Category: Meet the Team

Meet the Team – Jerry

admin | February 13, 2012 | 0 Comments

It’s time to meet Jerry, our Quality Assurance Officer!

What is your official job title here at Brain Host?

Operational Quality Assurance Officer

What do you do on a day-to-day basis?

I test any and all changes in daily operations. I also field any issues that arise throughout the day to ensure that business can continue to flow as efficiently as possible.

Meet the Team – Blue

admin | January 18, 2012 | 0 Comments

Today we’re going to meet Blue, our Media Producer.

What is your official job title here at Brain Host?

Media Producer

What do you do on a day-to-day basis?

I mostly make tutorial videos and custom videos for our affiliates.

Meet the Team – Travis

admin | December 7, 2011 | 1 Comment

In this Meet the Team post, we’ll be talking to Travis, one of our developers.

What is your official job title here at Brain Host?

Officially? “Developer” – but I’m lobbying for “Code Monkey.”

What do you do on a day-to-day basis?

I work with the rest of the programming team to develop software products and online tools for Brain Host’s customers.

What is the main project you are working on now? Can you tell us about it?

We’ve been working on some upcoming changes to Brain Host’s online ordering. I don’t want to jinx anything before launch day by going into detail, but our users will be happy with the updates.

While working at Brain Host, what has been your best memory?

Flying to Boston for the Certified ScrumMaster Course in September with two other developers. It was a great time and we came away with shiny new certifications. The trip was especially memorable because I’d never flown before.

Wow, your first flight! What did you think?

I was a bit nervous, of course. Nobody told me about how much pressure you feel on takeoff. After that, though, I couldn’t stop staring at the clouds and at the night lights over Boston on our way in.

How would you describe working at Brain Host?

Everyone at Brain Host works hard, but no one escapes their day without laughing. That’s especially true for our merry band of programmers.

Which programmer is responsible for causing most of the laughter?

Jeff. I think he wakes up with an agenda every day to be as ridiculous as possible. Everyone will agree with me on that.

What is the most challenging aspect of your job?

Keeping on top of new technologies and practices. Programming is an ever-evolving trade, but that’s what makes it so fun.

What is one fun fact about yourself?

I minored in Japanese in college. I’m woefully out of practice, but I can speak a dialect of gibberish fluently. I’ve always been a language person. I had a semester of German, dabbled in Spanish and French, won awards for English in high school, and now I’m a programmer. Japanese has the benefit of lacking god-forsaken gender nouns. You don’t have to hurt yourself with guttural noises to speak it, and the written language is much more interesting than adding a tilde hat to an “n”. It’s great fun to learn.

What is your one achievement that makes you the most proud?

Making it as far as I have. My career started by tinkering on a keyboard in middle school; ten years later, I work alongside sharp professionals at a rising web hosting company. Sometimes, people even confuse me for a professional myself. I never imagined my first web page would lead to coding for hundreds of thousands of people.

The programming room has a lot of funny wall décor – what’s the story behind it all?

You see, the giant dog stickers represent learning from past mistakes, while the professional wrestling posters represent perseverance. They encourage us to pound code into the mat and lay the smackdown on bugs. It’s really all about creating a work environment to best channel our potential. What’s funny about that?

What is your favorite TV show?

Dexter on Showtime. Everyone loves a good antihero.

What are the five things that you could not live without?

Caffeine, electricity, broadband internet, a computer… Should I list “family” here? I think that’s probably the right answer.

Meet the Team – Melissa

admin | November 8, 2011 | 0 Comments

In this Meet the Team we’ll meet Melissa, our Director of Client Services.

Fill us in on your day to day tasks.

There are five teams within my department who are all responsible for different functions: Quality Assurance, Retention, General Support, Tier 2 Technical Support, and Client Development. I have Team Leads and Managers handle the day-to-day reporting and management of each group, so my days are kept pretty busy with overseeing everything that they do plus interacting with Operations.

What is the main project you are working on now? Can you tell us about it?

Right now, my biggest initiative is getting my entire CS staff onto a new dialer system. We are about halfway there now, using it for outbound calls, but all of our inbound calls will come through the same system when it’s all said and done. The goal is to maximize productivity, and this system provides me with much more advanced analytics. It’s quite an undertaking, but everything we take on is in an effort to improve the customer experience, and this will definitely accomplish that.

What has been your favorite memory at Brain Host?

The first employee “fun day” that we had to celebrate 50,000 customers was pretty unforgettable, not just because of the event itself, but because we established such camaraderie as a staff that day. We played laser tag and whirly ball; both were so much fun! I may have endured a minor injury, but it was totally worth it!

What did you do before Brain Host? What made you decide to join our Family?

I was a supervisor in the collections department of a large jewelry company for about 4 ½ years before coming to Brain Host. Brain host was only a few months old at the time, but from my very first interview I knew that I had to join this team. The most appealing thing was the idea that I could have such a voice here; I would be able to make my mark on my own department while also being involved with the growth of the company as a whole. That’s the most ideal work environment for me – one that is challenging, fast-paced and team-oriented, while absolutely everyone is held accountable. Luckily, all of those things are still true today!

What is the most challenging aspect of your job?

Time! Everything within Brain Host moves at rapid speed because we are all so eager to see what’s next. It is a conscious effort to slow down and outline processes and procedures both cross- and inter-departmentally. More than ever before, I have learned that if I don’t delegate, I don’t sleep.

What sets Brain Host apart from other web hosting providers?

Besides the fantastic service we provide our customers? I’m kidding – but I’m not. Client Services is by far the most common topic of discussion in this company. Everyone understands that we are on the front lines, and we take that seriously! We take into account all of the feedback that we get from our customers and work hard to implement changes right away. I don’t believe you’d see that from many other companies.

If you weren’t working here, where do you think you’d be?

Some beach, somewhere.

What is one thing that people would be surprised to know about you?

I have been on BET three times!

Why were you on BET?

I was in a hip hop group for a couple of years, and after a ton of local performances we started sending tapes and auditioning for bigger things. Our first time on BET was to compete in their Spring Bling special, Revamped. We traveled to Miami, worked with the celebrity judges and came in second overall! We came away with some good connections at the network who got us more shows and competitions in New York, but most importantly, they brought us back to BET! We got to perform on their show, Wild Out Wednesday, twice – once when Mariah Carey was the guest and once when it was Bone Thugs-n-Harmony.

What do you like to do in spare time you find?

I like to be as active as possible, so I try to find different ways to do that. I run, do yoga, I sometimes go to boot camp, but my favorite is when I get to take dance classes! I also like to read.

If you had the chance to go back and re-live any day of your life, what day would it be and why? OR favorite childhood past time?

Growing up I was really involved in musical theatre, so that was basically all that I cared about: singing, dancing and acting. This resulted in me forcing – I mean, inspiring – my neighbors to put on backyard performances pretty much every day… and many, many Spice Girls reenactments.

Do you have any secret talents?

Oh goodness! Yes – and they were all outed on our Viral Video! I don’t know how that happened! The one talent that was a secret is that I can roll my tongue into a clover shape (along with some other strange tricks).

What are the top three things to do on your bucket list?

Complete a triathlon; become certified SCUBA diver; fly an airplane or helicopter or something I really have no business controlling. Ya know, something unsafe.

What’s your favorite thing to do in the Akron area?

I really like going to farmers markets and flea markets during the summer. I just discovered them this year and nothing beats fresh fruit and vintage jewelry!

Meet the Team – Corey

admin | October 11, 2011 | 1 Comment

Today we’re going to meet Corey!

What is your official job title here at Brain Host?

At this point, I don’t think I have an official title since my responsibilities constantly shift. I guess you could call me the full time floater. My primary role is Marketing and Product Development.

Fill us in on your day to day tasks.

My day-to-day is working on our internal marketing efforts, including SEO and PPC. I also still work with our customer service team, the rest of the marketing team, and the programmers to ensure things are moving together and everyone understands what the other is doing.

What is the main project you are working on now?

I’m mainly working on our organic search engine optimization and other marketing initiatives.

What has been your favorite memory at Brain Host?

Watching the company evolve over the last year has been amazing. Seeing something start so small (a simple PSD and an idea) and now turn into a fully fledged company is quite impressive.

What did you do before Brain Host? What made you decide to join our Family?

Prior to Brain Host, I did sales in the telecommunications industry. I found out about Internet marketing through various forums and blogs and thought it was interesting how people tried to game the search engines like Google. I read up on it more as a hobby until I met someone who got me into the industry full-time, and I have loved it ever since!

What is the most challenging aspect of your job?

Staying organized! By nature, I’m not a very detailed person so I have to put a lot of energy into making sure I keep on top of all the changes going on around me.

What sets Brain Host apart from other web hosting providers?

We value our customers and want them to succeed. Hosting can get pretty technical, and we continue to find ways to make it easier for our customers to use their hosting accounts, and along with that, we help them use their websites.

How would you describe yourself in three words?

Energetic, Driven, Friendly

If you could be on any reality TV show which would it be and why?

Shark Tank because the entrepreneurs on the show are really awesome and entertaining.

What is one thing that people would be surprised to know about you?

I’m 1% Brazilian…. I’m not really, but I consider it my adopted percentage having lived there for a little over 3 years.

What do you like to do in spare time you find?

I really spend a lot of time on the Internet even if I’m not at work. I consider myself an amateur domainer and like working with some of my domains and websites. I also have a wonderful wife that I spend my free time hanging out with along with our 2 dogs, Oscar (Beagle) and Moose (Husky).