A heart for creatives
from the heart of Arizona

When a photographer friend needed help building a website in 2005, Todd immediately jumped to action. Always wanting to help, and excited to crack his knuckles writing some code, he never imagined it would turn into a business. Anyone around him might have guessed otherwise. Before Todd had even set his 18 year old foot in a Computer Science class at ASU, he had already sharpened his entrepreneurial skills by creating two successful businesses. With his pioneering spirit, not to mention a supportive and trusting wife, Todd co-founded Showit with the intention of helping photographers bridge the gap between tech and creativity. Over a decade later, and 4 stunning sons, 31 employees, and countless Showiteers later, that gap is closing more and more.

As co-owner of Showit, Elisa is happy to stay behind the scenes, unless she is teaching the crew how to be the best version of themselves through knowing themselves and their personality types. Recently she has been able to share her knowledge through her podcast, Sines of Life, as well as on the stage at Showit United, and at the Reset Conference. But Elisa is not just a speaker and teacher and podcaster, she is also a blogger with a beautiful knack for telling stories that draw people in wholeheartedly. It is nearly impossible to read her work without either laughing or crying, and sometimes both. And she has plenty to write about, as the most frequent characters of her stories are her 4 strapping sons, and her husband Todd.

There are some people out there who just love life (despite hardships), work hard for their families (homeschools their children to boot), and work hard at their job (this community isn't going to develop itself!), and just sprinkle fun and joy and care, everywhere they go. These people are unicorns, and we have one of them working at Showit. Her name is Cassandra, and she is nothing short of magical. Even though she lives in Richmond, Virginia, with her husband and 4 kids, she is everywhere there is WiFi and Social Media. As the Community Lead, if you are getting an encouraging shoutout on Instagram or Facebook, you can feel confident that Cassandra is the one who is cheering you on, and truly believing that you too, are a unicorn.

With his sights set on becoming an animator as a kid, you can still find his characters popping up all over the place. Maybe you have seen of one of his most popular creations, the Showit Robot? After a decade of working for Showit, he has combined his love of people and technology to become Showit's Customer Lead. His care and concern for Showiteers is unparalleled. While learning about people for his day job, he realized how passionate he was about bringing understanding and peace, not just through the computer to Showiteers, but to homes everywhere. Jason and his wife recently launched a new Showit site to help parents relate to their children on another level through wonderfully created characters by yours truly. If you are a parent, or just looking for site inspiration, you can check out KnowandLove.com and see how Jason puts Showiteers, and all humans (big and small) first.

After returning from an extended excursion in Australia, Aaron came back to Arizona, happier, and with a new view on work, and a shift in his creativity as a developer. (He did happen to meet the woman of his dreams while out there, and they now have two sons, and happily reside here in Arizona.) To add to his good fortune, his childhood friend, Todd Watson, had just started a new venture and was looking for a developer with serious coding skills. With a renewed enthusiasm for work, Aaron set-up his office to help fuel his creative coding. His office set-up is worth mentioning because Aaron's office decor is a thing of tech legends. He surrounds himself with Transformers of every shape, size; there is also a larger and better organized Lego collection than any kid could dream of, and an overall superior workspace than even the best funded Silicon Valley start-up could imagine. This "cubicle" ignites his imagination, and allows Aaron to work his developer magic as the Chief Technology Officer. Always looking to make Showit more innovative, Aaron is so tech savvy so that creatives don't have to be.

As the founder of the first all-girls acapella group at Arizona State University, Tammy is also the one who keeps Showit in harmony. Having been able to organize a group of outside the box thinkers since her teens, she has been an asset at gathering our crew and helping us make beautiful music together. Whether it's arranging the numbers, providing the perfect melody to ensure we are all on the same page, or providing us with activities outside the office so no one is ever singing solo, Tammy can do it all. She recently arranged a group outing, complete with families, to pack meals for the underprivileged. She has also organized a company-wide fitness program at Showit, youth mentorships, and countless cook-outs. All this while taking care of her own family of 6! This girl is a giver that impacts all. Because Tammy takes such good care of us, we can take such good care of you. And you can take such good care of your clients. And together, we can make the world aca-awesome!

JT should be in the hospitality business. He can host a party, craft cider, and make sure everyone is having a great time like nobody's business. But he isn't in the hospitality business. By trade, JT is a former photographer and designer, and he has brought his two passions together to serve everyone, but especially the Design Partners, here at Showit. He is our Designer Lead, and truly cares for our community with a heart to see designers succeed in their businesses. Another community he truly cares for is his sweet family. He and his phenomenal wife Ashley, have welcomed their precious son, Case Jefferson, to their pack, along with their fur babies - Paso Rae, and Sonoma.

Christian is a man of many talents and interests. A talented bass player, and banjo picker, he can pretty much make music out of anything with strings. He has a great love for music, which is how he met his sweet wife, Angela. The pair are from the great state of Minnesota, but have ventured to the southwest for sunshine and Showit. The two are happily settled in Arizona where they are raising their 2 beautiful children, and avidly playing board games once those kids are asleep. How avidly? So much so that they started a podcast about board games! Check out Married and Board. You will not be bored in any way, shape, or form!  We are thankful to have Christian at Showit as our Senior WordPress tech, and an integral part of the Dev Ops team.

Spending most of his childhood in Africa, John's family returned to Arizona during his high school years where he met our blog king, Christian. After a decade of friendship, and a few years of hearing about the awesome company Christian worked for, John came to reign alongside his friend as the Domain King for Showit. With a background in photography and videography, John shares a passion to create with Showiteers of all talents. When he isn't helping Showiteers go live with their sites, you will most likely find him fishing, flipping houses, or furnishing rooms with creations of his own making. Whether John is creating a space for you on the internet, or crafting a side table for his guest room, he is doing it with an unmatched amount of care and concern.

Many moons ago, Nate was one of the ground-breaking members of an elite team that was going to change the face of web design. As Showit's first ever UI designer, Nate has literally changed the face of Showit through the years. With a background in web design and marketing, he has helped Showit develop the look and user experience to best serve our clients and their needs. As a father of four, he laughs (quietly, as is his nature) at any product predicament or design dilemma to come his way. Gifted in not just the fine arts, but performing arts as well, most nights Nate can be found serenading his wife by guitar, or hanging out with his kids.

If you have never met anyone from Guam, Jed might be the best unofficial representative any island could ever ask for. Kind to the core, Jed almost always has a smile on his face even when hiding behind a computer. As a graphic designer, videographer, and animator, behind his computer screen is where he spends a good portion of his time. However, he pops out from time to time to work on a sketch of our new tattoos (temporary, though we know Showiteers' allegiance is permanent), formulate the latest Showit video plans, or grab some grub at his favorite gourmet restaurant, Taco Bell. And on occasion, he has been known to not be behind his computer for days (often referred to as weekends) when he fully focuses on helping his four kids build a treehouse, create music, experiment with science, or make a lovely breakfast for his wife, and fellow islander, Crystal.

Growing up in a small town in Kansas, Jeff has developed the rare and precious ability to have a conversation with anyone. Maybe it's because there are so many things that he is interested in that he could talk about. He is the resident modern hippie of our crew. He has an unrivaled manbun, you bet he is living his best keto life, and his lovely wife, Natalie, is basically a bohemian goddess. Jeff is a constantly evolving human - in his personal life, as well as in his career. He started off as a Support Pro, but is now also taking on roles with the Marketing team, and leading our Communication efforts. Jeff also happens to be the unofficial spokesperson for everyone's favorite holiday: Shrimpsgiving.

After college, this Canadian (though newly an American Citizen) went back to her birthplace to teach English in Korea. Perhaps she thought she was on the cusp of a global adventure, but the pull of an up and coming Arizona tech company by the name of Showit was just too great. In other words, she met a charming man stationed in Korea, he whisked her away to Phoenix, and here she has dwelled ever since. While coding might not be Jihae's passion, people are. She loves meeting our users on Social Media, but IRL meetings are more of her cup of tea. It isn't just our Arizona company that benefits from Jihae's presence in our great state. She, along with her husband, have been fostering kids for the last 5 years, and are presently sitting pretty as a household of 9. She has set out to be an advocate for Foster Care in her newly launched podcast series, Fostering Voices.

Y'all. Imagine life, in a small town, where cows are more abundant than people, the closest Starbucks is over 20 minutes away, and you can't have alcohol because of #prohibition. Yet in the middle of this town lives a fancy girl at heart, who is a successful photographer, doting wife, loving mother of three, and director of United. Besides her precious Arkansas accent, there is nothing small town about this girl. She dreams big, she loves big, and her ability to juggle Everything is big! We are thankful for her vision, her organizational skills, and her tender loving care of the Showiteer community, from which she started out in.

Ben has moved his desk from Gilbert, AZ to Kobe, Japan. Moving back to Japan (with his 2 sons in tow), to help his wife care for her family, speaks volumes to Ben's character. And his character is noticed by his Showit family, and everyday in Support. While we miss his bright smile in the office, his move to Japan means night-owls have more Support Chat hours. Generally an early-bird, Ben's Japanese early-bird hours turn into U.S. late night hours. So you can chat with Ben in Support long after dinner. And if you want to talk to him in Japanese, French, or Shyriiwook, you can do that, too! He's multi-talented! No matter the language, he is notorious for meeting Showiteers where they are in their site creation. Maybe it's his worldliness, his compassion, or his ability to see the creative spirit in everyone, no matter the hour or the country, Ben will be smiling on the other side of the computer screen waiting to help out new and old friends.

Formerly a California kid, Kylen has traded in the beach for the desert. He can still wear shorts year-round, and he has a family at Showit that loves him, just as he does in Cali. As one of 7, Kylen is no stranger to being a part of a loud, and fun group. And it doesn't matter if the group is full of humans, or dogs. He is the proud Fur Dad to 2 beautiful pups, and fiance to the amazing Alexann. Kylen started off at Showit as a helpful extra set of hands. Whether it was setting up and tearing down at United, and eventually becoming a Support Pro, he was happy to help wherever he could be useful. But now the heavy lifting he does is as a WordPress Tech and a pivotal member of the Dev Ops team.

While some may assume a coder and sci-fi fan would not be a master in the art of conversation, some have not met Eddie. Though he considers himself an introvert, everyone in our crew would respectfully disagree. Behind his ginger beard, lies an infectious and loquacious smile that has the ability to cover an extensive range of topics. Adding to his long list of conversation pieces, Eddie is currently working on his Masters of Divinity at Phoenix Seminary, and is a contributor to several online theological sources. He is not all brains and business though, as one of his favorite pastimes is sitting criss-cross-apple-sauce on the floor with his wife and 3 kids, and a giant mound of Legos. Eddie's favorite place in the whole wide world is at home with his family, so maybe he is an introvert after all.

While most high school graduates run off to their next party-filled endeavor, Parker chose a different path. Deciding on taking a gap year to attend the Joshua Wilderness Institute, he chose the program because it focuses on service and ministry, with a Bible-based pilgrimage to Israel. With a desire to become a youth minister, the year was the perfect start to his post secondary education. Now attending college, he splits his time between studies, ministry, and the best college job, Support Pro at Showit. A self-proclaimed "talkative guy", Parker loves the opportunity to meet people from all over the world - through websites. When he is not talking websites, he is looking for the next group sporting event to enhance his athletic aptitude. Whether at Top Golf, or playing Ultimate Frisbee (his current passion), or at the office, no matter where he is, or what he is doing, Parker always brings a lot of heart and energy.

Starting as an intern at Showit, Josh came to us bright-eyed, curious, and quiet. With a huge smile and eagerness to learn, we would have been crazy to not snatch him up! Currently working towards his degree in Computer Science, Josh is a highly sought-after Support Pro. He has also recently launched his own side-business as a website designer. Need to update your website? Check out joshahles.com. He balances out being a young professional with frequent trips to the movies, hanging with his 4 siblings, and his girlfriend Jade, and flexing his creative muscle tickling the ivory and playing the guitar.

When he isn't hanging with his best friend, and fellow Showit crew member, Josh, he might be researching and investing in the latest cryptocurrency. Maybe you have heard of a little thing called bitcoin? Zac is a mover and a shaker, and he moves and shakes with the quiet and stealth of a tech wizard ninja. Someday, Zac could take Mark's place at Facebook, or fulfill his childhood dream of owning a race car competing at Nascar. Until then, you will find Zac working towards his computer science degree, catching the latest flick to hit the theaters, hanging with his girl, Hayley, or hitting the bass guitar and jamming on the synthesizers. Luckily for all of us, he bridges his creative and technical skills in helping Showiteers get their websites up and running faster than any Nascar driver could dream of!

Shamesha is one of those magical unicorns that can bring order to chaos without flinching a dimple. Perhaps she learned it from being one of 6, or from being a mom of three young boys. Or maybe it's her woodworking skills that taught her how to take the rough and make it beautiful. (If you want to see for yourself, check out her new side-hustle: Shefs Creations.) Shamesha takes her jill-of-all-trades approach to life and work. She is part of the Community Development team, and assists in approving new designs to shine in the Design Market. No matter what is thrown at her, Shamesha is unfazed, and always smiling, and making others around her do the same.

Adria is a precious flower who thrives in the great outdoors. Whether it's hiking Superstition or South Mountains, or traveling to Sedona or Flagstaff, fresh air and sunshine fuel her! Her fiance Nick, and her Great Dane Sharpei mix, Murphy, can often be found hanging out with her on mountain tops, and on the road. Fortunately Adria also loves helping other people, and she does this while sitting at her computer, helping our awesome Showit customers, as our first full-time, female Support Pro! We are so thankful that Adria brings her bright and beautiful face into the office every day, but she's not just another pretty face. After being on staff for only 3 weeks, a customer labelled her a "Legend", which is certainly the quickest that anyone has ever received legendary status at the office.

Basic facts about Trevor: he has an identical twin brother, he has amazing dreads, and he can play baseball. He played baseball for Colorado Mesa College, and even made it to the World Series of College Baseball! He graduated with a degree in biology which has served him very well as one of our Support Pros. We aren't sure how it has served him well, but we are sure that it has. But as for the skills he obtained from playing baseball for most of his life, those skills have helped Trevor to catch and run with whatever life and work throws at him. Whether it's modeling for a Styled Shoot at United with his gorgeous wife Kaitlin. Or becoming fluent in the language of GIFs, the unofficial language of the Support Pros. All these things have allowed him to seamlessly fit in with the humor and heart of the Support Team, and we are lucky to have him here.

Ahmed is a man of many talents and interests. He received his Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, which he used as a professional home automation systems engineer in Egypt, where he is from. When he isn't working, he enjoys calm and soothing things like soft music, and drawing. And then he also likes crazy things, like jumping out of airplanes (going skydiving), scuba diving, and horseback riding. NBD. Insert wide eyed emoji here. Ahmed has been here in the Phoenix area since July of 2017, and here at Showit since January of 2019. He fits right into our team as an ESFJ because he loves to be of service and to participate in meaningful ways. As a member of our busy blog migration team he has plenty of opportunities to serve our users, and team, in very significant ways.

Before we were able to snag Chris to join our team at Showit, he was happily working as the full time worship pastor at Hillsong Church, here in Phoenix. Chris is multitalented, being able to play a number of instruments, and having an inclination towards to creative design, AND technical know-how. Two out of the three of those skills are the reasons why he is the perfect Ux/Web designer. He used to design websites as a hobby, but now he gets to do it full time. And as his new side hustle - selfmadewebdesigner.com. When Chris isn't working, he is hanging out with his lovely wife, Sarah, and his 3 precious girls, who happen to have a great YouTube channel -- Silly Sisters, that Chris produces. Chris and Sarah have also recently welcomed their baby boy to the family. We will see if he gets his own channel one day.

"Rob is an AWESOME husband" (just ask him! And his beautiful wife, Addie.) And he's also "a FANTASTIC father of 3" (again, ask him! These are his direct quotes!) He attended Moody Bible Institute, and was going for a degree in Digital Media, but ended up not finishing because he landed a paid internship? that turned into a full-time job. Rob later ran his own videography business in Spokane, WA where he met the love of his life, moved to Montana, and started working in IT. Somewhere around there he picked up brewing as a hobby, and has been a gamer since the early days of bulletin boards and dial-up modems. All that geeky speak translates to the fact that he fits right in at Showit!

Karen is definitely our most famous employee. She even has her own IMBD page! She met her husband, Kenny, while she was filming the soap opera, "Capitol", while he was on "Days of our Lives". Maybe you've heard of it? After their acting careers were over, they moved to Arizona where Karen decided to homeschool their two daughters. One of her daughters is a Showiteer, (hey Savanna!), and Karen got connected with the photography community through her, while being the admin of her daughter's business. And now we are so thankful to have her doing admin and office management things at Showit! When she isn't organizing and optimizing our office, she is hanging out with her beautiful family, doting on her 2 grandsons, and volunteering her time with abused and neglected dogs at "Friends for Life". These are the days of her life in the desert.

With a great love for the late Bob Ross, James grew up loving art, creating and designing. James went to Texas A&M for Exercise Science and business, as well as Dallas Theological Seminary. If you haven't gathered this yet - James has a great love of a vast array of things. He has run a successful music company, been a freelance photographer, and his latest (and greatest!) venture has been to be Jessica's husband. Whether James is hanging out with his new bride, playing sports, leading a group of young men, or taking pictures to fuel his creativity, he is undoubtedly having a great time. We are thankful to have this multi-talented and passionate creative on our team, as our Brand Developer.

Though Nathan is a Developer here at Showit, he should be a professional juggler. He has a Marketing degree from ASU, but has been a software engineer in his previous job, and is now a developer. He is a major self-learner and has been able to teach himself the skills that he now has. But when did he have time to develop these skills? He has been happily married for 12 years to his beautiful wife, Heather, and together they have 3 kids. They have been foster parents for the last 2 years, having welcomed over 7 kids into their family in that time. And they have a puppy. That they are currently trying to train. Why wouldn't you add a puppy to the mix?? So like we said, Nathan is something of a multi-tasking juggler, and maybe also a magician, and we are thankful to have him on our team!

Joshua will be the first to admit that nerdiness runs in his family. With help from his technology-savvy parents, he learned to color on a computer when he was 4 years old, and from that moment on, he was hooked on technology! Not the way most kids are hooked to YouTube. Truly hooked on the inner workings of computers, and animation, and coding. His past job experiences range from doing technical litigation art, to doing special effects in music videos (for Linkin Park and other little bands that you may or may not have heard of.) And now, we are so very thankful to have him on the Showit team as a developer, with his great range of knowledge, and great passion for all things technology. When Joshua isn’t tinkering around with computers, he loves to eat sushi, and thinking about how he can elevate the state of generated storytelling in games.

Jessica is from Wisconsin, but somehow managed to make it all the way over to Arizona. This is probably because Jessica is always down for an adventure, and loves to travel and experience new places! Being married to Tanner is an adventure in itself, as he coaches minor league baseball, which has fortunately allowed her to travel quite a bit around the US. And having been on the road for the last year, Jessica has been able to work as a freelance graphic designer, where she gets to flex her creative muscles. And now as a Support Pro, she is excited to work with more creatives! And having been referred to as a ‘meme lord’, she is going to fit right in, as Showit employees are all fluent in the languages of GIFs, memes, and hugs. Jessica loves to laugh (especially while watching The Office), and apparently makes the best chocolate chip cookies (we are gonna need some of those to show up to our office to confirm), and we are excited to have her on our team!

The Showit Robot was built in 2004 in a small factory in Okinawa, Japan. He was originally designed to deliver singing telegrams to birthday parties. He was always on time and always enjoyed bringing exciting messages to people. In 2005 the robot had an unfortunate work accident involving an angry pug and a swimming pool. Sadly, his creators shipped him off to Arizona to be sold for parts. One day at a garage sale, the robot was purchased by none other than Showit CEO Todd Watson! Todd made him better than ever and gave him a new life and purpose working at Showit delivering client contact forms. He was recently awarded his very own company phone with which he loves to send and receive text messages. Text the Showit Robot.