In the mid-90s I had my first “professional” job as an Office Manager/Online Personality. During the day, I was making Costco runs. At night, you would find me hopping between four to seven computers every evening, playing different characters on a budding gaming platform called “Optigon Interactive” to a dozen or so computer geeks who’d somehow found out about us and requested a CD-Rom. It was quite a challenge, and a LOT of fun. My characters ran from a flirty female dental hygienist to a grumpy retired older fellow, to a someone who was a lot like me, to whatever popped in my head at the time. My time spent studying theater was paying off, as each night felt like a improv performance where I played several characters, performing with a real-live cast of characters who had no idea one guy was roughly half of the people online at the time.

It was an exciting time interacting with people that drives me to this day.

Optigon Interactive eventually merged with another budding online service called Outland, and we became The Total Entertainment Network.

With some sweet Kleiner-Perkins money and the geniuses from both Optigon and Outland at the helm, we managed to create one of the first Internet gaming subscription services where for $20 a month players could use their modems to connect to others who were also anxious to play Quake, Duke Nukem, Command and Conquer, Panzer General, and my personal favorite WIz-War.

As we prepared to launch, I spoke to our VP of Engineering who was anxious that we create an online-volunteer program to help newbies learn the ropes of the system. I quickly jumped at the chance, and was given the green light to develop such a program, and I did, with great success. It was a lot of work getting it up and running, working with engineers to provide tools for what we called our “TENguides”, but soon enough we went from having around 20 TENguides to around 150 in about 18 months. The program included training, and a hierarchy where some guides would focus on training newbies, while other guides became MAGNAguides, who would manage shifts.

We launched… it seemed like things were moving a bit slow, but we were confident that any moment they’d turn around. And they did. But not in the direction we’d hoped. Our main competitor went free, and we went free-falling in subscription numbers. Thankfully, the folks at the top decided to pivot to web-based casual games. The timing was incredible. We became Pogo.com (after coming very close to being marbles.com!) and I was able to take the TENguide program and reinvent it with the PogoGuide program, keeping a great number of our volunteers along for the ride. And I was able to grow my team by two incredible members.

Pogo provided games to Excite@Home, Sony. Go.com, Alta Vista, and a number of other search engines at the time.

And then the dotcom boom crashed. And we were incredibly thankful to be purchased by Electronic Arts. EA had a deal with AOL that they needed to fulfill, and we were exactly what would shore up their end of the bargain.

Alas, during this time, the legalities of “online volunteers were a little unclear, and EA shut down the guide program.

But when one door closes, another opened. During my 12 years at EA, I became the Customer Retention Manager for Pogo, and for a very brief spell Earth and Beyond, to our Outsource Manager, which I will be the first to admit, was not a great fit for me.

Thankfully, I moved on to managing community for Pogo.com, which at the point had become the world’s largest casual gaming platforms, with over 14 million active members at its peak. In this role, I spent a lot of time finding needs and fulfilling them. As such, after Customer Support reported an increase in angry tickets from players upset by other players not playing the way they expected, I created Ms. Netiquette, a weekly etiquette column that generated hundreds of reader responses every single week. I covered simple “what should I do if someone refuses to move in chess?” to “I think someone is using witchcraft in Gin Rummy!” Players felt heard, and it became a very popular column.

I built Pogo’s Amazing Minis event that drove real revenue because I flipped the model — instead of going to the community, I invited the community to come to me. I was featured in Wired Magazine for being the community manager of an aging customer base, and enjoyed an amazing time at a studio where the collaborative spirit made everyone happy to contribute to the site’s success.

After EA, I spent 11 years at GSN Games, the first three in a number of positions for a few different games, and then eventually managing the community for the very popular Tiki Solitaire TriPeaks game. I was responsible for growing our Facebook page from 230,000 to over 1.1 million followers.

This was done by creating content that spoke to our audience, and through audience recognition. Player Spotlights, competitive information about where players’ clubs ranked in the game, and a myriad of fun puzzles, informational videos, and talking to players directly about what they’d like to see in the game.

Most recently at PeopleFun, I grew Wordscapes Solitaire’s Facebook page from 32 followers to 111,000 in 18 months. All this without the growth tools I had at hand at Tiki Solitaire!

Along the way I’ve written hundreds of FAQs, blog posts, and social media captions. I’ve scripted, voiced, and produced tutorial videos. I’ve managed VIP players, brand advocates, and volunteer moderators. I’ve run contests, hosted events, and once voiced two characters in an EA game title, because apparently that’s something I do.

When I’m not building communities professionally, I’m cooking elaborate dinners for friends, playing Words With Friends (since 2010 — I have a problem), walking three miles a day with varying degrees of enthusiasm, and trying to teach our Mini Goldendoodle Teddy that scratching is not a hobby.

This site is a collection of the work, the stories, and the things I care about. Pull up a chair.