AIAIO: Our Blog

During the month of November everyone awaits their Thanksgiving tradition. Whether it’s Turkey mid-day or takeout at dinner time, it is a time to be with loved ones, reflect and give thanks. This month we also decided to give back.  And Ai showed up. BIG.

Although usually camera shy, I gladly posed in front of what seems like a delivery for a mid-sized NYC bodega. However it is 564 food items donated by Ai-ers during our Thanksgiving food drive benefitting Urban Pathways (UP). With me are Jennifer Leao, committed staff member of UP, and Ora Timbers, a formerly homeless New Yorker who lived at Ivan Shapiro House – one of the residences Urban Pathways supports. Ora is now in her own apartment in the UP scatter site program with a permanent part time job in UP’s development department. Food drives free up budget dollars, allow for increased critical services and help Urban Pathways have more success stories like Ora’s.

The Ai food drive was scheduled to run from November 8^th to 28^th.  As our 1^st food drive, I was prepared to accept 150 cans as a success. It was a satisfying surprise that we more than tripled our goal.

We got off to a very slow start with no can contributions the first days. Once the race got going, the Front-End Engineers took an early lead.

The last week the competition got tough.

On November 22^nd, the Management Team + IT pulled ahead. They continued with a solid pace, courtesy of a genius strategy (i.e. boxes of food delivered from Amazon). At the last moment, the Front-End engineers won back their victory as half of the team trekked to a nearby grocery store returning with over a 100 cans in one trip.

The winning Front-End Engineers are below in all of their glory. Congratulations to them on a big win and to everyone who participated for having a positive impact on the lives of homeless this winter. We tip our proverbial hat to you!

As I prepare for an upcoming charity weekend, I thought it an apt time to reflect on and share some of the remarkable events we’ve been involved with recently.

In May, Chief Experience Officer and cofounder Josh Levine, his wife Paulina, and 20 fellow ai’ers strutted the streets of New York City with March of Dimes’ March for Babies. Team Levine raised over $40,000 this year, bringing its all-time total to an inspiring $125,000 towards preventing premature births and finding solutions to the problems that threaten our babies. It was a memorable experience for those who were able to join on walk day, and we are already looking forward to next year’s event.

Jess Levy, Senior Project Manager, had a busy summer with a mud run raising money for the National MS Society and Fight Gone Bad, a charity workout benefitting the U.S. Armed Forces Special Operations community. She also participated in Long Island’s Ovarian Cancer Walk.

As a committee chair of the Young Professionals Board of Urban Pathways, I assist homeless New Yorkers increase their likelihood of living independently. I co-hosted a breakfast at Ivan Shapiro House, a residence for formerly homeless, mentally ill New Yorkers, to kick off our series of social events and am back at it this week with a card game night (I’ve been honing my strategy at War).

But this month, whether you’re shopping, watching football or just walking down the street, you’re bound to notice a little more pink around town. October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month (NBCAM).

Every three minutes a new case of invasive breast cancer is diagnosed. Although survival rates are on the rise, every 13 minutes a life is taken by this terrible disease.

Throughout this month, Ai is doing its part to help decrease those figures.

This weekend I will be staffing the two-day, 39.3-mile Avon Walk for Breast Cancer as thousands of dedicated walkers trek from Pier 84 to Randall’s Island and back again.  The money raised provides access to care and funds research leading to a cure for breast cancer.

Later in the month, Jess will also join the cause at Barbells for Boobs benefiting Mammograms in Action (MIA). MIA is a non-profit organization that provides screening and early detection tools for low-income and uninsured women and men.

Whether raising funds, awareness, or simply remembering the importance of self and annual exams, Ai invites you to join us in the fight against breast cancer. For more information check out the NCBAM’s website or the American Cancer Society.

Tuesday night marked the reemergence of the Ai trivia team, newly named “First Order of Business.”

Competing against 25 other teams, First Order of Business stayed in the running for an outright win all night. After putting up four solid rounds, including a perfect 10/10 round three, the Ai crew was only 4 point (answers) out of the lead.

Sadly the last round proved perplexing for our persistent pixel pushers. With only two correct answers, First Order of Business toppled down the leader board. The bonus question gave the team a chance to make the podium, but the team’s last ditch effort came up incorrect.

Ai finished 11th, in the top half of the pack, but five points behind their one-on-one opponents,”Cliff Clavin’s Mailbag,” who finished fifth.

For a sampling of last night’s action check out the questions below (the Ai team got all five correct).

Name the following US Presidents by their middle names:

1. Simpson

2. Gamaliel

3. David

4. Earl

5. Wilson

Answers Here

Congratulations to ”Cliff Clavin’s Mailbag” and the rest of Tuesday’s winners (and to anyone who knew who Gamaliel was).

Ai President Alex Schmelkin is featured in a recent Folio article on the importance of optimizing e-commerce sites for tablet interfaces.  Alex is quoted heavily as the article highlights some of his top strategies to keep in mind when designing for “t-commerce.”

Some of the solutions he discusses include working with “the fold,” responsive layouts, minimizing hover states, and insights into future success through t-commerce.   The full story can be found here.

For more on Alex’s strategies on t-commerce, check out the article he wrote for E-Commerce Times entitled “Make Way for T-Commerce.”

Last week was our NYC Social Sports Club Kickball finale. While the overall season results were a bit disappointing (see re: Winning Run Goes Through Basketball Hoop 40ft Away from Kicker), we did finish out the season with a bang, bringing home a win in our very last game. Everyone who showed up played spectacularly. For a star-by-star breakdown, check out the details after the break.

Enjoy the holiday weekend.

Here at Ai, we’re always down for a little competitive spirit. Our newest competitive release comes via NYC Social Sports Club’s Wednesday night kickball league. We’ve signed up to humble the competition under the moniker “Browser-Compatible Ball Busters”.

Our campaign for kickball world domination came out of the gates a bit inauspiciously last Wednesday though with a 17-6 drubbing at the hands of perennial powerhouse “All-Pro Un-Pro”.

The game was not without its highlights though.  Offensively the team was intimidatingly strong at the top of the order with the first three kickers going a total of 6 for 7 on the day.  Geoff “The Panther” Fellows started the game with a home run to deep center and ended up going 2 for 3  with 2 runs for the game.  Jess “The Paleo Pulverizer” Levy went a perfect 2-2 from the dish and drove in one run.  At third in the order, John Childers (hey, that’s me) launched 2 home runs in his 2 at bats, kicking in a total of 4 runs.  Also netting hits were Marcie Quintana and Abbey Laufenberg.

The team struggled to get its bearings a bit defensively, but there were some impressive catches made by our outfielders.

Photos of the match can be found on our Flickr feed.

The team is looking for an inaugural win this Wednesday night in its 7:45 match at the field on Delancey and Attorney streets on the Lower East Side.  Come on down and watch us mourn the end of the shuttle program by sending some (newly-)Unidentifiable Rubber Objects into lower earth orbit.

June 8th means bring your kids to work day.  They surveyed a few of us and the results are in…

In what state were you born?

In what country were you born?

We’ve certainly expanded our global footprint since the last survey.

When asked to write a blog post reflecting my first month as an employee at  Ai, my first thought was how difficult it’d be to package all of my great experiences into one single blog post.  It’s a good thing I’m always game for a challenge, so I was honored to step up to the plate!

Three things that come to mind when I reflect upon my inaugural month at Ai are:  1. The quirky company culture, 2. The great experiences and 3. The incredible work ethic among my colleagues.

The company culture at Ai is as smart as it is fun.  The office is a bright open space with randomly dispersed trinkets that tend to spark up unexpected conversation – some of my favorites include an assortment of bobble heads, an infographic on the trustworthiness of beards, and the leg lamp from A Christmas Story.

One of our conference rooms doubles as a grown-up playpen, aptly named “All Good Things”, and is home to the foosball table and funny pictures of every employee.  Every Friday I look forward to our end-of-week happy hour, “Hamster Time” (still haven’t figured out that name yet) and I’m excited about the soon-to-be-dominant Ai kickball team.  I really love how Ai makes it a priority to remind employees to have fun and enjoy work.

Another aspect I’ve loved about Ai is the incredible amount of experience to which I’ve already been exposed.  My very first day of work was a whirlwind that ended with a lovely dinner with the internal team my new client who was swinging through town.   By my third week, I was already on a southbound flight to experience our client’s mind-blowing headquarters.  This allowed me to better understand their product, establish valuable relationships, and meet face-to-face to collaborate on with issues that I wouldn’t have otherwise been able to contribute on.

I have to say though that my favorite thing about Ai is having the pleasure of working with such great people on a daily basis. Everyone here is at the top of their game talent-wise. It’s great to work with people who have such a strong work ethic and know how to make the best decisions for clients, but who also remember not to take themselves too seriously.  Working with such exceptional and diligent colleagues makes the job so fulfilling, and it has truly been a blast working in such a fun environment.

My first month has been packed with so many great experiences and I am definitely looking forward to many more fun experiences with the Ai team.  Now can someone please just explain to me why it’s called “Hamster Time”? There aren’t even any hamsters!