Since we’re deep into fall and the clocks have wound back an hour, the nights might be drawing in a little earlier across North America, but the sun never sets on Snorble®.
That’s because members of Team Snorble and our partners are located around the world on three continents and in multiple time zones. Not to mention that our truly international flavor is enhanced by some of our team having emigrated to the United States and Canada from thousands of miles away.
Let’s imagine it’s 9 a.m. at the conventional start of the workday and our CEO Mike Rizkalla has completed the school run with his kids, Max and Emily, in rural New Jersey. He’s most likely been on a series of early morning calls already and a busy day is in full swing. The Garden State is one of a handful of recent bases for the Rizkalla family, who have also called New York and Nova Scotia, Canada home since the Snorble journey began.
Talking of Canada’s second-smallest province (in size, not population), since its capital city, Halifax, is on Atlantic Standard Time (AST), it would be 10am there as Mike kicks off his day, so several Team Snorble members in Nova Scotia will be hard at work already.
COO Howard H.Thaw is based in “New Scotland,” along with Executive Producer M-A Kuttner, Animation Director Dan Luke, and a team of animators.
Originally from Ontario, Howard is our very own international man of mystery! He has studied and worked in Sweden (where he met his Norwegian wife) and across Europe. His family members have been touched by rich cultures and experiences from around the world, so in the Thaw household, you might hear English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Swedish, Norwegian, or Hebrew being spoken at some point.
Dan is a long way from home, which is Clifton Springs in rural Victoria, Australia. Dan studied animation two-and-a-half hours away by public transport in Melbourne, took a chance on applying to work on a kids’ TV show in Nova Scotia, and was pleasantly surprised when he was hired for the job. He had one month in which to pack up all he owned and travel to the other side of the world, and, in January 2022, he will celebrate ten years as a Canadian resident.
Another import from a different continent is Head of Public Relations Michael Preston. These days based in Providence, Rhode Island, after many years of living in Massachusetts, Michael grew up in Birmingham, England, and later in London before heading stateside in 2002. His work in communications has taken him to Australia, China, Japan, Tanzania, and more European cities than he can remember.
Continuing down the east coast, we have Tech Lead Thomas Chan, Web Developer Pia Malika, and Head of Experience Patrick Wesonga representing Team Snorble in New York City. Traveling further down to sunny Florida, Executive Creative Director Brian Collins works his magic from Orlando.
It might be fair to assume that our California-based Engineering and Manufacturing Lead Steve Hecker is still enjoying the hours of slumber while the east-coasters are engaged in the early workday, but that usually isn’t the case. Steve is firing on all cylinders from his Los Angeles base at an earlier hour than most would care to be awake, beginning with our weekly staff call at 5.30 a.m. his time on a Monday morning.
Around the World and Around the Clock
Social media and customer service requires attention 24 hours a day, seven days a week, so Team Snorble is spread across the globe to ensure our response time is second to none.
Along with the aforementioned Michael Preston handling customer support, our Social Media Consultant, Aurora Hyseni, recently relocated from Kosovo to Portugal, so we can boast a European presence, while Community Manager Ryan Patey is based in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
Before the pandemic struck though, Ryan was much more nomadic. When he first started with Snorble, he was hopping between Thailand, Malaysia, and Vietnam after travelling through Europe. Originally from Newfoundland, Canada, the same as Snorble’s CEO, Mike Rizkalla, both speak fondly of ‘The Rock’ from which they were chiseled.
So, those are the locations and origins of the majority of Team Snorble members, and when it comes to our experts and partners, we can add in even more American cities and numerous nations where our team is located around the world: Atlanta, GA; Boston, MA; Denver, CO; Las Vegas, NV; Santa Clara and San Francisco, CA, and France, Spain, and Sweden.
As we said, the sun never sets on Snorble.
