A while back, Tara B and I did some brainstorming, pinpointed some areas within the Content Team that could benefit from some special attention and created the Specialist Program. Hey, Embrace and Drive Change, right? Today, we had a little ceremony for our first ever Content Team Specialists and handed out icons that represent these new positions.



Holding the big red pencils are our Editing Specialists. Hannah E., Heather T. and Jennifer B. are responsible for reviewing all of the product descriptions and ‘about texts’ throughout the week. They send each team a report detailing the mistakes they’ve found and will be also be conducting a workshop this week, which I am excited to attend as I’ve been known to misspell a word or two wrong from time to time (wink, wink)!

Nick P., the guy with the beard holding his very own EDI gnome, is not only the Category Manager for the Kids team, but he is also our EDI Specialist. He does a great job helping out the rest of the team with document testing and troubleshooting issues that arise along the way. Trust me when I say that this is no easy task!

Jannel Veal has got our whole world in her hands as our Wiki Specialist. She has updated our Content Team page by making it totally organized, not to mention aesthetically pleasing. There are even team photos. Check out how much we’ve grown. Each team within Content has its own page with category specific information that is really informative and
useful!

Down in front with the red boxing gloves is Dana., our Training Specialist. She organized a page on our Wiki with extensive training information for new hires and pros alike. She will also be helping the management team create some standardized tests for our progression plan.

Look closely and you will see that Kenny Lucas has in his possession a framed picture of the infamous Tila Tequila. No, we did not create a So Bad it’s Good Reality TV Specialist, but we do have our very own TEQUILA/MTPA Specialist. These are the two different tools that our Detailers use to create products in our system. Kenny has done a great job creating a ‘how to’ guide on the Wiki and keeps the team updated on changes.

Hiding behind Kenny is our very own SAP Specialist, Shanda F., with a bottle of maple sap. Shanda also put together a Wiki page with a ‘how to’ section for SAP. She also communicates with Accounting regarding the new supplier set up process. She is our go-to girl for the SAP system.

And then there is Jonathan H. our Librarian Specialist! Jonathan reads at least one book a week from the Zappos Library and summarizes it for the rest of the team in his weekly email, Letters from the Librarian. In these emails, he includes fun facts about our product types and a short bio on a featured designer. Lastly, Jonathan put together a ‘Creative Content’ class for the team that inspires individuals to (in his own words) “spice up their style.”

As you can see, we have a lot of really talented people who Deliver WOW Through Service daily. Stay tuned…more Content Team Specialists are on the way!

Ok, well at least to the Las Vegas Neon Sign Boneyard!



On the Content Team, each individual Coordinator is often writing hundreds of product descriptions on a weekly basis. At some point in the daily description writing process, the brain turns on auto-pilot and even the strongest spellers and punctuation artists (Ya, I said it) have blunders from time to time. That being said, I decided to challenge my Fashion Content Team (Detailers too, as they enter all of the data into our system) with an error free week. The reward? An outing to the Las Vegas Sign Boneyard for a tour of some iconic landmarks.

Tension was high the week of the error free challenge! We (myself included) were all checking and re-checking our product descriptions...knowing that our trusty team editor, Jen Brohl, was combing through our fresh content on a daily basis looking for simple typos, punctuation mis-haps (comma rules aren't easy people!) and poor grammar--my absolute pet peeve! And we did it, proving to the world, or at least our world, that perfection is totally possible. I am so proud!

The boneyard was fantastic, despite the horrid July heat and not-so-typical humidity, and we had a great time taking advantage of the photo opportunities. We also learned a bit about Las Vegas history. For instance, Howard Hughes, who spent his last days as a hermit in a nearby hotel room, purchased the 'silver slipper' sign because its flashing lights were driving him crazy!

I encourage everyone, locals and tourists alike, to check out the boneyard, although you might want to wait for fall! The Content Team will be holding similar contests on a quarterly basis. Coordinators and Detailers, start brushing up on your skills now! (Jen, how did I do?)