You’ve probably noticed four of our lovely staff members highlighting some of their favorite spring sandals on the homepage this week. Here they are creating some “fun and a little weirdness”, hamming it up during their photo shoot! 

We asked these Zappos ladies a couple of questions to get to know them a little better:

Describe your personal style in 3 words:

A: Urban, girly and relaxed

What is your favorite sandal currently for spring? :

A: I LOVE the “Manngo” espadrille wedge by Steve Madden!

What are your top three favorite Zappos brands? :

A:  Free People, BB Dakota and Nike

If you could have any theme song, what would it be and why? :

A: “I’m in a Hurry” by Alabama. I’m a master in multi-tasking and always on the go. 

Describe your personal style in 3 words:

S: Comfortable, colorful and striped. I love stripes!

What is your favorite sandal currently for spring? :

S: I live in the Volcom Forever Creedler  flip flops when it’s warm out.

What are your top three favorite Zappos brands? :

S:  Converse, Volcom, Purminerals

If you could have any theme song, what would it be and why? :

S: “The Imperial March” (Darth Vader’s Theme). Not because I'm evil and part machine, but because I'm determined and under the impression that I'm tall.

Describe your personal style in 3 words:

E:  boho, low-key and comfortable

What is your favorite sandal currently for spring? :

E: The Volcom New School Creedlers. I literally own four different pairs!

What are your top three favorite Zappos brands? :

E: Roxy, O’Neill and Volcom

If you could have any theme song, what would it be and why? :

E: “The Science of Selling Yourself Short” by Less Than Jake. It has such a great flow and I can listen to this song over and over again. It makes me want to take the top off of jeep and blast it while driving down the highway!

Describe your personal style in 3 words:

C: fun, effortless, comfortable

What is your favorite sandal currently for spring? :

C: I love the Steve Madden Manngo in Coral!

What are your top three favorite Zappos brands? : Joie, Jessica Simpson, BCBGMAXAZRIA

If you could have any theme song, what would it be and why? :
C: "Daylight” by Matt and Kim. I absolutely love this song because the beat is so up lifting. This song always puts me in a good mood!

Clockwise: Rocky, Fiona, Fiona with her new mom and dad: Pam and Jerry!

We had a special treat today here in the office. The Animal Foundation brought in five adorable dogs that need a forever home.  We also had a Pet Photo Contest among our employees and will share the cute and furry winners on the blog soon!

Jeanne M., Director of Casual Lifestyle for Zappos Merchandising, was recently recognized as the winner of the MOQ (Merchandiser of the Quarter) award, which goes to an individual who consistently goes above and beyond what is asked to make everyone's life a little bit easier.  We caught up with Jeanne and asked her a few questions as she basks in the afterglow of this super-cool award.

Congratulations, Jeanne!  How does it feel to be recognized by your Content peeps?

It was definitely a *very* nice surprise, but honestly feel there are 100 people far more deserving than I.  We have an amazing Content Team at Zappos overall and lots of Merchandising people on all teams work with them very closely and diligently.  (I am of course partial to the Casual Lifestyle Content Peeps – they rock!!)

What do you believe are the three most important things you can do as a buyer to work in tandem with the writers in Content?

1)      Communication

2)      Communication

3)      Communication!!

The content team is one of most important components of our brands being successful, as they truly "sell" the product for us and help WOW our customers by giving them all the info they need to make shopping decisions.  It's essential that we are looping them in on all things that concern our brands – any changes whatsoever within the brands from personnel or manufacturing/styling standpoint, as well as making sure we are inviting them to all show appts and office meetings with brand reps so they can develop strong partnerships with our brand partners as well.  Deadlines and last minute projects change for all of us, so it's key we are working together successfully by being open about communicating our needs so we can accomplish our goals together as a team and can pitch in to help from both sides. As with every dept at Zappos, it's also tremendously important that we spend time bonding together and taking the culture to the next level- I don’t look at Content as a separate team but as a very important extension and part of our own team.

Share with us the single most important piece of advice you have received and how it helps you WOW the people you work with.

Building relationships with people on all different teams and departments – not only does it help build and strengthen our culture, but we have so much to learn from each other. 

If there were a movie based on your amazing relationship with Content titled, "The Fabulous Life and Times of Jeanne," which actress would play you?

Hmm, I'd love to go with Sandra Bullock – no resemblance looks-wise sadly, but she is pretty sarcastic in many of her roles and so am I!

Since you are a fan of the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team, who is your all-time favorite Dodger?

I honestly can't narrow it down to a single player.  I would have to say it is the 1988 World Series Team. Not only due to this being the last time they won the series, but because virtually nobody gave them a chance.  Conventional wisdom was they would be swept in 4 by Oakland, they ended up taking the series in 5.  Who can forget the Kirk Gibson dramatics of game 1? (probably a lot of Zapponians actually, since many of you weren't even born back then!)

Finally, the big question!  Which do you prefer, Jeanne: Chocolate or cheese?

Cheese, of course – since it’s the perfect complement with a glass of wine.

Today’s Zapponian Spotlight is on one of our P.E.A.C.E. team members, Steven B. The P.E.A.C.E. team is responsible for organizing and facilitating all of our community involvement activities, charity partnerships and tons of internal activities within the Zappos Family.

We asked Steven (AKA “Stevie”) our standard ZS questions to get to know a little bit more about him:

Pick 3 words to describe your personal style.

S: Simple, fun, colorless

Who is your favorite musician or band?

S: Daddy Yankee

Name 3 things you never leave home without?

S: A Famous Stars & Straps item, candy (usually sugar worms!), and a funny comeback or comment ready to use at any given moment!

If you could have dinner with one famous person, who would it be?

S:    I would have dinner with Teresa Giudice from Real Housewives of New Jersey… I want to see if I can make her mad enough to flip a table!  

What’s the weirdest thing to ever happen to you?

S:  When I was little, my cousins were babysitting me and they gave me some beef jerky to snack on. I started eating it and they started laughing. They then told me they gave me dog treat jerky! Well, it tasted really good…so joke’s on them!

What’s your favorite part about working at Zappos?

S: My favorite part of working at Zappos is the team work and family-oriented people that I see every day.  There always seems to be genuine smiles on people’s faces everywhere you go around here! But most importantly, when the going gets rough, the sheer support of everyone to unify for a cause is what makes working at Zappos a truly unique and inspiring experience. 

Our wonderful ZCLT team decided to do "Wacky Weiner Wednesday" last week to thank all the other departments for coming together and helping out during the holiday season and to help answer thousands of customer emails during the security breach.

Hotdogs in the name of team spirit? Sounds good to me!

Graham K is a key component of the Zappos music world and is deticated to making the downtown scene more viable. Graham has been working for Zappos for two and a half years
and is currently the Social Commerce Product Manager. This is his 6th position in his Zappos jorney! When he is not busy at work, he is playing in the band CUPPS. To learn more about Graham and his love for music, I asked him 5 questions:

1) What are your top five albums of all time and why?

G: Pink Floyd "Dark Side of the Moon"- This is the ultimate concept album. Experimental meets rock n' roll meets space. It's everything you could want in a record.

The Flaming Lips "Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots" - The Flaming Lips not only accomplished a wide range of feelings and textures on this record, they pull ALL of it off live too.

Radiohead  "Kid A" - This record taught me that music is just as much about subtlety as it is about sound. Another great live band.

Cursive "The Ugly Organ" - Ugly Organ was one of those records that was in constant rotation in my high school to college transition. I can remember where I was during parts of this record.

Nas "Illmatic" - Seriously one of the best hip hop records of all time. No hype, all hooks.

2)What new artist(s) are you currently excited about?

G: The Black Lips, F*d Up, Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr., Los Campesinos, SBTRKT, Girls, Sleepy Sun, TV on the Radio

3)What is your favorite venue to see shows at in Las Vegas and who are your favorite local artists?

G: It WAS the Huntridge and now probably the Boulevard Pool. As for local bands, I dig Minor Suns, Hassan and Phil A, Beau and the Outfit, Dinner Music for the Gods, Kid Meets Cougar and lots more.

4)What was the last song/artist you listened to(be honest)?

G: Sleepy Sun – "Marina" (off the record FEVER).

5)How has music impacted your relationship with employees at Zappos?

G: I have met many other musicians (I'm in a band with one other Zappos employee and two previous employees), had the opportunity to do booking for Zappos events and tapped into the fun and weirdness with parodies, music videos and more during my time here.

Darren walked around Zappos HQ to ask a few folks what their New Year’s resolutions are. What’s YOUR resolution for the coming year?

Happy New Year everyone! See you in 2012!

As part of our Zappos Wishez program, one of the teams in our ZCLT department decided to grant the New Year’s Eve wish of one of their team members, Amber W.

Amber is getting married on NYE day in a simple courthouse ceremony. They wanted to celebrate the special day by watching her and her soon-to-be-hubby’s favorite band NOFX at the House of Blues. So, her team decided to spread some holiday cheer and grant Amber’s wish to make her special day even more memorable!