With the current relocation of SEGA of America’s HQ, we have in the past few days said goodbye to many long-standing employees of SoA, including Kellie Parker and Julian Mehlfeld from the Community Team.
One of the most vivid memories I have in dealing with the SEGA social team was during a trip out to Los Angeles for E3 and the very first Sonic Boom event back in 2011. What struck us was the dedication of the team whom over the course of the week seemed indefatigable, not only working tirelessly manning the gargantuan stand in the main convention centre, but who tangentially assembled another monster event down the street. I’m sure tired didn’t begin to describe their state during that week, yet I don’t think I remember a moment they didn’t all have huge beaming smiles across their faces, or were laughing at the end of the day with a well-earned beverage. Kellie has written a parting post on the SEGA blog where she has stated “we laughed hard, and we worked harder” – I can’t think of anything more appropriate to describe what I saw during my brief insight into the team’s operation.
This is but one of countless examples of what the community team were involved in, and similarly, I’m sure everyone who has had any interaction with the SoA social and community team over the past decade will agree that the hallmark has, and likely always will be, a penchant for excellence, and a drive to go far beyond the call of duty. An inordinate amount of what is has now become the face of the Sonic the Hedgehog community, both online and in real life, is in part of wholly due to the fantastic team that has been at SoA.
I’d love to be able to write down the extensive résumé of the team’s accomplishments to date, but I’d fear it would fail to be a comprehensive summary of the entirety of great things they have managed. Instead, we at TSS would like to invite you all to share the stories you might have of any memories of your interactions with the social team in the comments below.
You can read Julian and Kellie‘s parting blog entries on the SEGA blog.
While we sadly bid farewell to some, we welcome back others!
TSS would like to welcome back to the SoA fold Aaron Webber, who will be taking up the social media and community reins once more for our favourite hedgehog! Many of you will remember Aaron from his previous roles at SEGA, and as host of the Sonic Boom fan event from 2011 to 2014.
We wish all the community and social team members the very best in the future, and that they will always be a very special part of the Sonic the Hedgehog community.
“Speed is something that is not given; but rather earned through dedication. Speed is not found by simply pushing a boost button, but by building momentum. It is the reward for skill in the face of difficult challenges – this kind of speed is the most exhilarating, not only because it is fast, but because of the pure perfection such speed exemplifies. This is the truth of the original Sonic games – and this is the truth of Project Needlemouse.”
So great that the guy who wrote that beautiful piece of “truth” is back at SEGA!
So anyway…
The first time I met Kellie was a pretty big eye opener. Basically just before Summer of Sonic 2011, I’d been emailing Kellie about questions for the Sonic Quiz that was going to be at the first Sonic Boom event, there was a friendly exchange between us and she thought one of my questions was quite good and original.
Well, the day before SOS, I was there helping out setup stuff and I spotted Kellie sat on the floor, with a laptop in front of her and several phones nearby whilst filling in random forms. So I figured might as well go say hi, I’m the guy who you were emailing the other week.
So I go over and say hi and she says hello too and we have a little chat about stuff, anyway, at that point a phone rings and she says ‘oh sorry I just have to take this, just one moment’ She then talks to someone who seemed to be from Sega, and whilst doing this is busy typing stuff on the laptop.
The call ends and she says ‘Sorry about that, just having to talk with Sega HQ’ and I said ‘I’m guessing that was Boom related? She says ‘Yeah, it’s not as stressful as I thought it would be, trying to organise one convention whilst helping out with another at the other side of the Atlantic.’
It then hit me just how busy and hard working she was, she’s only been in England for a day or two, yet she’s sat on the floor trying to organise a huge convention in America whilst overseeing and helping out us lot put together our little shindig and despite me going over and saying hi, she was still courteous enough to engage in a small conversation instead of ‘can you come back later I’m a bit busy’
It really struck me as to how busy she must have been, even though she was in England helping us out, she was still actively involved in trying to organise America’s Sonic Con, goodness knows what else Sega had asked her to do on top of all that. Just one tiny insight into the amount of work that the community team does.
Webber’s coming back? Woah!
Kellie.. Jullian.. you’ve done so much. You’ve been faces of the community team, and have always been dedicated to your jobs far more than a lot of us could know. I wish everyone who is, or was, at the community team the greatest of tidings.
Thank you so much for these kind words.
And to Hogfather in particular — I’m surprised you remember that in such detail! My job at times felt pretty thankless, and today has shown me that while it may have felt that way, it never really was. I, and everyone else on the community team (and really, every person at SEGA) always worked as hard as we could to serve our fans and make great experiences for them. Thank you so much for your kind words and memories.
Ahhhh yeeeeaaahh!!! The Webber’s back bay-bee!! Get Hype!
Would be really funny if Webber said this himself.
i’ll ask that the next time I bump into him. Hopefully at NYCC.