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 Tuya Shepel

Do you know where you’ll be when you’re 100? Thai Lee does. The CEO of tech company SHI has each decade of her life planned out and has been executing her roadmap since she was 17. While it was shocking to hear her describe her extreme long-term planning at the Women in Cloud Summit last month, it’s wasn’t the first time I’d encountered the concept.

Growing up in communist Mongolia, mapping our future according to communist ideas was the expectation. Even at a young age we planned our life and development by quarter, semester, and 5-year chunk. For inspiration, we learned about Russian scientist Ivan Pavlov who made a list of things he wanted to achieve in his life when he was a kid. His plan required him to live until 114. He made it to 86, but still achieved all his goals! (We were told.) This national push for planning at the individual level was meant to emulate the Soviet Union’s five-year plan.

While my life definitely didn’t go according to my childhood plans, I’m happy it didn’t. And with my youth experience in mind, I could appreciate Thai’s 100-year blueprint so much more. It was the first time I had considered the lifetime plan from a capitalist—and not a communist—perspective. Turns out it works for capitalists, too, if they’re dogged enough to stick with it.

Not only is Thai’s follow-through a feat, but the items on her checklist were extremely ambitious. At 60, everything in her life has happened according to plan. She’s a billionaire who owns one of the largest female-owned businesses in the US. Her keynote address on how she built her IT products and services company was spectacular and empowering for us entrepreneurs in the audience. It was refreshing to hear someone so prominent talk about the importance of empowering employees to make independent decisions, valuing all staff equally, and promoting and supporting women in leadership positions.

In addition to Thai, the words of CVP of Microsoft, Gavriella Schuster, also stuck with me. Her advice for young women in technology:

• Know who you are and be willing to lead with authenticity
• Be willing to fail, and pick yourself up—put your voice out there over and over again
• Know what you aspire to, what you stand for, and lead with courage and conviction to make yourself heard

Looking forward to the next year’s summit! In the meantime, I’ll be working on my revised plan.

By Guy Schoonmaker

I grew up with a dog. It was a great dog; a big fluffy Newfoundland who didn’t mind wrestling around with me and my brothers. As what seems to be the norm for many dog-lovers, I developed an anti-cat mentality for no particular reason. I’d say things like “cats aren’t loyal like dogs” and “cats only care about themselves.” Of course I said these things having never owned a cat, while most of my information about cats came from memes and gifs (by the way, 2A makes a great cat gif if you’re ever in the market).

Over the last six months, through no ambition of my own, two cats have prowled their way into my life, one at home and one at work. And you know what, they’re not that bad. In fact, cats are pretty cool! They are happy to hang out with you, but also fine on their own. They like a little more space than most dogs, but I think anyone commuting in Seattle right now can relate to wanting a little more space.

What’s the lesson learned here? Don’t be afraid to question your own assumptions.

One challenge around implementing inclusive behavior is knowing where to start. There’s no quick checklist on how to be inclusive but putting your assumptions under a microscope is a great first step.

Checking your assumptions can help you avoid snap judgements on first impressions and embrace confrontation with empathy instead of anger. And of course, it can lead to giving cats a chance. The bottom line is, we all make assumptions every day. But becoming aware of your assumptions and recognizing when they need to be challenged will open you up to new ideas, collaborations, and maybe even a new pet.

Inclusivity has become more of a priority for workplaces over the last decade, and 2A is clearly on board. Just about a month into my role here, I already notice the effort to make our office a comfortable and healthy environment. From stating preferred pronouns to scrapping the antiquated primary/secondary criteria in parental leave—the inclusive culture here is fur real.

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 Mitchell Thompson

A few weeks ago, I went to see The Midnight perform at Neumos. I discovered their music fairly recently, but they’ve swiftly become one of my favorite bands for how their melodies and vocals carry such a strong feeling of emotion, longing, and ennui. As saxophone solos wafted over a crowd illuminated in beams of neon light, I could hardly imagine a better visualization of the burgeoning synthwave movement.

Synthwave, also called retrowave or outrun, is an artistic movement that’s been gaining a lot of steam over the past several years. Inspired mainly by imagery and music from the 80s, synthwave combines visuals like neon lighting, airbrushed chrome, computer grids, and midnight cityscapes with synthesizer-heavy music reminiscent of new-wave pop music and sci-fi movie soundtracks. The genre explores a wide variety of themes, from retrofuturistic optimism to dystopian fears of mechanized oppression. Many artists explore the limits of 80s media, intentionally adding VHS noise to digital video or releasing their music on vinyl.

And yet, for something apparently steeped in nostalgia, synthwave isn’t an accurate representation of what the 80s were really like. Movies looked at as progenitors of the movement—such as Blade Runner, TRON, or films by John Carpenter—were minor successes at best or box-office failures at worst. Synthesizer film scores by Tangerine Dream and Ennio Morricone garnered Razzie nominations rather than Oscar nods. Even the famous DeLorean DMC-12 seen in Back to the Future drove poorly and sold worse. Though synthwave visuals may resemble tech support posters or a Corvette ad, by and large the media of the 80s bore only a minor resemblance to this new aesthetic. Going beyond regular rose-tinted glasses, synthwave is nostalgia for a time that never existed.

This fascinating development—faux-nostalgia taken in a new and modern direction—speaks to me as a designer. A truly successful design should connect with its audience, and synthwave has achieved this. Straightforward 80s nostalgia has become a huge marketing trend in recent years, from Voltron selling Hondas to the Stranger Things kids suiting up as Ghostbusters, but synthwave goes beyond simply parroting what was popular 30 years ago. Instead, the movement uses a smaller-scale evocation of certain nostalgic elements rather than a full-on resurrection.

In an age where you can instantly stream a classic album or pull up clips from a favorite movie, synthwave stands out by sampling the mood and aesthetics of the past and then taking it in a new direction. Pressing beyond hollowly echoing nostalgia, synthwave finds a unique way to create emotionally resonant works.

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 Kelly Schermer

Nothing shoots me to the top of the silly scale quite like someone trying to tell me how I should feel about something.

My husband loves to tease me about the time I dropkicked his basketball down a hill in college. The moment he turned to me laughing and said, “You will get that,” (because it WAS a jerk move, and up to that point I HAD been planning to get it) I felt the flirty fun curdle into a feral little gremlin in my belly.

While I’ve developed a few strategies for handling myself in these situations, they don’t always save me from the knee-jerk reaction that loads my adrenaline cannons.

Take for instance my mother’s email asking if I could join her and my sister for lunch. Totally unremarkable except that, for the first time ever, Gmail included 3 clickable response options at the bottom of the message.

• Yes, I do.
• I love you!
• Thanks, but I’m busy.

By the time I finished reading those, my metaphorical guns were at the ready. 

Now, if I hadn’t seen those responses, I would have probably freehanded something like, “Order the yam fries for me!” But the mere presence of these Smart Reply buttons hijacked my conversation with my mom. They had me thinking in terms of yes/no, free/busy instead of yam fries/sister laughter.

In the scheme of life, email shortcuts seem trivial (especially at work!). But I believe voice and individuality accumulate through conversation strings like this to develop the chemistry that ultimately defines our relationships. If we cut our personality out of our correspondence, we could be cutting ourselves off from a genuine connection. By the time we get to email, we’ve already cut out the face-to-face and the phone. Do we really need to get less personal with people?

Email has serendipitously helped me realize that my flash-anger onset is a defense mechanism for times when I feel like my personal story (or my right to tell my story the way I want to tell it) is being threatened. Because what am I if not the story I tell? 

We all have the unique privilege of being exactly who we are. I want to see, hear, and read your story exactly the way you live it. After all, you do you best.  Why let a computer hack you with generic responses?

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 Kyle Luikart + the 2A Team

The 2A team is made up of lovers of music. On Monday mornings we chat about what concert we hit over the weekend and on Friday afternoons we jam out to the 2A Spotify playlist curated by DJ Evan. In a world where albums may be a thing of the past, 2Aers appreciate the storytelling power of a thoughtful, musical selection.

There’s obvious storytelling in lyrics, but the texture and melodies of songs paint a landscape of sound beyond something words can articulate. And the album adds yet another level. A good album may start with an intro to set the tone, or explode abruptly with a powerful, catchy track. It may start slow and rise, or have interludes that intertwine songs. And chances are, somebody put a lot of thought into the sequence and selection of songs to tell a better, more complete story.

Many say the early 21^st century is seeing the death of albums as we know them—that the world of streaming apps and shortened attention spans has changed the way we enjoy music. But 2Aers still revel in the storytelling power of the album. Here are our favorites from 2018!

• Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats – Tearing at the Seams (Blues rock/Folk rock) “Nathaniel Rateliff has done what few bands can achieve, deliver a sophomore album just as good or better than the first. The formula hasn’t changed: write good songs with real, tangible emotions that you can tap your foot to.” – Gary Bacon

• Mitski – Be the Cowboy (Indie pop/Indie electronic) “Mitski’s eerie vocals and dark tones make it a great album to come back to and get something new every time you listen.” – Annie Unruh

• Abhi the Nomad – Marbled (R&B/Hip Hop) “On the debut, full-length album Marbled, Abhi the Nomad easily navigates from bangers to cuts to jams.” – Evan Aeschlimann

• Glorietta – Glorietta (Folk rock/Indie rock) “Glorietta is the result of a nine-day jam session between folk/indie musician friends in an AirBnB in rural New Mexico. Loose and relaxed, the album ranges from ragged rockers to beautiful, whisper-quiet ballads.” – Nick Dwyer

• George Clanton – Slide (Electronic/Vaporwave) “Slide is a hauntingly poppy vaporwave trip. Clanton builds lush, nostalgia-rich synthesized atmospheres and ties them to the ground with lazy head-bobbing break beats.” – Kyle Luikart

• Charles Bradley – Black Velvet (Soul/Funk) “A crooner from a bygone era, Charles Bradley’s mix of funk and soul will leave you grateful to have heard his amazing talent for putting the trials and triumphs of life into song, then leave you wishing for more.” – Melanie Hodgman

• Beach House – 7 (Dream pop/Indie rock) “Seventh album from one of my absolute favorite bands. A synth-heavy wall of sound that begs to envelop you completely in dreamy, warm goodness.” – Clinton Bowman

• Joji – BALLADS1 (R&B/Electronic) “BALLADS1 is a great album for a rainy commute home with its melancholic tunes and lo-fi beats. Favorite song is Slow Dancing in the Dark.” – Radhika Patel

• Gorillaz – The Now Now (Pop/Funk) “The British digital cartoon band—now joined by Ace from The Powerpuff Girls—returns for a mellow yet upbeat jam session featuring their distinctive collage of genres.” – Thad Allen

• Popcaan – Forever (Dancehall/Hip Hop) “A dancehall record for the masses, full of humble swagger and charisma. Plus, my buddy produced it!” – Daniel Schmeichler

• Greta Van Fleet – Anthem of the Peaceful Army (Hard rock/Blues rock) “Saw them perform live this year and hands down one of the best shows I have ever seen. Very Zeppelin sound.” – Don Selkirk

• Hana Vu – How Many Times Have You Driven By (Indie rock/Indie pop) “There are moments on this album that really make me feel like my personal experience is important, and I want to walk through the city with a little attitude.” – Abby Breckenridge

• Sugarland – Bigger (Country/Pop) “This album is a mental cup of coffee. It’s uplifting and energizing with a hearty dose of fun songs, but maintains depth with thoughtfully written ballads.” – Drue Stewart

By Sarah Silva

Everyone loves a good origin story. We’ve all been captivated by how a small but mighty spider could turn a teenager into a crime-fighting phenom. But great beginnings aren’t just for superheroes—meet Joe and Tom, creators of Fruit Punch belts.

Joe and Tom were architects by day, but color fanatics and craftsmen by night. Using Joe’s talent for working with leather, and Tom’s eye for great color, they created their own matching belts with bright blue powder-coated buckles. Garnering ooohs and aaaahs all over town, they decided they might be on to something, and experimented with other color combos. Their super power was creating a highly coveted, well-made belt that stood out in a sea of drab accessories.

Joe and Tom came to 2A because they needed a brand that told their origin story and captured the spunky spirit of their belts. Inspired by the beautiful, yet artificial, colors of their powder-coated buckles, we came up with the name Fruit Punch. If you look closely at the logo, you’ll notice our designer Radhika added some juicy droplets, playing on the sweet name.

Using our marketing superpowers, 2A created influencer kits, compelling web copy and a spunky tagline to build excitement about the Fruit Punch launch. We created the Fruit Punch Studio website that focuses on customer usability, while still being fun and bright.

With a photoshoot and launch event under our belts ?, Fruit Punch was ready to buckle up for party. Joe and Tom were excited to launch in time for the holiday season and see their belts start to mingle with others. What started as a project among friends now inspires others to ask, #wheredyougetthatbelt?