Category: About Us

Let’s get to know one of WPP’s veterans, James!

Interview Questions:

1. If you were truly stuck on an elevator what are 3 things you would do or say?– First, faulty elevators are a serious thing… no joke. This happened to one of my favorite musicians who fell to his death trying to escape an elevator….please view the following

http://pitchfork.com/news/37054-rip-jerry-fuchs-drummer-for-juan-maclean-maserati-turing-machine

So I wouldn’t recommend anyone jump or do anything too risky to escape unless truly a matter of last resort, like if the building catches fire or something. – First thing I’d say is stay calm. Locate the call box to try and get help. – If that fails, and no one is coming, then attempt to pry the doors open, and see if any escape is possible. The absolute last resort would be to look for any exit out of the top, like a service door or something. But this all sounds really dangerous.

1. What are some of your weird quirks? It’s not a necessity, but I prefer all of the light switches to be in the same direction. I don’t like to get my feet wet, unless I am swimming. Nothing worse than wet socks or canvas shoes. Like LEGO Batman™, “‪I only work in black. And sometimes very, very dark grey.” ‬Just kidding, but as you may have noticed, I wear a lot of black and don’t like a lot of colors, especially bright colors (with few exceptions – mostly Sundays, where I can be seen wearing blue or navy).

1. What’s your favorite thing about being a dad? …name some things you love…I have two daughters. They’re the absolute joy of my life. I never imagined being a parent and didn’t expect to have kids. So when my first one came along, she changed everything. And two was just double the blessings. When they were little, they’d want to me to carry them all of the time, at the same time. Now that they’re bigger, I sometimes miss that. One of my favorite things is I love watching their individual personalities and interests develop. My goal is to be supportive even if it’s not something I would really want to be involved in. One example is Cheerleading. I don’t enjoy sports, but because my daughters wanted to cheer, I found myself on Saturday’s attending youth football games. (Soon his girls are going to ask him to workout and this will be James coming into work afterwards hahahaha)

1. Name 3 tips for new parents … that you learned the hard way? This one is essential for new parents… and I wish I’d known about it earlier. You know the little envelope tabs sewn onto the shoulders of onesies? They seem to serve no purpose, and most parents have always assumed they’re there to make it easier to get a onesie over a baby’s head… but they’re actually there for when the baby has a diaper blow out so you pull the onesie down over the baby’s legs and avoid a bigger mess. “What?” You’re saying. “Such a genius concept.” I know. Why don’t onesies come with instruction manuals so we could have saved ourselves so much time trying not to wake a sweaty, sleeping baby who had spit up all over everything? Another essential one is rest when the baby rests. You’re inclination is to try and get stuff done while the baby sleeps, and they do sleep a lot. But baby’s need so much of your focus that you can end up easily sleep deprived. So rest when you can. This is essential when you have a toddler and a baby, and another learned the hard way. ALWAYS GET THE IMMOBILE CHILD OUT OF THE CAR FIRST. There’s nothing worse than being in a parking lot trying to unhook the car seat from the base with one hand while the other holds onto a squirming toddler. (I too, learned the first two tips the hard way….but, in trying for baby #2…you can count your bottom dollar that I will get the immobile child out first when the time comes…hahahah!! Love it.)
2. What was your favorite book growing up? My favorite book is Franz Kafka’s “The Trial.” I first read it when I was 14 and have read it many times since then. The story is about a man accused of an unnamed offense and his futile struggle against an unknowable court. He’s eventually found guilty and executed for the unknown crime. Essentially it’s a novel dealing with existential guilt and punishment who’s theme can be summarized as “We are all guilty.” (Wow…I guess all of his books are depressing lol…James try reading “Metamorphosis”..It’s pretty good…..I mean, in a Debbie Downer kind of way haha.)
3. Have you ever re-gifted something? If so, what was it and who did you give it to? I don’t think re-gifting is a crime. Sometimes you get a gift that just doesn’t fit you, but you know someone else who might really enjoy whatever it is. Last year at the Christmas party, I got one of the blankets that were so popular. I didn’t have a need for it and the one I got was rather nice. SO, I gave it to my mom as part of her gift and she loved it. (I like how you know what James’ answer is going to be, when he starts off with “I don’t think re-gifting is a crime,” haha…like he’s going to state penitentiary. Easy killer, it’s just a question. No one is going to the slammer today. Also to be noted, I don’t want to draw James’ name for Dirty Santa…I might as well just wrap the gift up and give it to his mother LMBO. haha. I kid, I kid.)
4. If you could be any flavor of ice cream, what ice cream flavor would you be and why? My favorite ice cream flavor is coffee. But that doesn’t seem to fit in this scenario. So… If I had to be a flavor of ice cream it’d be Superman … a multi-flavor concoction that can conquer all … even the flavor of life (aka “Rocky Road”). (My gosh James…as if 8 cups of coffee by 11 a.m. isn’t enough….you want coffee flavored ice cream too? That’s it. I’m signing you up for Espresso-nymous. You need help sir. A whole latte’ of it.) 🙂

Written & Interviewed by Cierra, Marketing/Analytics