In the our little world, known as the Ping Pong Club, there are two kinds of "paddles:" The
Word Smith and the
Artsy Fartsy. It's important to pick your paddle early—and know it well. Don't be afraid to become one with your paddle: Eat with it, sleep with it, bathe with it. (We won't tell.)
The current Ping Pong Club is made up of two Word Smiths and two Artsy Fartsies.
Here's the line-up
:
Name: Suryn “Copy Cat” Longbotham
Team: The Word Smiths
Secret Superpower: Lord of the Rings Trivia Queen
If you're wondering about Suryn Longbotham’s somewhat unusual moniker, you're not alone. According to Longbotham, “My parents couldn't decide between a Korean name and a Gaelic one. So, they made one up they thought was both.”
Perhaps that kind of out-of-the-box creativity is genetic. If so, Longbotham has certainly inherited the essential DNA. The most senior member of the Ping Pong club—she’s set to graduate from the University of Washington this spring —Longbotham has shown she’s got the stuff, as a copywriter on the Square Tomato team.
But advertising wasn’t always her game plan. “I started off many years ago as a young, lost artist striving to ‘find herself,’” says Longbotham. “I explored photography, drawing, poetry—all that good emo stuff. But growing up to be a starving artist was unacceptable in suburban America, so naturally, I was headed to law school.”
Fortunately, fate stepped in before Longbotham could take the leap into law. At a beer pong tournament (Where else?), she met John Lin, Account Director at Square Tomato.
And the rest, as they say, is history.
Name: M. Susan “Word Wrangler” Wilson
Team: The Word Smiths
Secret Superpower: Can always find matching dishes at the Goodwill
Susan Wilson’s path to advertising hasn’t exactly been a straight line. The fifth-generation Florida native graduated from law school in 1994, gained admission to the Bar, then started making other plans.
“I was raised among lawyers,” Wilson says. “So, the way I saw it, law school was just a part of life. Unfortunately, I was about half way through when I realized that law, as a career, just didn’t fit my life.”
Following law school, Wilson moved to Korea, where she taught English for a year and wrote about her experiences for curious friends and family back home. During that time, she realized her affinity for story telling. Upon returning home, she began working as a writer and Managing Editor for various magazines, both local and national, focusing her work on travelogues, health reporting, humorous essays, and profiles.
Early in 2009, after more than a decade in publishing, Wilson decided it was time for yet another change. She began studying advertising at Seattle’s School of Visual Concepts. In March, she joined the crew at Square Tomato and was initiated in the Ping Pong Club.
“I love telling stories through humor and the unexpected,” she says. “And I’ve always had a tendency to critique the ads I see around me in everyday life.”
In her spare time, Wilson rides horses, travels, and indulges her addiction to quirky, smartly written TV.
Name: Glenn "Jump Shot" Martin
Team: The Artsy Fartsies
Secret Superpower: Extreme Big Wheeling (OK, we made that up.)
Born and raised in Homer, Alaska, Glenn Martin grew up in a three-generation commercial fishing family. Having spent most of his childhood on boats, he figured he’d carry on the family tradition himself one day—but, in the end, the call toward another path was just too strong.
“As a kid, I felt the only way to truly express myself was through making videos, drawing, painting, and, sculpting,” recalls Martin.
After graduating from the Art Institute of Seattle in 2008, Martin landed an internship at Square Tomato. The now-veteran Ping Pong Club member has been here ever since, producing motion graphics and interactive media.
In his off hours, Martin lives big. As he puts it, “I like to party hard, ride bikes fast, and listen to loud music.”
Name: Becka “Design Diva” Wilson
Team: The Artsy Fartsies
Secret Superpower: Urban Wakeburbing (Yeah, we had to ask, too.)
Born in Edmonds, Washington, just a few minutes north of Seattle, Becka Wilson ventured down to the big city after graduating high school to attend Seattle Pacific University, where she’s majored in Visual Communications and is due to graduate this spring. Her design experience varies from logos and identities, to photography, environmental design, book covers, print design, Web design, and motion graphics.
A true Seattleite now, she’s an avid coffee drinker. “I blame it on the fact that I worked at Starbucks for two years,” she says. Her other guilty pleasure? “I cannot go a day without chocolate—it’s a fact.
Following graduation and completion of her Square Tomato internship, Wilson says she hopes to venture on to more unchartered paths. “Who knows? I might make it to New York, or Boston, or … Olympia,” she says.
Name: Tyler “Photoshop Cowboy” Smith
Team: The Artsy Fartsies
Secret Superpower: Guitar Hero Master (Don’t even try.)
Tyler Smith is the latest addition to the Square Tomato Ping Pong Club. Born in 1984 in Fort Hood, Texas, Smith was a military brat, so he moved around quite a bit while growing up. (At least that’s what he tells us; we haven’t yet ruled out that he was raised by (1) fugitives, (2), itinerant sheep farmers, or (3) circus folk.) During his formative years, he lived in Iowa, Germany, and Saudi Arabia, finally landing in Seattle in 1995.
Smith is nothing if not versatile. During his college years at Washington State University, he switched his major four times, trying his hand at everything from Biology to Theater. But his future was finally decided when he joined the WSU Advertising Club his Junior year and was elected Art Director—a position that gave him the chance to design logos and campaigns for various school groups. Upon graduating from WSU in 2008 with a Bachelors Degree in Fine Arts, Smith moved to New York City, but eventually decided to return to his chosen hometown, Seattle, to begin his advertising career.
Smith is certain he’s found his calling in advertising. As he puts it, “It’s the only career that will eventually pay me to doodle.”
