Verve Company Newsletter - May 2018 - Issue 8

VERVE’S MONTHLY NEWSLETTER • MAY 2018 • ISSUE 8
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1. Editor’s Letter 01
2. New starters 02
3. Callum’s pick of the month 04
4. Scavenger Hunt 2018! 06
5. Hackathon 2018 08
6. Guess who competition 10
7. In other news... 12
8. Who you are & what you do 14
9. All about... Enosha 15
10. How Does The Way We Work Work For You? 16
11. Welcome To Kristen 18
12. A Day In The Life 20
13. Verve In Vogue 22
14. Getting To Know Liz 23
15. What Else Is Happening? 24
16. Passion Points 26
Scavenger Hunt 2018! 06
Hackathon 2018 08
All about... Enosha 17


WHAT A MONTH IT HAS BEEN!
THE NEWSLETTER TEAM:
ANNE BEDI
GRANT BARRATT
ELINA MEIMANE
CAISIE DILKS
Hey everyone,
So our annual global scavenger hunt happened! I’ve been rewathcing a lot of the clips this week as we’re putting together the video, and reliving it all. There were so many laugh out loud moments; I loved all the mannequin challenges, the ritz and the tube army crawls, David F being eaten by a lion, the ice bucket challenges and Florent’s acting to name but oh so few...and who amongst us will ever forget Ashley’s repeated inexplicable nudity? We have photos to share here, but brace yourself for a rough cut of the video next week...going to be fabulous!
In a few days the entire company will be in one place for a whole week for the retreat which is beyond exciting! We kick the fun off with the hackathon on Monday - find out more about it in this issue!
I particularly like our Guess Who this week because who an earth would have thought at anytime in their lives it would be hard to tell the gorgeous Mackenzie and Kristen apart from (the equally gorgeous) David, Craig, Chad and Zach. I’m telling you - go look, its hard!!!!
You can also find our more about Ryo, all about Enosha, how our culture works for Jan, learn about Kristen, find out what Jamie gets up to during the day, get to know Liz, and get
an insight into Rihanna’s passions. You can also see Irene’s awesome fashion sense.
Enjoy and I’ll see you all at the retreat!
Anne Bedi
Verve Newsletter | Issue 8 | May 2018 1


NEW STARTERS
Carissa Gatti
Junior Paid Social Specialist LA Office
Which person dead or alive would you like to have dinner with and which restaurant?
Audrey Hepburn and I’d want to make homemade pasta.
What is your favourite swear word?
Fucking Shit.
Which profession other than your
own would you like to attempt?
Pottery, Fashion Designer, basically anything that’s creative with my hands.
Lisa Feizlmayr
Senior Community Manager & CRM Specialist
London Office
Which person dead or alive would you like to have dinner with and which restaurant?
Bob Ross, at any restaurant with a roof terrace so I can watch him paint the views afterwards. If I don’t fall asleep beforehand, that is.
What is your favourite swear word?
I like to refer to people as Spast or Opfer in German, or good ol’ twat in English. Also I’m a big fan of fuck sake and geh scheissen (‘go [have a] shit’ in German). Asshat is also up there with my faves!
Which profession other than your own would you like
to attempt?
Either a dog groomer or a proper gardener for huge estate gardens. I imagine it’s super daunting having to keep thousands of plants alive at the same time! Also when I was little my parents used to have me cut the rose bushes in our garden so I already got a small taste of it and the (mental) scars to build on.
Oliver Fernandez
Formals Consultant Las Vegas Office
Which person dead or alive would you like to have dinner with and which restaurant?
Bob Marley @ the Cesar’s Palace Buffet... hmmmmm.
What is your favourite swear word?
“Shit, piss, fuck, cunt, cocksucker, motherfucker, tits, fart, turd, and twat” - Family Reunion by Blink 182 circa 1999.
Which profession other than your own would you like
to attempt?
I would love to be a professional landscape photographer. You get to travel the world and take pictures of the most beautiful and remote places in the world and see things that others may not. As well as have a top-notch Instagram feed ;)
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Adriana Szynwelska
Senior Community Manager London Office
Which person dead or alive would you like to have dinner with and which restaurant?
Justin Timberlake, I’ve been a #1 fangirl since always, and he seems like a cool guy. I love Italian food so maybe some nice Trattoria in Venice.
What is your favourite swear word?
I try not to swear cause I’m a lady but probably - fuck - simple, effective, useful in all situations ;)
Which profession other than your own would you like
to attempt?
I still can’t even decide on one so a food critic (free food), actress(I’ve loved performing since I was little), lawyer (inspired by “Suits”) or a professional dancer (especially for someone like Beyonce or JT)
Joe Stevens
Copywriter London Office
Which person dead or alive would you like to have dinner with and which restaurant?
Nando’s of course, and I’d take with me the frontman of Massive Attack, Robert Del Naja. They’re my favourite band, and he’s always been heavily involved in other projects outside of music, from painting and design, to world causes and charitable endeavours, which I’m also into or have backgrounds in. With strong rumours always circulating that he’s also Banksy, I’d feel like I could get two people for the price of one.
What is your favourite swear word?
There’s a lot of good ones to be fair. I kind of hate to say it, but the C-word
is definitely the most satisfying. This question’s made me realise how much I do actually swear.
Which profession other than your own would you like
to attempt?
I would one day like to work more closely within the music industry, as I spend all day chewing peoples ears off about it already, but luckily there’s a lot of crossover here at Verve already.
Terry Sanks
Marketing Manager LA Office
Which person dead or alive would you like to have dinner with and which restaurant?
A chicken and waffle dinner with Rick James at Waffle House.
What is your favourite swear word?
Damn, if it counts?
Which profession other than your own would you like
to attempt?
I’d love to be a stunt man or a stunt double.
Verve Newsletter | Issue 8 | May 2018 3


CALLUM’S PICKS
1
2
3
Amazing press in the Sunday Times, Fast Company, Forbes, Business insider, and Inc. Also an amazing piece in a top Belgium paper De
Standaard. Thanks to Irene and Emily for their work on getting all of those.
Brad was great on the BBC, talking about work in the #metoo era - you can listen to it at https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/ w3cswjzz
Thanks to the travel team we’re well ahead on travel sales compared to this time last year which is really exciting.
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OF THE MONTH
The Pollen Members-only area 4 at We Are FSTVL was a huge success
and the feedback has been amazing
- the Pollen Squad did a great job in
pulling the whole thing off.
Well done to the winning team on the 5 scavenger hunt - the whole event was a
huge success and we can’t wait to share
the video with you at the retreat.
We’ve had our first big win in College 6 football, which is a great moment for the
company - thanks to the travel team!
Verve Newsletter | Issue 8 | May 2018 5


One of the highlights of the year is the annual global scavenger hunt and this year was no exception! On the 30th of may the whole company got an email
from Brandon & Brittany B, announcing a new fraternity called Kappa Upsilon, got split into teams and then got given a set of challenges. Each team had 6 hours to complete as many challenges as they could and share their videos and pictures on the #Kappaupsilion slack channel. London played first, then LA picked up the gauntlet (the Las Vegas Team had bussed to meet them) and then Poland bought up the glorious rear. When we were all done... we partied!
THE WINNERS WERE TEAM 11!
They will be getting VIP experience at the retreat next week with:
- The most desirable rooms to sleep in for the week
- Seats at the high table for the banquet and their dinner served to them by the losing team
- Choosing the song for the losing team to sing on karaoke night
- Served Dom Pérignon champagne on cinema night
It’s hard to capture all the gloriousness here in print
as so many of the amazing submissions were by video... which is why we’re making a video that will sit on our website for everyone to view! Watch this space...
HARRIET, UK
The scavenger hunt is by far one of my favourite company events. This year I have to say my favourite part was Dan P and I getting chased out of a private Members club by a crazy woman who continued to chase us down the street.
JEREMY
MENDELSOHN, LA
The scavenger did an amazing job of ‘breaking the ice’ between new coworkers. It required team work, coordination, creativity and to step out of their comfort zone. Overall it was an incredibly productive team building activity!
exh It als line. A impos it


MACKENZIE
WHELAN, LA
I had so much fun on the scavenger hunt! I’m usually not really into games or organized events like that, but I was pleasantly surprised. It was so well thought out and we had such a great time!
BARTOSZ JESKE,
POLAND
An awesome experience, at some points austing, but all in all it was sooo much fun.
so surprised me how much we could push the At the beginning all of these tasks seemed just ssible! We had a very small team but we took
t very seriously. In fact if we would split the total amount of points per member we would end up in 1st place
DAVID
FULTON, AUSTIN
With all of our recent merger, it was great to get to know some of the new members and work together with them as a team. I didn’t think it was possible, but this year’s Scavenger Hunt far exceeded last year’s!
JOANNA
TOKARCZYK,
POLAND
It was an awesome experience, I felt like stupid teenage girl again ;)
DAN ALMEIDA, UK
Nothing builds stronger bonds with your colleagues than humiliating yourself as team in front of the general public.
LAUREN
CLIFFORD, UK
Working mostly 1:1 with Ponnu the Scavenger Hunt was a great opportunity for me to meet other people within the company that I wouldn’t always work with and get to know their roles a little better, and it was great fun!
BO THEDE,
LAS VEGAS
I found the scavenger hunt to exceed all expectations. I went in wondering “what are we doing taking a full day off to run around Los Angeles?” As soon as I saw the posts from the UK team, my excitement soared... by the time it rolled into game time in LA I was in full force. Had the time of my life and bonded with everyone involved.
Can’t wait for next years!
FLORENT, UK
I had to google what a scavenger
hunt was 10 minutes before receiving the instructions... it was definitely the best way to get know each other and realise that alcohol was in fact the remedy to cowardness before certain challenges (we A-B tested that...)


Hackathon 2018!
WHEN:
Monday 4th June, 9am - 9pm
WHERE:
3 Loughborough Street, Lambeth, London SE11 5RB
What is a hackathon?
W
A buzzword in the software development world, a hackathon is a sprint-like event in which developers and others involved in software development, including designers, project managers, and others, collaborate intensively on innovative projects during several days, normally between a day and a week. In most of the cases, a Hackathon is organized to create something new, or to solve a particular problem.
Becau X hou road
compa what of u
oppor with
8 Verve Newsletter | Issue 8 | May 2018
Who else does them?
Well, Loads of companies - some do them (like us!) internally, others run huge international ones (like Tech Crunch) that attract people from all over the world to get involved.
Capital One is a good example as their internal hackathons have been used for
a variety of internal innovation, such as building prototypes, pitching ideas to senior business and technology leaders, creating new products, introducing new capabilities, and adopting new solutions.


Why do we do one?
It’s not just tech people who can inform the product roadmap, teams who work with clients,ambassadors, members, and reps, as well as other parts of the business touch the product in different ways, have unique insights and bring different skill sets.
use the ideas generated over the ours will help inform the future
We get very used to the teams we work in, but by mixing everyone up, who all touch the product in a different way, it forces everyone to think about the problem from a different perspective.
dmap of the product. As a tech any the way we develop tech and
it does needs to be owned by all us and the hackathon is a great
rtunity for everyone to come up h ideas based on the experiences
This is a great opportunity to work with people you normally wouldn’t, to spend the day thinking about the future of the product and how it can best serve its customers.
they have.
Why will be we
focusing on Pollen?
All parts of the business are directly involved in pollen and with the us launch coming and it being new in the U.K there is so much need for innovation.
Ola who is putting the whole event together said “I’m super excited to see
what creative ideas teams will come up with, and who will build the most during the day! Cannot
wait to see the final demos at the end
of the day.”
Ola Sitarska Head of Engineering
Verve Newsletter | Issue 8 | May 2018 9


GUESS WHO?
ANOTHER MONTH, ANOTHER SELECTION OF ADORABLE BABY PICTURES TWINNED WITH THEIR NOT QUITE SO ADORABLE, GROWN-UP COUNTERPARTS. THE QUESTION IS, CAN YOU GUESS WHICH ONE IS WHICH?
ABC
Mackenzie Whelan David Fulton Craig Pickett
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DEF
Chad Hart Kristen Rowsey Zach Mendelsohn
Verve Newsletter | Issue 8 | May 2018 11


IN OTHER NEWS...
The area looked amazing with big white day beds, a glitter/make up station and our very own foliage Instagram wall! Our feedback has been immense with many asking us where the next one will be & random people begging to pay to come in. Very much looking forward to the next one!
Harriet
T he team created a Pollen Members Only area based in the perfect spot in between stages at We Are Fstvl where Founding
members were able to bring up to 10 friends into the area whilst Members bought up to 5 friends where they all received a free bar, somewhere to chill and mingle with the other members.
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LLast week Liam and team spent
the days leading up to We Are FSTVL on site setting up the Verve/Pollen areas at the event. We Are FSTVL
is a 70,000 capacity music festival, who have worked with us for
the past 6 years. As one of our longest clients, they always follow marketing best practice and see great results through Verve, this year we managed
to sell close to 10,000 tickets through
our ambassadors. In the week leading up to the festival, the team were on site ensuring everything was prepared; this included rewards tent set up, organising buggy tours for top-selling ambassadors, site builds and even a bit of set painting! Overall the festival was a huge success and we even managed to get a snap of Liam in his Hi-Viz jacket!!!
Caisie
Junior the cat turned
1yr old. He received a balloon, a cupcake, a new catnip toy,
and a trip to the park.
Caisie


WHO ARE YOU & WHAT YOU DO?
RYO HARADA
RYO HARADA
Senior Business Analyst
What’s your role and what does it involve?
I’m a Senior Business Analyst in
the London office. My work is about scoping out where there are opportunities for us to grow faster and analysing how best to achieve that. Typically I’m working on multiple projects at a time, whether that’s diligencing companies to acquire, looking at how reps are performing or forecasting how festival tickets will sell through
the remainder of the season.
What does a normal day look like for you, if there is one?
Gym/run in the morning, followed by looking through what projects
I have going on. Quite a bit of it is quant heavy so I’ll try and mix it up doing some heavy analytical tasks mixed in with making slides and dashboards to highlight the main conclusions. When I have time in the evenings, I try and read (a new year’s resolution I’ve actually kept!) and like sampling the best of East London’s restaurants (cooking was a less successful resolution.)
What’s your favourite part of
your job?
I get to interact with all the parts of the company and getting to know how all the pieces of the puzzle
fit together was complicated to start with, but now I feel like I
have a handle on the amazing
ecosystem we have as a company. Also, I write the board packs every quarter, and everyone’s hard work and stellar numbers makes it a whole lot easier.
Favourite moment of your job
so far?
Scavenger hunt definitely- everyone’s videos were on point. I’ve written this before results are announced though, so if we lose, I take it all back. (Spoiler: He lost)
What do you do outside of work to find balance?
I’m big on football- play 5-a-side and have a love/hate relationship with Arsenal. Also a keen runner- favourite race was running the Kyoto Marathon in a bird costume. Turns out that whatever you
dress as, it doesn’t make you fly any faster.
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ALL ABOUT...
Tell us about what you do at the company?
culture and doesn’t feel left out because they’re in a two person office versus a fifty person office.
How do you find Freedom and Ownership works for you?
F&O has allowed me to find my own balance between juggling work and home life. It’s quite difficult being a parent and being expected to work in the way in which someone else feels is best. I’m usually working early in the morning, during the day and
late at night, all around my boys’ schedules. This motivates me in knowing that I can get shit done and still be a great mom.
What are you most excited about doing/changing?
I am most excited about rolling out pay transparency. How much someone makes is such a taboo subject, yet people are always wondering and making assumptions about it. I think it will work great in our culture and show that people are paid fairly based on their job/ location regardless of gender, age and/or race. It will make us all proud to work for a company that is transparent about salaries and will get rid of any perceptions.
ENOSHA
I am Head of People, US. I manage recruiting, onboarding, the employee experience and anything else people related. I have my eyes and ears open to issues that come up inside and out of the workplace to figure out what we can do to become a better place to work.
What part of your job do you love the most?
I looooove helping people and problem solving. Whether it’s as small as what to bring on the first day of work or something bigger like helping communicate better with teams or managers. I enjoy listening and being able to remove stress and provide support, so that people can focus more on getting their jobs done.
What’s the biggest challenges you face?
When you have people all over the globe working toward the same goal, it’s challenging to get everyone on the same page at the same time. I want to ensure that everyone has access to the same resources, encompasses the same
ENOSHA JACKSON
Head of People
Tell us about your background?
Went to UCLA and studied applied mathematics. Over 15 years of human resources experience. Part of the pre-opening team for a boutique Asian hotel and casino in Las Vegas, hired over 750 people. Worked for a travel company that was similar to what we do in travel, except travellers were age 65+ and it was motorcoach trips. I’m single, not ready to mingle ;-) and have two boys, Ameer (8) and Elijah (5).
Verve Newsletter | Issue 8 | May 2018 15


HOW DOES THE WAY WE WORK WORK FOR YOU?
JAN FISCHER
Sales Director DACH
Where you work best?
I’ve almost have worked everywhere. I had calls during tattoo sessions, worked in my van, in planes, on airports, during events, at home, in the office and after all that I can definitely say: Work is better at the beach.
I love to change my work environment as often as I can to keep that “think out of the box” thing. When I am working, I am
in my bubble, concentrated on mails, CRM stuff and so on. I like to leave that bubble by looking up, seeing the nature, hearing wind and waves.
I don’t have a flat anymore so I
PROMOTERS DON´T WORK ON MONDAYS, NOT EVEN ON FRIDAYS AND NORMALLY SOMEWHERE BETWEEN 11AM AND 4PM DURING THE WEEK.
am forced to work from different places - in my van, office or
on travels.
When do you work best?
Depends on where I am, my work is mostly linked to the time of my clients. Promoters don´t work on Mondays, not even on Fridays and normally somewhere between 11am and 4pm during the week. They also love to call me back on
I work in the time difference on my travels, so either very early morning (around sunset) or night/ late evening to match the working hours in Germany. When I am in the office I start my days relaxed and easy - I do a morning gym session, have a proper breakfast and start my work between 10 / 11am. I love to work in the evening and my days end around 8/9pm.
I ALSO HAVE A ZERO INBOX POLICY, WHICH SOMETIMES WORKS. I PAY ATTENTION
TO HAVE MY INBOX CLEAN ON A FRIDAY EVENING TO HAVE A RELAXED WEEKEND.
very unimportant things on Sunday early morning or Saturday night. Sometimes both.
How do you work best?
Structure is essential. Its easy to be overwhelmed by freedom, there
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are so many activities you could do to skip your working hours.
My days are structured in flexible blocks which I can move around if needed. I have a block for admin work which includes CRM Hygiene, E-Mails or Contract Stuff, a block for calls, follow ups, meetings and all that communication stuff and a third block for everything else and random things. My Admin Block
is setup for the morning hours, followed by the call block and the random block. I start with calls sometimes, If needed, due to time zone issues.
STRUCTURE IS ESSENTIAL. ITS EASY TO BE OVERWHELMED BY FREEDOM, THERE ARE SO MANY ACTIVITIES YOU COULD DO TO SKIP YOUR WORKING HOURS.
It is essential to not get disturbed or distracted in those blocks, otherwise you might loose your focus. I also have a zero inbox policy, which sometimes works.
I pay attention to have my inbox clean on a Friday evening to have a relaxed weekend.
Networking is essential as well, internally and externally so I am on events on the weekends, try to meet people, get all the rumours, be around and be seen. Same for internal events. You never know from who you might need help
in the future
Verve Newsletter | Issue 8 | May 2018 17


WELCOME TO KRISTEN
HAVING RECENTLY JOINED AS HEAD OF CONSUMER MARKETING, WE WANTED TO KNOW MORE ABOUT HER ROLE AND WHAT ATTRACTED HER TO JOIN VERVE IN THE FIRST PLACE...
KRISTEN VIOLA
Head of Consumer Marketing
What exactly does your role do?
I oversee consumer marketing. Right now, I have been specifically working on travel, though I will soon transition into working onto the other areas of the business too. In a nutshell, my job is to spread word of mouth to consumers about all of the great things
that are going on across the company, whether that be the ambassador programs or a trip
to Cabo. Specifically, I work on everything from SEO and public relations to email and social media campaigns to traditional/print/ outdoor advertising.
What part of your job is the most exciting?
No day is exactly the same. My days fly by super fast so I am constantly on my toes and never bored. There’s always something new to be done or something that can be done differently. I’m constantly shifting gears and
wearing about 10 hats at once (with 20 tabs on my computer open), but I wouldn’t have it any other way.
I come from a writing/PR background so I get most
excited about branding and communications. I majored in English at UC Berkeley (Go Bears!) and contrary to the valedictorian’s prediction that we would all be unemployable, it’s great to actually be able to get paid doing what you love.
As I have been mostly focused on travel right now, I am excited about growing their social media
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channels, particularly Instagram, as I believe there’s so much potential on this platform to grow their audience and drive revenue (shameless plug: if you’re reading this, please follow them @JusCollege on Instagram if you haven’t already!).
What were you doing before you came to Verve?
I’ve worked in marketing, communications and PR for 10+ years. Most recently, I worked as a marketing director for a real estate software company based in LA that powers all of the major real estate sites like Zillow. I got to know real estate agents who are selling literally $10 million+ homes in LA (think Bravo’s Million Dollar Listing) -- so I definitely had major home envy. Prior to that, I was working at Travelzoo. While there, I worked closely with corporate hotel companies such as Four Seasons Hotels and Fairmont Hotels, which definitely had its fair share of perks and made me a bit spoiled -- I’ve stayed at Four Seasons and Fairmont Hotels in places ranging from Quebec City to Punta Mita, Mexico. Before this, I worked in public relations both for consumer products as well as restaurants and travel brands. I am super excited to be working again in the travel industry.
What attracted you to joining Verve?
First and foremost, the people. I could tell how passionate everyone is about the company and their work. I love Verve’s about connecting people through word of mouth as I truly believe as a consumer, that we’re so inundated by ad and paid endorsements that it’s those genuine recommendations that truly make a difference.
What are you most looking forward to at Verve?
Super excited for the June retreat and getting to know all of the people from around the world! I have worked with so many people in the UK and Vegas office a lot so it will be great to get to know everyone in person. And excited for Pollen’s launch in the US so that I can show all of my friends the awesome stuff we have in the works :)
What are your passions outside of work?
When I am not working, I spend most of my time with my husband and my two-year-old daughter, Lucy. The great
thing about freedom and ownership is that I can drop her off every morning at school and be there for her school events without having to worry about it; I love that I can make my own schedule. And with the risk of sounding too LA, I love yoga, pilates and hiking. I love to travel when I can and explore new cities -- Vancouver is next on my realistic list and an African Safari is on my bucket list. I love trying new restaurants.-- Eataly just opened up near my place in LA, and I’ve been there more times than I care to admit. And nothing beats a big glass of rose after work.
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DAY IN THE LIFE
WE ASKED THE LOVELY JAMIE TO SHARE A TYPICAL DAY WITH US WHICH TURNED OUT TO INVOLVE CAFFEINE, STALKING, DOGS AND PARTYING!
1.
I always start my day with a strong cup coffee. Mostly because I like the taste not because I need the caffeine.
JAMIE WINGER
Sales Operations Specialist
2.
I talk with Zach at the start of every day to go over what we need to accomplish for the day.
3.
Attending weekly meetings with the sales team.
20
Verve Newsletter | Issue 8 | May 2018


5.
I come home every evening to my roommate’s dog, Superman.
4.
I spend a lot of time stalking sorority and fraternity Instagram pages to find the best Marketing Intern candidates.
6.
I would spend every night at a festival if I could.
Verve Newsletter | Issue 8 | May 2018 21


VERVE’S IN
IRENE COGHLAN | PARTNERSHIPS DIRECTOR
22 Verve Newsletter | Issue 8 | May 2018
First date face ready...
Man behind is totally normal sized man
Nobody has ever looked cuter
It wasn’t Halloween!
“Theme Cirque Du Soir NOT Circus. Please no lion tamers or Lions” it said


GETTING TO KNOW
ELIZABETH STUDZIENSKI
10% GYM
20%
I have always lived a very active lifestyle. I was a competitive cheerleader for over 10 years when I was growing
up so that basically started my 25% healthy lifestyle. I work out
FAMILY
3-4 times a week. I love to do yoga, pilates, and get my butt kicked from my personal trainer who
is a professional TRAVEL football player!
“The trouble is, you think you have time” - Buddha. This quote says it all - travel now, love now, go on adventures now, fuel your soul now.
I love spending time with my family, Fiancé, and our fur babies, Amelia and Walter. I live for our early Saturday morning walks with the family to a local Starbucks where our pups enjoy their Puppuccinos and we get to relax and catch up on life. I like to have one day every week where we can get together and enjoy sometime to ourselves.
15% FOOD
30%
WORK
Food is LIFE! I love trying out the new hottest restaurants in town. I am based out of Las Vegas, which makes me extremely lucky because I have access to all the top restaurants 24/7! I also love to cook and try out new dishes. I have officially perfected my rack of lamb - it’s to die for. If you are ever in Vegas and would like to try it out, call me! :)
To me, work doesn’t feel like work. It’s truly a lifestyle for me. I love being apart of a Company that allows me to focus on things I love and enjoy doing! Also, I love seeing people happy and having a great time, so being Head of Property and Internal Events is the perfect job for me!
Verve Newsletter | Issue 8 | May 2018 23


WHAT ELSE IS
HAPPENING?
ELINA MEIMANE
Business Support Manager
Amanda’s a
Hailey and Mackenzie at EDC
Alexis and her husband
Lionel at Las Vegas Golden Nights ice hockey game
Can you fin
A group workshop on flow outside in the park
Lauren discovering the London office
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Pollen team gett


adorable new family member
Happy Anniversary to David and his wife
nd Harriet?
Sarah at Iguazu Falls in Brasil
Alex, Welcome to Utah!
ting ready for We Are Fstvl
Brad featured on BBC radio
Where it all started or Guess who?
We would really like to share more fun photos and stories, so make sure you follow our company page: onverveco
Can you find Gavin?
Verve Newsletter | Issue 8 | May 2018 25


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PASSION POINTS
THIS MONTH WE WANTED TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT RIHANNA’S PASSION FOR CHEERLEADING, HOW SHE GOT INTO IT AND WHAT’S IT LIKE. CHECK OUT THE VIDEO OF HER COMPETING AT THE END!
RIANNA WASHINGTON
Community Manager
When did you first get into Cheerleading?
The story begins at age 2 when
my Mum started taking me to ‘Tumble Tots’ aka baby gymnastics. As a kid, I loved trampolining
and gymnastics, and was part
of a dance academy right up until I left college. But my love for cheer began when I made the Cheerleading Competition Squad at University.
Tell us more about it?
There is often a misconception about cheer; particularly whether it’s a ‘real’ sport. In 2016 it was (finally) given provisional recognition by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and granted funding towards training top athletes of the future - something that has been a long time coming in the cheer world.
Competitive or “All-Star” cheer
is very different to the sort of
stuff you might have seen at American football or basketball games. Teams compete against each other and are judged on a 3-minute routine composed of gymnastic tumbles, dance, stunts, jumps, and pyramids. Each stunt group is made up of two bases, a flyer, and a back - I was a back for all 3 years although jumped at the chance to fly when I could!
It is pretty daring and certainly physically demanding. But also one of the most rewarding feelings when your team ‘hits zero’ (a routine completed without a single wobble or fall) on the mat. We trained evenings and weekends between 6 -12 hours a week, which was usually more hours a week than I had lectures, so naturally
it became a big part of my uni experience.
Why do you love it?
After broken bones, multiple concussions and numerous of mental blocks between us all,
our hard work paid off in 2016 when we became Future Cheer All-Girl Level 3 National University Champions! Super cliché but definitely one of the best moments of my time at uni - knowing we reached the top of our game was awesome.
Aside from the athletic aspect, fake-tan Fridays (pre-competition), drag-style make-up, ridiculously backcombed ponytails (complete with half a litre of hairspray and
50 bobby pins) and of course the custom-made, sparkling bows & uniforms were all part of the fun.
Since graduating, I have
decided to have some time out
of competitive cheer and the commitment that is inevitably part of it. I still dance at Jazz class every Monday, and attend an open-gym session every now and again to keep up my tumbles!
I am of course happy to teach anyone that fancies seeing the world upside-down! Here is our routine from last year’s season: https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=yxDcsKgJSkA
Verve Newsletter | Issue 8 | May 2018 27