Verve Monthly Magazine - Sept 2018 – Issue 12

ROB KIRBERICH
2018 COVER ST R
- BRIGHTON TECH RETREAT - NEW LAS VEGAS OFFICE
- THE ANT WRANGLER!
VERVE’S MONTHLY MAGAZINE SEPTEMBER 2018 • ISSUE 12


CONTENTS
1. Editor’s Letter 01
2. Purpose Through Passion 02
3. Newcomers 04
4. The Cover Star 08
5. Welcome to the Las Vegas Office 12
6. Brighton Tech Retreat 16
7. Welcome To Ben 20
8. How Does The Way We Work Work For You? 21
9. Verve Goes To Lollapalooza 22
10. The Ant Wrangler 24
11. Pollen in Vegas 26
12. Travel: Cabo 28
13. Verve In Vogue 30
14. Lock Ins 31
15. What Else Is Happening? 32
16. High Five 34
THE COVER STAR - 08
LAS VEGAS OFFICE - 12
TECH RETREAT - 16
THE ANT WRANGLER - 24
ii Verve Magazine | Issue 12 | September 2018


THE NEWSLETTER TEAM
ANNE BEDI
GRANT BARRATT
ELINA MEIMANE
CAISIE DILKS
ALANA PEREZ
SEPTEMBER
Dear reader,
Welcome to the September issue where we have some great stories to share.
A fashionable twist to our monthly magazine
We’ve follow the Vogue tradition of making their September Issue their most special of the year, with the biggest star in our world on the cover. For Vogue Beyonce, for us Rob. We’ve also page homage to Vogue by giving the magazine a touch or too of fashion as we go - hard in a tech company where jeans and t-shirts are the go-to. However Adam Rainsford was here to save the day... check out his impeccable sense of style on page 30.
Rob’s epic win
He came, he saw, he conquered - after an epic pitch at the town hall (using the platform to talk about his beloved show The Patriot) he was victorious. Read all about it on Page 8.
We got our survey results back!
We got the results of the quarterly survey back where we scored an average of 8 for how valuable everyone found the magazine.
The feedback was fantastically helpful and were going to take it all and apply it (i.e particularly around focusing more about what different teams are doing, more about mastery... and predictably more dogs).
Making it easier to contribute
One thing that was bought up was that other people wanted to contribute and didn’t know how - so with that in mind we’re going to try and make it much easier to get involved by encouraging people to contribute but also actively reaching out. Anyone who has an idea or would like write one of our regular pieces slack @annebedi!
In the meantime, enjoy all the other stories we have to offer! Anne
Verve Magazine | Issue 12 | September 2018 1


Pursuing
purpose through
passion through
this magazine!
Chrissy ran 14 workshops with 105 respondents, generating over 100 stories of us at our best to craft our purpose statement, which she revealed at the town hall on the 28th June:
2 Verve Magazine | Issue 12 | September 2018


Purpose Through Passion
We enable everyone to pursue purpose through passion so they can live bigger lives
There’s that famous story about JFK and the Janitor that illustrates what a purpose is: the story goes that President John F. Kennedy was visiting NASA headquarters for the first time in 1961. While touring the facility, he introduced himself to a janitor who was mopping the floor and asked him what he did at NASA. The janitor answered “I’m helping put a man on the moon!”. The story is apparently a total myth - however, its still the perfect way of describing what a company purpose is and how it can get everyone aligned behind one North Star. There are other reasons too including that it creates a stronger brand and becomes a great filter for decisions - all in all, its an important thing for companies to have, particularly as they scale.
Our company purpose statement was about articulating our “why”, our reason for being - that ‘why’ already existed, its just
that it was something that we felt intuitively, rather then something we had clearly defined. That’s where Chrissy came in. She designed a bottom up process involving all of us to work out the most articulate way of describing Verve’s higher order purpose for existing.
We’ve taken some time to talk about the new purpose statement in this magazine because we wanted to really think about how we can cover stories that bring our purpose to life even more. Internally we drive our purpose through our culture which is based on the drivers of intrinsic motivation (Freedom, Ownership & Mastery). We’ve always covered stories that had a strong focus on Freedom & Ownership and the unique way that we work in the magazine, but now we’re going to also look more to how we bring mastery more to the front and centre.
Mastery is about pursuing the overlap of your passion and what you’re best at to make life more meaningful and this is how we’re going to start telling the story in next months issue:
• We’ll have an interview with Ali Hall on how she helps people pursue purpose through passion in her work as a coach.
• We’ll be looking at some of the people in the company who have changed roles to be more in-line with that overlap of what they are great at and what they love
• We’re going to cover how some of the team are using therapy to unblock themselves in their pursuit of mastery
And If you have any ideas for how we can live our purpose even more through the magazine let us know by slacking @annebedi
Verve Magazine | Issue 12 | September 2018 3


NEW STARTERS
Josh Fakhri
Senior Agent Las Vegas
Who’s the most famous person you’ve ever seen/met in real life?
I’d have to say I’ve met a lot of people throughout the years. One of the most famous would have to be Demarcus Cousins who is currently on the Golden State Warriors.
What is your favourite swear word?
FUCK is definitely my favorite cuss word.
If you had to wear one piece of clothing that you currently own for the rest of your life, what would it be and why?
My ripped jeans because I wouldn’t have to worry about them looking old and worn ever.
Morvell Singh
Inside Agent I Las Vegas
Who’s the most famous person you’ve ever seen/met in real life?
The most famous person I ever met in real life was Randall Cunningham. He used to coach my sister’s club track team. I was born in Philly and Randall is my favorite football player to exist. Unfortunately I never got his autograph but I played on the same football team in high school as his son!
What is your favourite swear word?
My favorite swear word is “Tarter Sauce!” Huge shout out to Spongebob. Some runner ups are Fish Paste and Barnacles.
If you had to wear one piece of clothing that you currently own for the rest of your life, what would it be and why?
Id wear my Carson Wentz jersey because I am a huge football fan and that’s my boy! FYI I’ll win any fantasy football league you put me in Lol!
Cierra Clark
Event Sourcing Coordinator Las Vegas
Who’s the most famous person you’ve ever seen/met in real life?
Chris Brown walked by me one time and I thought it was the greatest thing!
What is your favourite swear word?
Bitch! It just makes everything sound so much more fun :)
If you had to wear one piece of clothing that you currently own for the rest of your life, what would it be and why?
My black high waisted ripped jeans because they go with everything!
Megan Duckett
Social Media Recruitment Specialist
London
Who’s the most famous person you’ve ever seen/met in real life?
Tom Misch - my favourite artist (he’s not actually very famous but I hope he is one day).
What is your favourite swear word?
Wanker because it can never been said in an aggressive way.
If you had to wear one piece of clothing that you currently own for the rest of your life, what would it be and why?
Would definitely have to be a jumper of some sort because I love wrapping up in the winter.
4 Verve Magazine | Issue 12 | September 2018


Jennifer Petrilla
EA to CEO LA
Who’s the most famous person you’ve ever seen/met in real life?
Most famous person I’ve met: Heath Ledger, 2004 at a small nominees party at a house in the Hollywood Hills. Somehow we were the only two people standing outside on the deck taking in the view. LA at night. We chatted about how pretty it all was and other things I can’t quite recall but now wish I could.
What is your favourite swear word?
Favourite swear word: Shitballs!
If you had to wear one piece of clothing that you currently own for the rest of your life, what would it be and why?
My classic black Celine sunglasses because old people in good vintage eyewear always look young and cool.
Catherine Dorsett
Social Media Recruitment Specialist
London
Who’s the most famous person you’ve ever seen/met in real life?
The queen was driven past me down a road near my house.
What is your favourite swear word?
Fuck.
If you had to wear one piece of clothing that you currently own for the rest of your life, what would it be and why?
My dressing gown ‘cos it’s warm and comfy.
Laura Jones
Social Media Recruitment Specialist
London
Who’s the most famous person you’ve ever seen/met in real life?
Definitely Ed Sheeran, back in the day when you couldn’t go anywhere without hearing
A team!
What is your favourite swear word?
Shit.
If you had to wear one piece of clothing that you currently own for the rest of your life, what would it be and why?
My hoodie because I can sleep in it.
Merlin Harrowes
Social Media Recruitment Specialist
London
Who’s the most famous person you’ve ever seen/met in real life?
I’d say that the most famous person I’ve met is probably the Romford Pele, otherwise known as Ray Parlour. Maybe not the most notorious person, but as I’m a massive Gooner, meeting the captain of the Invincibles was a special moment for me!
What is your favourite swear word?
Mmmm I’ve always been a fan of ‘fuck’, just feels like it’s very flexible in terms of its usage.
If you had to wear one piece of clothing that you currently own for the rest of your life, what would it be and why?
Probably a 90s Moschino Mare shirt I own, set me back more than anything else I own so from a purely financial standpoint I’d wear it everyday.
Verve Magazine | Issue 12 | September 2018 5


NEW STARTERS
Tommy Bronkowski
Inside Agent I Las Vegas
Who’s the most famous person you’ve ever seen/met in real life?
I’ve had the pleasure to meet a lot of famous people over the last few years, but my favorite encounter with a celebrity was without a doubt, Steve-O. He really cares about his fans and I don’t think there is a fake bone in his body! I’ve also met Kyle, who just starred in the Netlfix original “The After Party”, and
is about to begin a world wide tour with Marc E Bassy.
What is your favourite swear word?
“Frick”. I know you meant Fuck.
If you had to wear one piece of clothing that you currently own for the rest of your life, what would it be and why?
I’d take a chance and pick anything that has a Detroit Lions 2019 super bowl champion logo on it, because we are going to win the super bowl this year!!! #OnePride
Lucy Phull
Executive Assistant (CRO) LA
Who’s the most famous person you’ve ever seen/met in real life?
The most famous people I have met were The Eagles, I interviewed them at Sundance Film Festival in London. More recently, I met the comedian Marc Maron and he helped me sneak into the back of a sold out show at The Roxy!
What is your favourite swear word?
My favorite swear words are fuck, prick, arsehole, twat and cunt on special occasions.
If you had to wear one piece of clothing that you currently own for the rest of your life, what would it be and why?
One piece of clothing I own and love is an Alexander McQueen dress, it’s awesome and looks great.
Katarzyna Horodnicza
Junior Engineer London
Who’s the most famous person you’ve ever seen/met in real life?
Once at the film festival I’ve met the actor from Shameless (one of my favourite tv shows). I kept my cool and started a random conversation with him :) He
was very nice and we joked together for some time. One lesson I’ve got from that - don’t ask a celebrity if you can take
a picture with them cause you want to send it to your friends - they might do things you would have to explain later :P
What is your favourite swear word?
Boludo. It means something worse than a “jerk” and it is only offensive in Argentinian spanish. I really like the sound of it and
I live with one Argentinean so I can use it when I really mean
it :)
If you had to wear one piece of clothing that you currently own for the rest of your life, what would it be and why?
Any of my oversized sweaters. Very comfy and warm, I wouldn’t change them for anything, especially on the cold winter days!
Stephen Burns
Community Experience Specialist I
Las Vegas
Who’s the most famous person you’ve ever seen/met in real life?
I’ve met 4/5 members of The Aquabats after a show! For the most famous I’ve seen, I once saw Carrot Top walk by while eating at Blue Ribbon Chicken Co. in Summerlin.
What is your favourite swear word?
Fuck! It’s by and far the most versatile.
If you had to wear one piece of clothing that you currently own for the rest of your life, what would it be and why?
I think I would have to say my Say Anything(the band not the movie) shirt. They’re one of my favorite groups and it’s black which is easy to plan the rest of my clothes around lol.
6 Verve Magazine | Issue 12 | September 2018


Sheila Burns
Senior Agent LA
Who’s the most famous person you’ve ever seen/met in real life?
Ooo so many good ones... Has to be between meeting Marshmello without his helmet on at Lollapalooza Paris or Dr. Dre while I was under age in an LA nightclub. He was drunk AF and had just spilled a drink all over himself. lol.
What is your favourite swear word?
I have a pretty shitty potty mouth but probably “shit show”.
If you had to wear one piece of clothing that you currently own for the rest of your life, what would it be and why?
LULU LEMONS! I wear them everywhere. They are so comfy!
Verve Magazine | Issue 12 | September 2018 7


Rob Kirberach in Calvin Klein by Appointment


THE
C O VWE R S T A R
e ran a competition to decide who should take the cover of the September Issue of this magazine. The top three
nominees pitched at the town hall and then there was a public vote in which Rob stormed to victory. Rob chose to use his town hall 3 minutes of town hall airtime to educate the company on his favourite TV show “Patriot” and created this cover photo as an homage to that same show.
A lot of blood, sweat and tears went into the various campaigns (mostly Zach’s if we’re honest) but unfortunately for the Americans by going head-to-head they split their votes down the middle and left it for the Brit to make a clear win.
VITAL STATISTICS
Name: Rob Kirberach
Title: Principal Engineer
Nationality: German
Rob in his own words: a principal engineer doing back-end things. I build electronics things in my spare time and fiddle around with 3D printers.
Hobbies: 3D printing, Electronics and ‘blinky things’


Brad Wright RCTO
ob is my go-to person for thinking through hard business problems. He’s
great with breaking things down, making them understandable, and then pushing them through a lens of our technology. What we love most about Rob though is the unique flavour he brings to everything he does – as witnessed when he exclusively pitched a show he loved to the company rather than pitching himself. He’s humble like that.
ISarah Beck
Chief of Staff for Engineering
decided at the tech retreat that we should try to get someone from engineering on the front
cover. The original target was Maciej but somehow Rob ended up winning which we can only put down to his popularity at Verve.
Rob Kirberach in Schiaparelli Haute Couture, Christian Louboutin mug and make up by Charlotte Tilbury
Rahul Patel
Frontend Engineer
ob “The Problem Solver” Kirberich, the man that’s there to solve that weird
ass issue that just doesn’t add up.
OAlex
Software Engineer
nce Rob have disabled videoonzoommeeting. The reason was that his
hairstyle wasn’t perfect enough.
Rob Kirberach in Saint Laurent and Bulgari and eating food by Chanel
Rob Kirberach in head to toe Gucci and
Ola Sitarska in custom Vera Wang, Christian Louboutin shoes, and Harry Winston sunglasses


The nominees that just missed the top three
KELLY SNODGRASS
“She reinvented what Community is, and really cares about everyone on her team! Also her face when she got smashed on the ski trip! XD Best manager I’ve ever had.”
KARIM HAUARI
“He’s absolutely lovely and one of the most charismatic, personable people I’ve ever met. Every time I see him he takes the time to smile and say hello and he goes out of his way to be nice and make people feel comfortable. I haven’t worked with him very much, but every time I talk to him he brightens my day a bit.”
VIVIENNE SUNG
“She’s an incredibly inspirational person to work and a complete powerhouse. I can even forgive the Buble.”
HARRIET CROSS
“Responding to pollen members at every hour of the day, travelling relentlessly around UK to welcome members to our areas and just generally giving everything over the summer to make Pollen UK’s first season a success.”
RYO HARADA
“Most symmetrical face in the company - born model :D”
ELINA MEIMANE
“I think she’s a really underestimated member of the company who’s proven herself in a bunch of different areas, including finance, operations and the content work she does on the newsletter and with me. She’s also someone who really lives the company values, constantly trying to find new ways to learn and taking advantage of our unique culture. It also helps that she’s so well-liked by everyone she works with!”
Verve Magazine | Issue 12 | September 2018 11
THE NOMINEES
ABOUT ROB
“He loves the limelight and he will be doing his bit to promote engineering”
“That chess game was epic”
*By the voters
ABOUT ZACH
“He’s working on a growth mindset and radical candor.”
“Zach is such a wicked dude,
I wish I could be more like him”
*By the voters
ABOUT BO
“He’s self-proclaimed bacon and
he helped build Student Experience programs since day 1. He’s OG Bacon.”
“Sexy as.”
*By the voters


The Vegas office is up and running this last year in creating a truly s to work and play. We sat down w
OFF


ICE
g, Thanks to Cathy and Liz’s hard work spectacular place for the Vegas team
with them to find out how they did it!


WHEN DID YOU START THE PROCESS OF FINDING THE OFFICE, AND WHAT WAS THAT PROCESS LIKE?
Cathy: We kicked off the process in December last year
Liz: We looked at a load of places, but this one was such a great location because it’s close to stuff, places to eat, Green Valley Ranch (an awesome hotel), places to hang out. That’s what our old office missed - it was just in the middle of nowhere!
I KNOW NEGOTIATING THE CONTRACT WAS A LONG PROCESS?
Liz: It took about 4 months in total - the landlord had originally agreed to put $100k of his own money in to the building work to help improve the overall building because we were taking such a long lease and bringing up the value of his investment. I managed to negotiate that up to $250k which enabled us to be able to create the space we wanted.
HOW DID YOU APPROACH THE DESIGN AND HOW DID YOU KEEP IT COHESIVE WITH THE LOOK AND FEEL OF THE OTHER OFFICES?
Cathy: We met some people in the Vegas team to get their wish lists and understand what they needed.
Liz: We didn’t want to just put our vision on them because they were the ones who were going to be using the office and so they were the people who we were serving!
Cathy: Spending time in the space was really important to get a feel for the light and sound and working out an initial floor plan.
Liz: Cathy and I were crawling around the floor with tape measures!
Cathy: Initially it was quite a challenge because the Vegas office was a rectangular shell with very traditional office features but it has wonderful light from the windows that create fantastic light at different times of the day in different areas which i wanted to maximise. I was desperate to pull down the whole ceiling and expose it but unfortunately that wasn’t possible, except in the canteen which made a huge difference to the whole space and created a look that directly linked to the other offices
We sourced local craftsmen and companies and used recycled materials that link to the look of the other offices: upholstered working height sofas in a couple of the booths, oversized original vintage lights in the canteen and variegated leaf plants (a current obsession!) - I felt plants so important in the Vegas office because it’s in the middle of a desert.
WHAT ARE YOU MOST PROUD OF?
Cathy: I was particularly pleased that we were pretty much an all woman team
• The construction project manager - Andrea
• Owner of electrician company - Rhonda
• Owner of the of plant company - Ilena
• Manager of the upholstery furniture King company - Ana
14 Verve Magazine | Issue 12 | September 2018


Liz: I love seeing the team share photos on their Instagram because they are proud of it and want to show it off. They bring their friends and family here because they want to show them. It makes me so proud.
WHAT EFFECT HAS THE OFFICE HAD ON THE TEAM?
Liz: It really changed the morale of the team. We had such an awful office before and nobody enjoyed working there. We also couldn’t be all together there, so there was this split between two buildings which created tension. This office got rid of all of those problems where people can be closer because we’re all together, communication is better and people are happier and more motivated - it’s been a huge success.
Verve Magazine | Issue 12 | September 2018 15


AN ORIGINAL HAIKU
In a seaside town,
A team works and bonds in glee, A short week it was!
Sophie Bergeret, Product Owner and part time poet


What happens
on a tech retreat
stays on a tech
What was the purpose of the tech retreat?
It was all about becoming a high performing team through everyone getting to know each other better and through workshopping ways of working. We’d just had 7 or 8 people join the team in the last 6 months and we’ve also now got three product lines (Verve Software, Pollen and Student experiences) so the week was about thinking how we work as one big team and within that how do we make sure that we’re building something that works for all three when we’re working, or at the very least we’re aligning on what we do so we’re not doing the same bit of work three times.
What were the workshops on?
All of them were focused on how we work, rather than any specific project work. An example would be a workshop on Tuesday morning which was
on a new performance framework we are rolling out so that everyone’s individual results could be better understood. In product and engineering you don’t work as an individual, you work as a team, so your individual performance (whether good or not) can be lost within that. We’re about to trial a framework to counter that so that we all give each other constant feedback on a monthly basis. This
is hopefully going to be able to highlight individual success as well as catch any issues so they can be dealt with straight away.
We also spent a lot of the week focused on how do we make sure that the products we’re building across all our different product lines provide a cohesive experience for the customer – we also don’t want to be doing the same piece of work
three times. So if we create a group buying feature on student experiences, for example, then we should be able to use it for Pollen too. However we also want to use the features we build across all
of verticals and make sure they look and feel the same, so we would want to put a travel package we’ve built in student experiences on Pollen for example: if it’s totally different to the way they make a sale at Pollen then it breaks that customer experience because it means that they have to relearn how to make a sale for the new vertical that can interrupt the sales flow as they become frustrated and lose interest.
What was the week outside workshops like?
We had this big lovely house in Brighton with
12 rooms. We had 2 kitchens and we did all the cooking ourselves. The house also had a dining rooms, 2 lounges and a huge garden so we could spread out which was nice and it also had a hot tub which Brad of course got in and was there till 4 in the morning – apparently he was spraying
all the Prosecco all over people and when I
came down in the morning there were bottles everywhere.
What was the feedback like?
The feedback was great, people really enjoyed it.
I think the week worked really well, the evenings were pretty chilled and we had board games which was a great way to get to know each other too. Because we work on separate teams a lot of people knew each other a bit but didn’t know each other well and this was a great way to work on that.
retreat...
... except it doesn’t. To hear about the verve swag, puzzles at dusk and the obligatory Brad in a hot tub moment we went to Chief in Staff of Engineering Sarah Beck to tell us everything...
Verve Magazine | Issue 12 | September 2018 17


The highlight of my retreat was fetching a mysterious towel off the roof the morning after a Prosecco flooded hot-tub party.
Dan Pavitt, Senior Engineer
It was as if the sun came out of the clouds and smiled at us. We kneeled and remained silent while witnessing the miracle - us talking about the platform and the future of our tech team.
Ana Balica, Staff Software Engineer
The tech team retreat was awesome!
We had a few quality discussions around how we can get better at platform thinking. Now we’re acting on the outcomes and actively thinking about this in our day to day work. So it’s not like we brainstormed some ideas and then that’s it without any follow through. Fun side it’s super useful that now I know who are great liars (probably fascists too)! ;) Also, nice surprises to see some of us actually cook really well both digitally and in real life. We definitely should do this
more often!
Zara Tam, Product Manager
The tech retreat was great! Being
all together, product, designers and developers for two full days was incredibly useful, we were able to talk about our methods, our process and how to
work together.
Barbara Chicca, Product Designer
18 Verve Magazine | Issue 12 | September 2018


Verve Magazine | Issue 12 | September 2018 19


WELCOME TO BEN
Ben Sanders will be joining the team soon as EVP of Verve Software, so we asked him more about his role.
What exactly will your role involve?
My role will be spending every day trying to continue to push Verve Software forward, and making sure it’s growing according to the strategy. This could mean obsessing about how to expand into new geographies or verticals, or how to improve more basic day-to-day functionality.
What part of your job is the most exciting?
The goal of hitting ambitious growth targets and working with large cross-functional teams to make it happen..
What were you doing before you came to Verve?
I started my career as a management consultant with
Bain & Company, and for the last three years have been the COO
at Pockit, a digital bank (similar to Monzo and Revolut) focused on the financially underserved in the UK.
What attracted you to
joining Verve?
The amazing team, the clear strategy, and the opportunity to be part of a really ambitious mission.
What are you most looking forward to at Verve?
I love building things and seeing results, so am looking forward to seeing how recommendations coming out of Squads get implemented and drive results.
What are your passions outside of work?
I’m from NYC and used to live in Spain, so love to go back to both of those places often. Gym is another big one. Love reading, specifically things about NY. My biggest passion is probably music, specifically Salsa, which I also love dancing.
20 Verve Magazine | Issue 12 | September 2018


HOW DOES THE WAY WE WORK WORK FOR YOU?
Jamere Bowers
Event Coordinator: Las Vegas
Where you work best?
Since working in the new office,
I’ve been able to work best pretty much all over the place with the exception of where I’ve placed my monitor which happens to be my desk! There is a special place in the office where I enjoy working best and that place is definitely in the nook where the bed is. I have spent long hours laid out on the bed while responding to emails, slack, and sending contracts. However,
if this place is taken by someone else in the office, you can usually find me sitting on the window
sofa jamming to some tunes and looking out the window! If I’m not working in the office, I’m usually at home in bed or on my couch on
my laptop relaxing with my pup and watching whatever is on tv! If I’m on the couch, my pup thinks it’s his opportunity to sit on my lap!
When do you work best?
There are times that I am up at
4 or 5am sending out emails
or responding to my group messages. Since most of my groups are on the East Coast, they’re usually texting/calling
me in the early mornings. I am productive more in the mornings than at night, because I am energized and have less things to think about versus the night time as I usually think about what I need
to do the next day! Working early mornings allows me to finish as early as possible and it leaves the afternoon to give much attention to my pup!
How do you work best?
I’m an energized person already especially after I have my cup of coffee, so this works well as I am focused in the morning. Once the
clock hits PM my mind starts to wander, and it’s lights out! Every morning before I start working, I have to prioritize my day so that I’m able to stay on track throughout the morning and afternoon. I need to stay organized on a daily basis because I have a ton of deadlines and I need to send out rooming lists and sign contracts. As most
of my vendors are based on the east coast and they’re 3 hours ahead. I also enjoy having a full schedule there are meetings or a lot of last-minute tasks that I need to complete rather than having 1 or 2 tasks that I always try to spread throughout the day!
Verve Magazine | Issue 12 | September 2018 21


BERLIN, GERMANY
VERVE GOES TO LOLLAPALOOZA
Elina Meimane
Business Support Manager
It was the second weekend of September when we had this
2 day incredible experience at Lollapalooza in Berlin! Mark
and Jan went there to meet
the client, Sascha - to see our
top ambassadors and us 3: Caitlin,Karim and I just to close the festival season in style! And we had a Blast!
This was the first time when Lolla was hosted at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin, and the whole scene was very inspiring. There
was so much history around
us and thinking that we are partying and having fun in such an important venue made it even more exceptional.
The line up was amazing: we
saw Dua Lipa (Karim and I are obsessed with Dua), The Weekend, Imagine Dragons, David Guetta, German rapper Casper
and many others. Thanks to Jan we had a special access to VIP area, which reminded us of our Pollen areas, but at a bigger scale, and Caitlin is now fully armed with ideas for future Pollen areas!
We also ended up at the VIP afterparty on Saturday (we lost Jan at this point as he was too tired to handle crazy fun). I thought we wouldn’t stay there too long, as we woke up at 3am the night before
and lasted the whole day, but Mr DJ was playing the top hits from each year starting from 1970s up to 2018, and we just couldn’t leave up until the end. We took a taxi back and did some sightseeing of Berlin at night!
Great music, delicious food and the best Lolla crew made this weekend one of my favourite ones in 2018!
22 Verve Magazine | Issue 12 | September 2018


“We decided to throw an afternoon meet up for our Top 15 selling ambassadors on the first day, and that turned into two days of laughs and drinks with
our amazing ambassadors and their friends. Memorable weekend with some great people that ended with a backstage tour with ambassadors who’d earned it as a reward. Shout-out to Jan and Mark for making that happen!”
- Sascha
“Had an amazing time at Lolla! Met so many great people, the weather was incredible, the atmosphere was even better. My highlight was Dua Lipa who killed her main-stage set!”
- Karim
“A great night ended with a
wild and noisy taxi ride, bringing us back to our hotels. Quickly thought about doing the tourist guide for our UK guys as we were passing German Parliament, Brandenburger Tor, Strasse des 17 Juni, ... but decided we where to drunk and funny. Instead we discussed if Jan arrived home safely and if he had sweet dreams...”
- Mark
Verve Magazine | Issue 12 | September 2018 23


In the colony, ants don’t actually eat the leaves. Instead, the leaves are used to grow a fungus that can be eaten. Certain young ants called gardeners clean and take care of whole gardens of fungus. The gardeners also work double duty as nurses. They care for the eggs, larvae, and pupae of the colony, collectively called brood. Leafcutter ant brood is found on and within tunnels of the fungal garden.
The Ant Wrangler
Garden/Nurses
The leaf cutting ant colony is going global and there will be one in every office within the year, so we went to Billy the Ant Wrangler who looks after the UK’s colony to find out more about them. The Ant Colony is made up of 7 different roles each with their own specific responsibilities...


The queen is the most important member of the leafcutter colony. She is the only one in the colony that lays eggs to make more ants. The Queen can lay up to 30,000 eggs per day, each brood takes 1 month to become a working ant. This means that all of the workers in an ant colony are sisters. The queen also lays some eggs that become new queens and males. These ants leave the nest to mate, and the new queens try to start their own colonies.
Even though the queen is very important to a colony, she does not give orders to any of the workers. The workers are born knowing how to take care of the colony and the queen. The queen’s only job is to lay eggs deep in the safety of her nest.
Foragers go out searching for leafs to bring back to the nest (they will never take the same leaf, when feeding you have to have a 7 to 14 day food cycle before going back the same leaf)
A forager’s job is to explore the area around her nest in search of tasty, non-toxic leaves. When a scouting forager finds a good patch of leaves, she returns to the colony. Then, she brings other foragers to the leaves. She does this by making trails of chemicals that other foragers can smell and follow.
If you’ve ever stood on an ant hill, you’ve seen the soldier ants of a colony. The soldiers are the colony defenders. They respond to attacks with painful bites. Most ant species have soldiers that look the same as the other workers of the colony. However, some leafcutter ants have large soldiers with extra strong jaws or extra weaponry on their heads. Soldiers sacrifice their lives to defend their queen and colony from any threat.
Watching foragers move leaves around, you may notice a few tiny ants riding on some of the bits of leaves. Are these just free-loaders, getting a relaxing tour of the forest? Not at all. Leafcutter ants have lots of enemies in the jungle that want to eat or harm them. One of their largest threats comes from a tiny parasitic fly. The flies are much too small to eat the leafcutter ants, but they like to lay eggs on the heads of ants that are busy carrying leaves. When the eggs hatch, the larvae burrow into the ant’s head, eventually killing her. The small ‘guard’ ants ride on the leaf as it is carried back to the nest to protect the forager from fly attacks.
Have you ever wondered what an ant nest looks like? Ant nests are made of many large, round chambers connected by small tunnels. All of these chambers are built by excavator ants. They are the architects and construction workers of the colony. They expand the nest as the colony grows. Large colonies can have hundreds of chambers that reach way down into the ground. Each chamber is dug out one mouthful at a time by tireless excavators.
Would you want to live in a garbage dump? Probably not. Neither do leafcutter ants, but a leafcutter colony produces a lot of garbage. Things like dead ants, bad mould, and gross leaves build up in the colony and must be removed to prevent the spread of disease. Ants can get sick just like we can. They live very close together, so a disease can spread through a colony very quickly. Leafcutter excavators build large chambers deep below the rest of the nest. Those chambers are the garbage dumps of the colony. There are special trash handling workers that transport dead and dirty items to the garbage chambers. This work is very dangerous because the trash handling ants touch lots of different bacteria and mould that could infect and kill them.
Once a worker becomes a trash handler, they avoid contact with important and sensitive fungal chambers where the fungus garden, queen, and brood live. A trash handler could accidentally infect the queen with a deadly disease, leading to the collapse of the whole colony.
s
Excavators Trash Handlers
Soldiers Guards/Minima
The Queen
Foragers


POLLEN IN VEGAS
Last weekend we took our top 3 Pollen Black Members
– who sold over 800 tickets between them – to Vegas for a long weekend of partying, check out what
we got up to...
WED 3RD OCT
HARRIET CROSS
Pollen Membership Manager
We’ve arrived! Our Top 3 Pollen Black Members Dan, Luke and Yasmin arrived with their friends at Vegas International where a white, stretched limo was waiting
for them
THUR 4TH OCT
We met for drinks in the Whiskey Down bar of the MGM Grand, then onto the Venetian for dinner and a HUGE feast at Tao. After dinner we headed next door to Tao nightclub and danced off our food babies until the early hours
of the morning.
FRI 5TH OCT
With Jet lag starting to kick in, we decided it was a good idea to chill by the pool. We then headed to the Bellagio for a free bar, taking over the best table in the house for the perfect view of the famous fountains. After a few hours there we made our way to Encore beach club for Circoloco - which the Members LOVED!
26 Verve Magazine | Issue 12 | September 2018


SAT 6TH OCT
Party Daaay! First stop Marquee Day
club, where the Members were escorted past
the long entry queue to our poolside table and welcomed by the hostesses with champagne and spirits. After finishing all the drinks and dancing away to the best tunes, we jumped in a cab to the famous ELROW
at Encore Beach Club where Solardo, Fisher and other Elrow residents already were. The Members enjoyed more drinks, dressing up as lobsters and turtles, behind the decks viewing and dancing
until sundown.
SUN 7TH OCT
What better way to cure a hangover
than to speed around a race track in supercars? We headed to Vegas Exotic Car Racing where the Members got to do just that. After that we stopped off at Fremont St for some lunch and a few games before finally heading back to the hotel for a competition of TopGolf... which I can safely say
is not my strong point.
MON 8TH OCT
Viva Las Vegas, you were a pleasure!
The members finished off their trip with how they started – a limo ride to the airport before heading back to the UK. The trip was a lifetime experience for the Members and the feedback received back from both the member and their friends was phenomenal. Next up, Amsterdam ADE with our Gold Members.
27


We wanted to find out more about all the amazing destinations that we offer to students and
this month Bo Thede told us all about one of the most popular for Spring Breakers: Cabo San Lucas.
Cabo Sa
Who
Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
What
Spring Break 2019
Where
Located in sunny Baja California Sur, Cabo is the most luxurious destination in all of Mexico
When
The party starts and doesn’t stop through the whole month of March
Why
Think of taking all of the major universities and placing them all in one city for the biggest party of the year...
on the beach!
28 Verve Magazine | Issue 12 | September 2018


an Lucas
Cabo Facts
• The most popular beach in Cabo is Medano Beach (Playa El Médano), which is where all of our beach parties happen during Spring Break
• El Arco and the Arch refer to the arch-shaped rock formation that makes up a part of the larger Land’s End rock formation, also known as El Finisterra. The Arch famously juts out into the ocean as the extreme southern tip of Baja California, and marks the spot where the Sea of Cortez meets the Pacific Ocean.
• From mid-November to the end of March, Cabo San Lucas offers fantastic opportunities for whale watching.
• Most of the people who work in the tourist industry in Cabo speak English. You will discover that it is easy to find Eng- lish-speaking tour guides, hotel managers, servers and even doctors!
• Cabo San Lucas features 8 out of the top 10 restaurants voted in ‘Best of Mexico’
Why does everyone book Cabo?
1. CULTURE / VIBE / CONVEINENCE
• You walk everywhere - no taxis
• High end destination
• Celebrities frequently visit and vacation - seen around town
2. HOTEL QUALITY
• Luxury resorts but still spring break atmosphere
3. BEACH CLUBS
• Party on the Ocean seeing amazing artists
• Able to party with other schools not at your same hotel
• VIP Bottle Service for day concerts
4. FOOD
• You order off the menu
• High end food
5. SAFETY
• US GOVT classifies Cabo as “No restrictions” - same as England, Italy and so on
• Considered the safest Mexico destination
Verve Magazine | Issue 12 | September 2018 29


Festival chino, Balenciaga £3002
VERVE’S IN
ADAM RAINSFORD | VP FINANCE There was only one person who could take Verve in Vogue for the September Issue, and that style guru was Adam Rainsford.
Salmon, Gucci £2300
Spring Green, Dior £4000
Sunshine Yellow, Hermes £1004
Casual Raspberry shot, Vetements £7000
Rockin’ the Mustard with the kids, Dolce & Gabbana £3500


blame it on the alcohol
Only one photo from the night...
LOCK-INS
SEPTEMBER 2018
“For
our lock-in, we
ventured into the depths
of Greenwich, to play some
Laser Tag. It was a cold-war themed venue which was pretty cool, and naturally, I won pretty much everything, and everyone knew about it. After a few games we had our food and drinks brought out and were informed that we weren’t allowed to re-enter the area if we chose to drink - as you can probably imagine, the numbers that continued to play after dropped. Great fun
all round!”
Jack Fossey
“We went to an Escape Room for our Lock In. It’s a game where you have to solve various puzzles and clues to complete an objective. We had so much fun!”
Enosha Jackson (Vegas)
“We had a party bus pick us
up at the office and we went on
an hilariously chaotic drive to the skating. When we got to skating half of us discovered that we couldn’t skate and immediately insisted on going back on the party bus instead so we all piled back on and had her drive around LA while we played Beyonce at full volume! Such a good time!.”
Anne Bedi (LA)
“It was a really good time. We
got basically the most extravagant party bus in Vegas basically. And I’ve always wanted to do an escape room. Really good time and team building!” Bryan Vu (Vegas)


Fashion e
WHAT ELSE IS
HAPPENING?
ELINA MEIMANE
Business Support Manager
For our special September issue our Instagram is all about FASHION!
Jan did the photoshoot for Homtastics magazine
Peteris a
Soraya in Toronto
Fashion and Tra
All family in style at Emily’s brother’s wedding
NYC - Ash and Dylan in Le
Fashion in the rain - Dan at Tokyo World festival
Jaimy, Bo and Elina went to WKND in Estonia
32 Verve Magazine | Issue 12 | September 2018


everywhere around us
Sunglasses fashion from Liam and Elsie
Fashion in the sky - go Joe!
and home fashion
avel
Fashion in the making - Hogwarts all built up by Rob K
Allie with the husband on the Italian island
Caisie in Marbella
Ashley in Amalfi
Fashion and Holidays
We would really like to share more fun photos and stories, so make sure you follow our company page: onverveco
Fashion and art - check out Sonia’s painting
Elina in Turkey
Harriet in Paris
Verve Magazine | Issue 12 | September 2018
e Bain
Georgia and her mom in Marrakech


34 Verve Magazine | Issue 12 | September 2018
HIGH F
I


THE
IVE JENNIFER PETRILLA
EA to Callum
Visiting Stahl House aka: Case Study House No. 22
If you love mid-century modern architecture, this is an LA MUST. Book a visit here: stahlhouse.com
Melrose Place farmers market
On Sunday mornings.
Not too big / Not too small.
Jennifer joined the company but 3 weeks ago but already had a kick-ass idea for a regular feature in the magazine – as a distributed company spread over many counties we could share the 5 things that were exciting us in our city. Here are hers ...
Late night screenings
At the historical Vista Cinema in Los Felize. The inside looks like
an Egyptian Tomb!
RTH Shop on La Cienega
For unique handmade leather goods and clothing. rth.com
Rooftop Bar
End of Summer drinks at the Rooftop Bar
at Mama Shelter mamashelterla.com
Verve Magazine | Issue 12 | September 2018 35


AS RECOMMENDED BY ROB