tiptree, Jr., then submitted and published the same stories. James was hailed as “a brilliant writer with a deep sympathy for his female characters.” Alice’s cover was blown at age 61. She was an artist, chicken farmer, WWII intelligence officer, CIA agent, experimental psychologist, and more! -Liz Mangini
How to Taste – Becky Selengut Cookbook Perhaps the only cookbook that you will laugh your way through. And the only chef who admits that Doritos are perfectly flavored. Becky walks through the 6 different tastes and when and how to best use them, with a big side dish of humor. -Laura Templeton
Before joining 2A as a consultant, Michelle honed her skills as a brand strategist, marketer, and performance artist extraordinaire. Her path to consulting was nothing short of adventurous—with a few cross-country moves set to perfect playlists, of course. It’s no wonder she jazzes up client campaigns with a style that’s music to our ears.
Michelle’s deep-rooted love for marketing, journalism, and storytelling started in high school, where she was editor in chief of the school yearbook and marketing chair of the choral department. After graduation, Michelle left the creosote bushes and Joshua trees native to her hometown of Palm Springs, venturing to the redwood trees in Arcata, California, where she literally found her voice. She practiced vocal performance and began a journey that took her to live in two countries, four states, and one district. Michelle sang her way to a degree in strategic communications and creative advertising, got hitched, adopted two fur babies, and hung a hammock anywhere two trees were close enough. While working for a brand and digital marketing agency in Washington, DC, she also earned a master’s degree in marketing from Georgetown University.
While living on the East Coast, Michelle felt the call of the Pacific Northwest (ah, Douglas fir whispers, the steamy beckoning of so many good cups of PNW coffee…). So, she packed up her family, prepared a banger playlist, and headed west with a bevy of good snacks and a solid set of marketing chops. After landing in Vancouver, Washington, she found a job posting on LinkedIn that made her laugh, but not because of its humor. The description appeared to be lifted from her own profile and personal philosophy of work—it’s all about the storytelling. It was an ideal match. In a flash, Michelle joined 2A full time, where she uses her unique voice, passion for creativity, and curiosity to build harmonious relationships with her clients every day.
When she’s not helping clients tell their brand stories, Michelle can be found offline—preferably in a hammock or near a body of water—exploring thrift stores and bookshops, or making music with one of the many instruments in her Zen Den. Her husband and two dogs also keep her busy, but she always finds time for a bonfire and a board game.
Microsoft is investing $1.5B in Abu Dhabi-based AI group G42, and according to this photo, the signing involved a Sheikh wearing sunglasses indoors. Style versus function debates aside, this continues the trend of private tech deals also acting as public geopolitical policy, whether it’s revoking licenses for Russian businesses or moving chip manufacturing away from China. This particular agreement only came after G42 severed ties with Chinese hardware providers, and is a bet on the strength of the US-UAE relationship.
Meanwhile, OpenAI’s Sam Altman is like I DON’T NEED YOUR SUNGLASSES FRIENDS I CAN MAKE MY OWN SUNGLASSES FRIENDS. So he’s wooing Fortune 500 companies at three of his big city offices, pitching corporate applications of the technology. The company says that 92% of Fortune 500s already use the consumer version of its chatbot, ChatGPT.
Of course, Microsoft is doing this, too, starting with Copilot’s coding assistant, which is saving engineers hundreds of hours of coding per month. Soon Copilot will save engineers from all hours of coding, ifyouknowhatImean.
Side note: Google just launched Gemini Code Assist and CodeGemma. While they are marketed as “assistants” to engineers, they can write code on their own.
Deloitte is launching AWS Centers of Excellence (or, Centres, if you like crumpets, tea, and irrelevant monarchies) around the world to help businesses in emerging markets move to the cloud.
In February, AWS announced a $15B investment in Japan to support AI and cloud infrastructure. Microsoft is now coming in a distant second with a $2.9B investment in the country for the same reasons, plus skilling people. I hope the skilling sessions are held in cat cafes and everyone is in cosplay because we need more of that right now.
Microsoft is launching an AI hub in London, which will focus on product development and research led by the newly hired Mustafa Suleyman.
Wheelin’ and dealin’
What is the AWS plan for AI? Andy Jassy says the company has a three-layer strategy—a tiramisu of tech, if you will.
But third parties view it a little differently. This reporter provides an in-depth analysis of where AWS will fit in the competitive AI landscape. For now, it will help businesses support and scale AI, making it more accessible. But an interesting advantage for AWS is simply the current disadvantage of Microsoft: security, which taps into businesses’ number one hurdle to AI adoption.
Interestingly, software company Appian is working with AWS to bring generative AI to businesses, which involves combining Amazon Bedrock with Appian’s data fabric and large language models (LLMs). This “private AI” approach gives companies more control over their own data.
It is evident, though, that a major part of the AWS strategy is to lean on what partners can offer joint customers—particularly, AWS partner Anthropic.
First, AWS just announced that Anthropic’s Claude 3 Opus is now available on Amazon Bedrock AI foundation models service, which will help AWS better compete with the two cloud providers that ARE offering their own generative AI capabilities.
Next, ZenDesk is collaborating with AWS and Anthropic to bring more speed, accuracy, and efficiency to its AI offerings. ZenDesk will use Anthropic’s Claude 3 family of LLMs and Amazon Bedrock to build and scale it.
And to get more startups to use Amazon Bedrock for AI, as well as Anthropic’s AI models, AWS is giving away up to $500K in credits per startup. This is a five-fold increase in giveaways since the year prior, and tops what Microsoft and Google are offering to startups.
Agilix Labs is collaborating with AWS for K-12, which is really just Agilix saying it operates on AWS. Thanks, that was definitely a must-know for me.
Super-fast computing that can make scientific calculations which would otherwise take millions of years to complete today is being used to solve the climate crisis…j/k it’s for businesses that want to make more money. Microsoft and Quantinuum say they’ve made a breakthrough that brings the futuristic tech closer to the commercial sector. I can barely contain my joy.
Is your business selling to other businesses? Do tornados and hackers have you feeling risky? Then you need the newest B2B risk management software from AWS and AXA, like, yesterday.
OctoAI is collaborating with AWS to help developers build and deploy AI models quickly and efficiently.
Personnel Pivots
Formerly the president of web services in Japan for AWS, Tadao Nagasaki has moved over to OpenAI as president. I wish more people had LinkedIn photos like his, just adorable.
Gossip (for nerds)
Amazon you little sneak, sneakin’ secrets and hitting that copy + paste—now you owe $525M. A court found AWS GUILTY AS CHARGED for stealing patented data storage technology from Kove to create Amazon S3. Did you know that, with Amazon S3, you only pay for the stolen secrets you use and it’s highly elastic so you can scale all your stolen patents seamlessly?
Microsoft has data center fever. Leaked documents reveal the company is going to use its additional IT capacity to expand—and indeed it is. Following the purchase of a big plot of land in Atlanta, the company acquired land in Johor, Malaysia. The deal is expected to be completed in 2042, only four years before an asteroid the size of a football field could hit Earth, with 1 in 600 odds. Look, I’m not weird, this is real and I don’t make the rules. Take it up with Neil deGrasse Tyson.
Meanwhile, Microsoft is reportedly undergoing a reorg to transfer people from Teams to Copilot as part of its continued AI push.
New stuff
AWS has partnered with nonprofit Educause to develop a new tool that will help higher education institutions determine how ready they are to adopt generative AI (which of course must happen before they figure out how to save adjunct professors from applying for food stamps). The more you read the article, the more this tool sounds like a BuzzFeed survey but I’M SURE IT’S AMAZING.
Twist my arm, why don’t ya: AWS has typically been the cloud service provider most steadily distributing ARM chips, but now Google has entered the chat. Axion is not a body spray for men—it’s Google’s first ARM-based CPU designed in-house—and allegedly performs 30% faster than the leading ARM CPU.
Microsoft has updated its Azure AI Search to include more storage capacity, faster speed, and improved performance, all essential for application scalability.
Deadline Cloud, the newest shiny thing from AWS, is a fully managed service that helps customers set up, deploy, and scale rendering projects in minutes.
AWS has released a more cost-friendly version of its Amazon Aurora database that eliminates I/O charges.
The Midnight Blizzard attack is still ongoing, and at the same time, the government released a scathing federal report that says Microsoft could have fully prevented the Chinese state-linked hack last year that compromised many US agencies.
Even Microsoft has had enough of its security problems and is embarking on the biggest security reboot in 20 years. Dubbed the “Secure Future Initiative,” the company’s program will use AI to detect cyberthreats and vulnerabilities—including in Microsoft products. Just so I have this straight, the plan is to use an emerging technology we still can’t fully control to solve a major cultural and technical security issue within one of the world’s largest companies. Am I right? Is that right? Just want to make sure I’m right.
Best Friends Forever
Volumez, which sounds like a 90s brand that makes headphones (on which you can listen to Jock Jams, naturally. I had all the volumes, believe it) has joined the AWS ISV Accelerate Program.
New to AWS Marketplace: DeepScribe, a clinical documentation solution; b.well, which unifies data across healthcare systems; Prove, a digital identity solution; and Wing Security, which comes in honey BBQ, buffalo, and garlic parmesan.
AWS and Salesforce continue to expand their partnership, this time by making select Salesforce products available in AWS Marketplace in the UK.
Drata is the first compliance automation platform to achieve the AWS Security Competency.
Cloud4C, an application-focused, cloud-managed services provider, has achieved AWS MSP status.
Miscellany
Last Cloud cover, I mentioned that Microsoft was putting Azure IoT Central to bed without a transition plan, to the upset of Azure IoT Central die-hards. Psyche! Turns out, that was a faulty message. I suppose as far as faulty messages go, it could have been worse.
Athletes,influencers, and celebrity endorsements increase brand engagement, extend reach, and drive sales. But if Beyoncé still hasn’t returned your call, don’t throw in the towel just yet. There are lots of demand-generation strategies that will engage your audience. It’s all about creating the right mix of content that breaks through the clutter, meets ROI, and gives back the KPIs you need.
First, consider what drives your customer experience and work backward. (Wait, didn’t Steve Jobs say that? Apple was clearly on to something.) To create truly relevant content for your B2B marketing funnel, consider the real pain points, needs, and interests your target audience faces and then build your funnel strategy around it. As a refresher, the marketing funnel is made up of three distinct stages: TOFU (top of funnel), MOFU (middle of funnel), and BOFU (bottom of funnel). What your audience looks for evolves as they move down the funnel, so determining the type of demand-generation content that’s most effective for each stage is critical.
Before we dig into each stage, there’s one more content best practice we should mention: a messaging and positioning framework (MPF). An MPF will illustrate the key points you want your audience to take away when reading any asset. And by starting with an MPF, each piece of content you create will present the same points through different lenses. This way, your audience will hear you loud and clear—hopefully a few times.
TOFU: Awareness and discovery
From the top of the funnel, the audience is wide and so are the options. With customers not yet ready to convert, the goal is to engage them with your brand/solution and introduce them into the funnel. According to a report from Marketing Charts, B2B tech marketers and demand gen decision-makers say that blogs, infographics, and videos work best at this stage of the funnel. For cloud companies aiming to drive awareness, 2A would add social GIFs and email kits as great assets, too. And, additional research shows close to half (48%) of sales and marketing professionals believe that ROI from B2B videos is growing.
Blogs: Pique interest in a short post from a reputable author
Infographics: Turn your complex data into a well-crafted visual story
Videos and animations: Entice and educate with core benefits and branding
Social GIFs: Capture attention online with a quick moving showcase
MOFU: Consideration and evaluation
Once your audience moves through the initial engagement phase and into the middle of the funnel, they’ll want to see meatier assets to guide them through their buying journey. Case studies are a particularly effective way to bring tech use cases to life. Gated ebooks, whitepapers, and presentations are other assets favored by B2B marketers.
Case studies: Bring technical use cases to life with stories that drive positive change
Gated ebooks and whitepapers: Educate prospects with deeper content and collect leads
Pitch decks: Start persuasive solution-based conversations with prospects
BOFU: Decision and conversion
Finally, once your audience moves into the decision phase they’ll want to see more—and more specific—information. In this area, meatier customer references for niche use cases, product demos, email follow-ups, personalized reports, and solution-specific videos are highly rated and help the audience take that final step.
Product demos: Animate UI product screens to educate prospects about core benefits
Email kit: Nurture leads with enticing copy, intentional, layout and a clear call to action
Solution-specific videos: Highlight specific product/solution use cases with video and animation
Once you map out the three phases of the B2B marketing funnel and how your customer’s buying journey fits into it, content creation can begin in earnest. That’s where 2A comes in! As a cloud marketing agency focused on storytelling for business, we’re here to help when you’re ready to get started.
Check out our new sizzle video for a taste of our demand-generation content! Then, give us a shout— [email protected]. I’d love to learn more about your marketing goals and how 2A might help.
Storyteller Dre has a knack for embedding client stories with technological expertise—and for being in the right place at the right time. As an English major, Dre happened to live below a floor of computer science folks in her college dorms. This proximity helped uncover her aptitude for not only Jane Austen novels, but also operating systems. Naturally, she tacked on a minor in computer science. Also while in college, Dre worked at a coffee shop in downtown Eugene, Oregon, which was conveniently located opposite a small magazine publisher. After getting to know the publisher’s employees (and their morning coffee orders), she landed a job as their newest assistant editor and web developer.
Bringing language arts to coding languages, and vice versa
After a stint in Los Angeles working for the RAND Corporation (yes, that one) and Frank Gehry (yes, that one), Dre returned to the Pacific Northwest to pursue digital marketing in the tech industry. She worked at Amazon, which was seeking someone who could write both advertising copy and XML. Then she switched to Nintendo, where the company gained over six years of her talents. In that time, Dre expanded Nintendo’s West Coast marketing team, enhancing the brand’s web presence with dynamic announcements and immersive digital experiences.
But something was still missing. While her day-to-day work was fun and challenging, Dre sought a role that would return her to writing. So, she transitioned from digital marketing to technology storytelling—or rather, at 2A, she found a role that combines both. These days, you’ll find Dre creating client assets that link compelling copy with deep technical expertise.
And when she’s not behind the keyboard?
Outside work, Dre’s hobbies lean toward the DIY, from writing an arts-and-crafts column in a local Seattle magazine to acrylic painting and retiling her bathroom. “I like projects where I can say, let me just see if I can do this and then keep trying until I figure out how to do it,” she says.
Dre brings that same DIY spirit to all projects. Whether you’re after the perfect drywall mount or creative collateral that captures your vision, Dre has an answer. And if she doesn’t, she isn’t afraid to dig into the nitty gritty to find it for you.
Accounting tech firm Sage, which serves SMBs, has partnered with AWS to build a domain-specific large language model using Amazon Bedrock and Amazon Lex. What I really want is a collaboration with Sage that has them making things with SageMaker so we can say Sage is a maker of SageMaker stuff. And then Sage can turn around and do a big deal with McCormick spices, specifically in their sage-making department, so Sage can sell SageMaker to the world’s No. 1 sage maker.
AWS, Accenture, and Anthropic have formed a partnership to help businesses in regulated sectors, such as finance and healthcare, access advanced AI models using Bedrock from AWS and Claude 3 from Anthropic. Accenture will train its engineers to use these tools so they can offer implementation support.
This is part of the AWS plan to run the world’s “biggest AI playground,” starting with Bedrock.
There’s a leadership shakeup at Microsoft, starting with its hire of Mustafa Suleyman, co-founder of DeepMind and Inflection, who is now EVP and CEO of Microsoft AI. The company has also hired Karén Simonyan, another Inflection co-founder, as chief scientist. Pavan Davuluri is the new head of Windows and Surface. And it’s unclear if Mikhail Parakhin, who was the head of advertising and web, is staying with Microsoft or not. Microsoft also promoted Azure VP Girish Bablani to president.
Inflection and OpenAI have to share the spotlight with others. Microsoft invested $16M in Mistral, a French AI company, to bring Mistral’s newest AI model to Azure. Geez, Azure is getting more models than NYC Fashion Week (I get one dad joke per newsletter).
This is part of Microsoft’s strategy to partner with many different AI companies. Microsoft will rely on these partners to enhance AI offerings while it focuses on building AI-essential infrastructure.
And it’s wasting no time! Microsoft and OpenAI have plans to launch a $100B data center by 2028, which will include an AI supercomputer dubbed “Stargate.” Microsoft is largely footing the bill, which is about 100 times more than some of the biggest data centers, or about the same as my new health insurance deductible.
After entering a major partnership with Microsoft, NVIDIA is now partnered with AWS to bring its Blackwell GPU platform to the cloud provider, which will offer it with EC2 instances. The goal is to accelerate generative AI capabilities. Chuckin’ chips to all the big clouds…NVIDIA has major rizz and serious player energy and I am here for it.
E tu, Granicus? The “government experience” software and services provider is partnering with AWS to offer “engagement solutions” to the public sector. This will help the public sector do things like “customize citizen interactions.” In other words, it will help the government capture and correlate billions of our digital interactions. Should be fantastic, can’t wait.
World domination
Kries from the Kremlin? In step with Amazon and Google, Microsoft has limited or removed access to more than 50 of its cloud products in Russia. Many Russian companies will find their keys for Dynamics 365, Azure, and other major platforms invalid. (However, this doesn’t address the Russian companies that had used foreign accounts to bypass any future restrictions.) While it seems like the private sector’s version of sanctions, these tech companies may be doing the Russian government a favor—the dictator, I mean president, wants to steer Russian businesses toward domestic solutions. I dunno, though…have you ever been on a Russian elevator?
Meanwhile, Chinese officials are telling government departments to stop using Intel, AMD, and Microsoft; they also want to drive domestic software and hardware production. They should make a TikTok about it…
AWS will launch an Infrastructure Region in Saudi Arabia by 2026. As part of its long-term commitment to the Kingdom, AWS will invest $5.3B there—a measly one-third of Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal’s net worth. “Why don’t you take me to dinner first before you insult me,” I imagine Talal saying to Jeff Bezos. “Take me out on your quaint little sailboat Jeff and tell me about this cheap infrastructure plan, it amuses me,” he’d say.
More in our neck of the woods, AWS plunked down $650M to buy Talen Energy’s 1,200-acre data center campus in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. Um, more interesting than that are the local news stories, forever my favorite. What’s going on in Luzerne County, you ask? A few things, like the installation of a toilet drop box for your ballots, an unruly hospital patient pulling the fire alarm, a drunken man kicking a state trooper, and a talent show!!! The data center will fit right in.
AWS will also open a new Direct Connect location in Hawaii, allowing businesses to establish a private, physical network connection between AWS and their data centers or offices.
Government agencies in the U.S. West region can use AWS Wickr, an encrypted communications service, following its FedRAMP authorization. Is there, like, a reason why the U.S. East can’t use it? Or will it just be approved in three hours because of the time difference?
Gossip (for nerds)
AWS laid off hundreds of people, primarily in sales, marketing, and store technology teams. This is sad news for us over at 2A, and we hope to see those people we’ve enjoyed working with do big things wherever they go.
Microsoft will have to change how it markets its Teams and Office products following antitrust pressure from the European Union. The company has agreed to unbundle the two solutions, which makes Slack very happy. In the last decade, Microsoft has paid more than $2B in EU antitrust fines.
New stuff
There is now an AWS Generative AI competency that businesses can earn, and the cloud giant claims it is the first to offer such a competency to partners.
Generative AI data company DataStax has achieved the new, totally hot and totally coveted Generative AI Competency. Crayon, an IT services company, has also colored itself competent. And so did Loka, a full-stack consultancy.
Microsoft designed a new safety feature that can better detect when AI is hallucinating and block malicious prompts. Prompts Shield will (try to) protect against indirect and direct attacks, in which users manipulate the AI to do something or use it to carry out a malicious attack, respectively. Here are some other safety tools.
This didn’t stop a self-described whistleblower at Microsoft from sounding the alarm on the harmful imagery Microsoft’s Copilot Designer can, and does, produce—even from benign requests.
Teams update: Microsoft has improved the AI features in Teams to offer message generation and smarter meeting summaries.
Businesses can move their data to other cloud providers for free, says AWS—and don’t think it’s out of the goodness of AWS’ heart. The company had to do this to comply with the European Data Act.
New capabilities are out for Amazon Connect, including a self-service, drag-and-drop tool to create Live Chats, along with some new plug-ins.
Copilot Pro is now available worldwide. Customers can use it to build their own copilots and embed them in Office apps.
Copilot is also ready for cybersecurity prime time, says the company that’s always getting hacked.
And Microsoft is developing a specialized strategy for bringing Copilot to finance teams, but its success depends on how customers use their data sources to generate results.
Ma’am, I’m going to have to call security
To get even less work done, congressional staff are no longer allowed to use the Microsoft Copilot chatbot because of security concerns. This comes after limitations on ChatGPT usage.
YOINK! AWS has won Gee Rittenhouse away from his position of CEO at Skyhigh Security, after only two years there. Rittenhouse will join AWS as VP of enterprise security.
Best Friends Forever
Box has integrated Azure OpenAI Service with its selection of AI tools, but remains committed to its terrible user experience.
Veeam, a data backup and restore software company, is adding Microsoft Copilot and AI services to offerings.
Cognizant is going to work more closely with Azure by creating a special platform for Azure.
Tidal, a SaaS platform that helps with cloud migration and application management, is now part of Microsoft’s Azure Landing Zone Accelerator program.
Philips and AWS are collaborating to bring better diagnostic capabilities, including improved digital pathology, to healthcare companies.
Leidos, a company that—and I quote—“addresses the world’s most vexing challenges,” has entered a multi-year strategic agreement with AWS to solve famine…oh wait, no, to accelerate innovation in the commercial market. My bad. The world is pretty short on innovation, though…
Danske Bank, which is Danish but not like the kind you have for breakfast, I mean like the country, is migrating all its stuff to AWS.
Cybersecurity firm Arctic Wolf has made its entire portfolio available in AWS Marketplace.
Keeper Security, a cloud-based zero-trust software provider, has joined the AWS Partner Network.
2A Embedded Consultants (ECs) are highly skilled, experienced professionals who function as contracted members of our clients’ teams. For the past two years, 2A EC Matt deWolf has been using his graphic designer talents at Microsoft Research (MSR). In this Q&A, Matt shares how he got here, what he’s doing, and why he loves it so dang much.
Mollie: What do you do at Microsoft Research?
Matt: So, the classic designer joke is that I “make things pretty,” right? Well, it’s more than just making things look nice, especially at MSR. Because of the global inflection point we’re at in technology, design is also about ensuring our visual language clearly communicates the message that we’re explicitly trying to send. An example of this is making sure our communications around AI visually align with our intentions. When we discuss AI, it’s important to ensure that our audience doesn’t get brought into a scene that inaccurately depicts what we want to say. The words in any asset tell one part of the story, but the imagery, color, and composition play a key role in reinforcing that textual direction.
Mollie: That’s a fun challenge! What’s the most interesting part of working at MSR?
Matt: It’s great getting to work with cutting-edge researchers who are wholly devoted to our mission statement: “Advancing science and technology to benefit humanity.” Something special about MSR is the non-product-related approach; not every development or mission immediately ties into something commercialized. I get to see new developments in AI research that range from determining the accuracy of image generation against a description to applications in healthcare. The breadth of work is truly impressive.
Mollie: Can you tell me about a cool project you’ve been working on?
Matt: MSR is piloting an episodic approach to our previous annual Research Summit called Microsoft Research Forum. This forum shares the latest findings with the global research community in real time. The event is considered a “tier 1” event for Microsoft, and it allows us to work with many vendors to develop the visual identity, web platform, and production for it. Not only is it the inaugural forum, but also we’re working collaboratively to build something great together.
Mollie: How have you grown in your role over the past two years?
Matt: The Research Forum project gave me opportunities to act as an art director, coordinating between design vendors, animators, developers, and internal production teams. This was a much more direct opportunity to explore these skillsets compared to some of my previous roles. I have definitely grown personally, learning to deliver constructive feedback and communicate clearly to multiple stakeholders, getting us closer to the outcomes we want. I hope to continue developing design leadership skills that support my team’s ability to do their jobs.
Mollie: Where were you before Microsoft, and what about Microsoft makes your heart sing?
Matt: Before MSR, I worked as a package designer at Hasbro. Yes, the Hasbro that makes Star Wars figures, Nerf Blasters, and Monopoly! But at MSR, I feel much more interested in the work. I enjoy technical things—bridging the gap between abstract concepts and visuals. Perhaps some of this comes from an adjacent design interest, web development. Let’s just say that when I write a JavaScript function and it doesn’t throw any errors, I basically feel like an MSR computer scientist. (LOL)
Mollie: So, what else do you bring to the table?
Matt: I think of myself as the Swiss Army knife of designers because of the different ways I’ve applied my knowledge. I have designed for print the old school way, on presses, and have designed for digital mediums. I know how to design and animate motion, as well as develop for the web, and I’m always growing and refining my leadership skills.
Mollie: Now that we’ve talked business, let’s get down to the fun stuff. What do you do when you’re not designing?
Matt: Outside of work, I’m an avid consumer of music and coffee. To me, music is something sacred and goes beyond listening to the radio. I love understanding the period from which the music originated, learning more about the artists, and seeing where it takes me. Layering this on top of my foundational understanding of music theory gives me a profound sense of pride when I uncover something new or view a piece of music from a new angle. And, of course, without overthinking it or applying any of that background, as humans, we all know when we like something.
The coffee part is perhaps two-sided—not only do I appreciate coffee itself, but also I love the exploration and adventure in finding new cafes where I can enjoy music.
Interested in becoming an EC? Check out our open roles or submit a general job inquiry if you don’t find exactly what you’re looking for.
Want to hire an Embedded Consultant? Learn more here.
