Introduce Yourself! 👋

[simon]

This is the official introductions thread. Your first point of call after signing up to say hi and let us know who you are!

I’ll start!

My name is Simon, and I’m the Community Manager here at Sphere

I joined Sphere in May 2020 after spending 3.5 years at the fintech company Monzo. During my time at Monzo I got to do many amazing things, like looking after the community forum, setting up the Las Vegas office (which sadly closed during the pandemic), and hosting/running events both at the London HQ and all over the UK.

I’m a long-time vegan (11 years and counting), a YouTuber and musician, and I love talking about my favorite artists including Prince and Michael Jackson.

I’m excited to be building the next generation of group chat - ultimately, we’re trying to make something powerful, fun and vibrant with a focus on community and making the world a better place!

[Alec]

Hello all

I’m Alec and I’m a product manager at Sphere! Have been with the company since 2016, but only in the product team for the last year or so.

Probably the most important thing to know about me is that I have a fairly addictive personality - cigarettes, dinosaurs, tiramisu, books (hoarding them more than reading them…) are my primary vices. If I like a writer, I find everything they ever did. If i like a song, I listen to it 500 times

I’m mostly looking forward to all the intense discussions, ideas, and debates that will be had here, hearing what you all have to say, and making this thing fly

[RossA]

Hi All - I’m Andrew. I’m a headteacher at a primary school currently navigating myself, staff, pupils and parents through the Corona-coaster pandemic.

In my spare time I like cycling, bike-packing, camping and spending time with my wonderful family. I currently volunteer for Cheshire Search and Rescue and Samaritans as well as being a Responder with GoodSAM.

[kimmurd]

Hey everyone (which has also somehow become our signature YouTube greeting)

My name is Kim, I used to work for Monzo and I’m now at a cool new company which is focussed around making it easier for you to move home and get all your utilities sorted

I love clothes, styling outfits and finding cool vintage thrift store items so you could say I have too many clothes for the space I live in, haha

In my spare time I make YouTube videos, I also make music and I can spend hours and hours talking about my favourite artists.

I prefer playing vinyl over any streaming platform and I’m a huge fan of Prince and Michael Jackson. Selena Quintanilla is also one of my biggest inspirations in life

More recently I bought an Oculus Quest 2 headset so I’m learning about the wonders of the alternate world that’s virtual reality… it’s been quite the journey already with much more to come.

Can’t wait to get to know everyone better on here!

[jeremy]

Hey everyone, I’m Jeremy. I’m 37, live with my parents, and am addicted to the gym and self-development

If either of those last two things are in jeopardy at any point, you’ll probably see me not at my best in how I interact with others

I was the second employee at Sphere and have been here for four and a half years - the longest (and best) job I’ve ever had! Previously, I ran a bitcoin website called CoinDesk, worked as a relationship coach, and studied psychology.

I tend to talk a lot (sometimes too much) about the things I’m passionate about, so you may see some late-night thought streams from me on here I really hope to talk with as many of you as possible here for years to come

[jeremy]

I love clothes, styling outfits and finding cool vintage thrift store items so you could say I have too many clothes for the space I live in, haha

Do you ever declutter? I’ve gone on a massive decluttering mission since moving back home (my mum has some hoarding tendencies, which I find challenging, being a bit of a minimalist) and am really enjoying freeing myself of as much stuff as possible!

[patrice58]

I’m Leon, I’ve been on the Monzo forums for quite a few years so I manged to blag a invite off @simon for the Sphere Community so here I am.

I’m my spare time I am a product expert for YouTube Music and well as being a leader on the Curve Community. So yeah I am quite busy but I’m always available if someone wants to have a chat.

[MrMoir2112]

Hey everyone!

I’m Matt and I’m a Primary school sports teacher by trade although currently working in a more classroom based role primarily as a TA but also as emergency cover support when teachers are off sick.

In my spare time, I am a football coach at a local thriving community club. I coach 3 teams in total all at a wide range of ages right down to 6 year olds up to my adults team which is an open age group from 16 years and above.
In my spare time (if I get any ) I enjoy going for a beer or 2 or 6 down the pub socialising with friends or you can often find me out and about on a long run in the countryside!

I’m super stoked to be apart of this community and I’ll look forward to connecting with many of you in the near future

[kimmurd]

Haha! I’m kind of “in the middle” when it comes to decluttering

It’s also quite the process for me, so rather than feeling a little more free, I always fear I’ve thrown something out that was actually important.

Usually once every so many years (or when I’m forced to sort things out, when we were moving for example) I’ll throw out a bunch of older clothes from the previous years.

I’ve had to really learn to not really put any emotional value into materialistic things, but then I do have some items which I’ll never throw away as I’ve taken them with me on certain important trips etc

That’s just clothing though, I also own quite a few CDs and some vinyl – that’s the kinda stuff you never get rid of as they’re all collectors items and very much cherished!

[Chris]

Hi, I’m Chris and I tend to post more gifs than is normal. Love a good film reference too.

[jtaylor69]

Hi I’m Jordan

I’m a Web Developer/Technical Salesperson by day and curry connoisseur by night.

I’m currently an Acting Chairperson for my local village that is managed by Bournville Village Trust. We have a strong group of committee members all passionate about building community.

I’ve probably got about 6 of my 9 lives left. Had a few life saving operations at birth and most recently battled with testicular cancer. Fortunately stage 1 and so I’m on surveillance/monitoring until 2023 - so far so good though!

Cheers!

[Lily]

Heyyyy nice to meet everyone/see some familiar faces on here!

I’m Lily and I’m a product marketing manager at Sphere. I love love love working at Sphere, the people are phenomenal and I’m really missing everyone during COVID - am fully ready for some late night karaoke together!

In a nutshell, I really enjoy having a laugh and so any time someone wants to send me a meme or funny video, please do. Plus, I’m always up for a discussion around pretty much anything, from films to existential chats to riddles. I also love cats - who else is a cat person? (before a fight breaks out, I still love dogs but cats are my spirit animals).

Anyway, really looking forward to cracking this sphere egg with all of you. It’s going to be an epic place for communities to thrive and it’s so awesome to have you all here - it’s not something we could do alone

[Kolok]

Hey all, I go by Kolok,

Some of you may know me from the Monzo or Zevvle forum.

I work in IT , otherwise there’s not much more to know.

[jeremy]

Really glad to have so many Monzo people here Speaks highly to the impact @simon on its community and reminds me how lucky we are to have him as a part of the Sphere team now!

This article that came out in TechCrunch about him joining us earlier in the year was also very cool!

[RossA]

Great shirt on that photo @simon! I’m not being sarcastic either!

[jeremy]

You should see his Luke Skywalker (and quite revealing) robe top. Feel like I am in the presence of greatness when I see him on a Zoom call in that

[georgina]

Hi everyone!

I’m Georgina and I work in the quality team at Sphere. I’ve been at Sphere since 2016 in various roles, and moved to quality a couple of months ago - it’s a big learning curve!

Outside work, I love sailing, and in a normal year find myself somewhere near the sea most weekends during the summer. I love the opportunity sailing provides to completely switch focus to the boat and the rest of the crew, and even if I’ve hardly slept usually come back from a weekend racing feeling refreshed (mentally if not physically!)

When I’m not sailing I spend a lot of time reading (or even better I do both simultaneously), so I’d love to chat books and hear any recommendations you have. I’m currently enjoying Fall of Giants by Ken Follett, although I’ve just discovered it’s the first of three ~1000 page books, an undertaking I hadn’t realised I was getting myself in for!

I’m looking forward to getting to know everyone here and figuring out Sphere with all of you

[ColinRobinson]

Hello everyone!

Well, prompted by @jeremy, here I am.

I’m 65 3/4 and have done a little or a lot with my life so far, depends on how you see it. I also followed @simon here from the Monzo forum just to keep up with things. Joined Mondo in the early days when you had to go down to London to get your card.

My start in tech came about in 1979/80 when I got bored of my job and ended up on a government course covering 3 programming languages (COBOL, Assembler, & RPGII) and basic data processing. I managed to get my first job at Findus based in their office in Cleethorpes where I wrote my first program - it had something to do with the pea season but it’s so long ago that it’s lost in the mists of time. Ended up being made redundant (story of my life) and next found myself in Swindon where I bought my first house. More jobs, more redundancies, then on to Norwich. Worked for Norwich Union in their document composition team (my eye for detail & language coming in useful) until yes, you’ve guessed it, redundancy a couple of years ago.

Luckily I managed to pay the remaining mortgage off so I’ve been living off my savings waiting for my pensions to kick in. Used to get out & about quite a lot until COVID appeared - first time round I lasted 130 days without leaving the apartment except for exercise (walking round the fields nearby).

Im the eldest of seven children (six still living) and we’re scattered all across England. Guess living in such close proximity and having to look after the younger ones is what has made me want to be alone for most of my life. I have had 2x7 years relationships so not completely on my own but for now I’m happy in my own company. However, just recently I’ve been thinking about selling up and moving again - somewhere cheaper where I can get a bigger place and live with one of my sisters. Looking at South Wales and it’s surprising what I can afford over there.

Main interest - music (BBC Radio 6 keeps me young-ish), coffee (Pact subscriber), and anything Apple related. Got one of the first iMacs when they came out because I’d learnt all I could about Windows and haven’t looked back. Bought my first iPhone 13 years ago? Can’t wait to see what happens with their M1 line.

Anyway, coffees brewed so that’s enough (too much?) from me for now.

See you around!
Colin R.

[ColinRobinson]

Ps Any a Warcraft players in here? I’ve got one of each class on Darkmoon Faire running through Shadowlands just to see the story from all angles

[jeremy]

What a phenomenal intro, Colin! You’ve set a high bar there

Thank you for sharing so much about your life. All fascinating and you’re inspiring me to share more detail next time I do a personal intro too I think that’s what nice about this thread, vs the quick intros we do at our live events (where we don’t have as much time to get into this kind of detail).

Guess living in such close proximity and having to look after the younger ones is what has made me want to be alone for most of my life. I have had 2x7 years relationships so not completely on my own but for now I’m happy in my own company.

Something about this really resonates with me. I’m an introvert by nature, but learned to be social and have leveraged that a lot in my work and personal life (eg spending lots of time with customers, at events and in relationships). I do often find that the epitome of peace and serenity for me is my own company though, broken up with bursts of being social.

Look forward to getting to know you better, Colin! I’d love to know more about your impressions of our little community so far and how you’d like to see it develop (whether that’s in this thread or at any of our future events).

We’ll be talking more about community values in January too, so defo hope to have you involved for that