NobleCanni Series: (3) “Team of Old Friends”

     At the office, we’re all like old friends. None of us (but Kim and Duy) knew each other before working here at NobleCanni, but somehow, every day feels like a reunion. And that may sound cheesy–yeah, it definitely does–but I find most cheesy things are true (this one included). You’d think there’d be an outcast, or different childish “crowds,” or even some dislike in the group, but there’s none of it. We all like each other- honest! It’s amazing, really.

     We have eight different departments, namely HR, PR, Business, Graphic Design, Video, Writing, Development, and Research, with a total (so far) of 23 people. Our HR Team is led by George Monahan; PR, by Taylor Hunter; Business, by Yasser Mohmand; Graphic Design, Pam Beltowski; Video/Photo, Jeff Dupuy; Writing, Emma Knox; Development, Alex Nicholas; Research, Malek Zubieta-Friedman; and the whole enchilada, by Ali Toghral (our CEO) and Ahmed Izzy Ismail (our COO).

     NobleCanni has every kind of person you’d meet. We have athletes, musicians, gamers, travellers, sailors, surfers; we have blondes, brunettes, magenta- and red-heads (hey, Rebecca and Emily); we have arts majors, science majors, criminal justice, political science, IT; we have people who pronounce GIF with a soft “g” and people who pronounce it with a hard “g” (I’m one of the latter). Go to our “About Team” page if you want to learn more about what makes each of us interesting and different… Our GIFs, I think, especially show us off.

     In the office, we’re roughly 85% work and 15% play. We all work our asses off (and love doing so), but we laugh our asses off too. People bring in food, always something unhealthy and delicious, and we play music, sing along and dance along, make jokes, tease each other, chat between minutes, keep it fun. It helps that most of us drink sugary coffee or hot chocolate throughout the day. Or eat the snack cakes Ali and Ahmed place around the kitchen. We’re never bored here, and we love it. After all, all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

     When we come in at the start of the day, everyone says “hey” or “good morning;” when we head out, everyone says, “bye” or “see you tomorrow.” By which I mean: everyone gives a shit. Everyone cares about everyone. If you’re not feeling well, you’ll likely get a message from one or more of us. And it’s nice, especially now, to know people care about you. Which we do.

     In case you don’t want to check the “About Team” page, here’s a quick run-down of who we have right now:

• Founders: Ali and Ahmed
• HR: George M. and Emily
• PR: George H., Taylor, and Natalia
• Business: Yasser, Kim, Teresa, and Jake
• Graphic Design: Pam, Alexis, and Meaghan
• Video: Jeff, Josh, and Aswathi
• Writing: Emma (me)
• Development: Alex, Orgil, Duy, and Rebecca
• Research: Malek, Bailey, and Mahmood

     And all 23 (25, really) of us are like old friends.