We thought it would be nice to introduce ourselves. So every week, a couple members of the Kickstarter team will be saying hello, and picking out a few projects — past or present, successful or not — that they’re especially fond of. (They will also be posing for GIFs. The GIFs are mandatory.)

This week, meet Jes and David P.:

Jes Nelson (@calamity_jan)

Job: “I answer questions and offer advice about the site for both backers and project creators. (I also sit across from Alfie. He’s awesome. You will meet him soon.)”

  • Food Pyramid Investigates the Continental United States — “Food Pyramid pulls influence from 70s German electronica, 80s Chicago house, and acoustic ecological investigations (little to do with health class). They also hail from Minneapolis, MN (my home), and were the first to introduce to me Kickstarter through this project! Enjoy their music here.”
  • Lucky Luna — “Lucky Luna is quickly becoming my favorite dinner spot in Greenpoint, Brooklyn! The creators, Howard Jang, Ken Ho, and Marisa Cadena, combine Mexican and Taiwanese street style food, classic cocktails, along with chill and attentive service — I couldn’t ask for more. Request a ‘Rainy Day’ from the bartender, and order everything on the menu. This place rules.”
  • Northern Spark — “Northern Spark is an all night arts festival that encourages consideration of what’s possible in public space. Spanning across the Twin Cities (Minneapolis/St.Paul), this is the one night out of the year when these neighboring cities really feel connected. In regards to the visual landscape of the event, I like to describe it as a State Fair for multimedia enthusiasts — there are projectors everywhere.”

David Peter (@davidnoob)

Job: “I engineer and maintain stuff for backers, creators, and fellow employees.” (Note: Good job hiding your whole “narwhal supervillain” hobby, David.)

  • Superhot — “What an amazing game concept. I haven’t owned a mouse for three years, but I think I’m getting one for this.”
  • Reading Rainbow — “It’s for an incredible cause with one of the greatest project videos I’ve ever seen. LeVar Burton (through Geordi La Forge) is a childhood role model, and when he visited the office, I got to shake his hand and eat popsicles and talk about books. I think I was teary.”
  • Schmuck, a Graphic Novel — “I love stories about life. Unfortunately, this creator got diagnosed with leukemia, the same cancer my father has. Life. I’m anxiously awaiting his convalescence.”
  • Hello Ruby — “I think it’s important to get people excited about programming at an early age. And she posts such incredibly detailed posts about how much she’s learning from doing this — it’s great!”

This post was originally published on this site