In past weeks, our Six Questions feature has revealed some interesting facts about our team’s engineers: Jay possesses a skill not included on his resume and Brian knows more about volcanoes and chickens than he lets on.
In this week’s Six Questions, we would like to introduce a member of our team who may not have ESP or a farm in her backyard, but does have some surprises of her own: meet Kelsey Costello, Labs’ senior business development manager.
Which Labs projects do you work on?
My role at Labs has been described as “translator to the outside world” – the “outside world” being anything and everything not contained within the walls of the office. I spend a lot of my time working with outside partners to improve, grow, and promote our products.
How would you describe WaPo Labs to someone unacquainted with the team?
Quirky, fun and moving fast! To get to our office, you have to take a minimum of two sets of stairs or a combination of stairs and elevator, which I think accurately captures our role at the Post: we’re part of this great company, but, at the same time, are left alone in our own hidden space to create and experiment.
What’s one thing that few people know about you?
For my first job, I rode my bike to the local campground and took care of necessary odd jobs, which included cleaning the outhouses. The people I worked with were great and campers in general are very nice people, so I had no complaints!
Which animal are you most like?
A chipmunk, always scurrying around, gathering things, and stuffing my cheeks with food.
You’re stranded on a desert island with one book, one album, and one object of your choosing. What items do you have?
It depends on how long I’m stranded and whether or not food is provided. In the short term, I would be reading my grandfather’s scrapbook, jamming out to the Forrest Gump soundtrack, and sipping a cool beverage. If it’s going to be a few days, I’d bring a book on survival, an audio track that includes sirens, and a Leatherman – I’d need all the help I could get!
If you won the lottery, what is the first thing you would buy?
I would buy a house on the ocean in Maine and a boat to go waterskiing. And a private jet, so I could travel there whenever I wanted. Actually, maybe I would just bring the ocean to D.C. How much do you think that would cost? It is called the “tidal basin,” right?
I love you!!!!!!!!!!