Moi and Mine

In college, she split her time between the sorority and the computer lab. Now Natala Menezes is director of product development at local startup TeachStreet -- and seattlepi.com's Geek of the Week.

Have someone in mind for next time? Let me know.

Name: Natala Menezes

Title: Director, Product Development, TeachStreet. Inc.

What do you do, exactly? I create solutions for customer needs or problems. I try to be creative and practical in my approach and I find that the best way to understand how to best serve your market is to spend time with them – talk to them, analyze their behaviors, habits and practices.

Today, I am at my first startup, TeachStreet. We are focused on connecting people interested in learning new things with awesome instructors. My role is sort of the catch-all between our CTO and our CEO – I take the lead on product development, marketing initiatives and operations.

Last week I picked a new health insurance plan for the company, this week I rolled out a new product development process, complete with TPS Reports. I do a fair chunk of PowerPoint and mock-ups in balsamiq.

Working at a startup definitely keeps me on my toes – the breadth of work from the strategic to the tactical is exciting.

Geekiest title you've ever had: Research Analyst, Enterprise Solutions, Momentum Research Group, Citigate Cunningham – also the longest!

Geekiest thing you've ever done: Creating an Excel spreadsheet to organize my music collection.

Favorite movie: Real Genius: “Let's just pause. Let's just take a step back. No, I was wrong, I'm sorry, take a step forward. Now, take a step back. Step forward. Back. And then we're cha-cha-ing!”

Favorite game: Power Grid (board game) or Doodle Jump (iphone) or Trivial Pursuit (board and iPhone).

Favorite book: I’m reading “Born to Run” by Christopher McDougall and loving it. Thomas Hobbes' "Leviathan" changed my opinion and perspective on government.

Favorite junk food: Coffee-flavored It’s It ice cream sandwiches or maybe those mini-chocolate chip cookies from Trader Joes.

Favorite time waster: Those logic puzzle books you get at 7-11 and reading US Weekly.

Mac or PC? Both! I use a Mac at home and PC at work.

iPhone or Blackberry? iPhone – but I refer to it as my “iDevice” since it rarely actually works as a “phone” Hello “call failed!”

Star Wars or Star Trek? I want to say Star Wars because I love Ewoks and the original was, well, the best. But the recent movies have just screwed it all up. Plus, I loved the new Star Trek movie – particularly how they brilliantly restarted everything by creating a divergent timeline so they can redo everything again with better graphics!

Coolest new tech venture in Seattle: Energysavvy.com - They are creating the “mint.com” of home energy management + awesome ways you can green your own home and reduce your carbon footprint. As a home owner, I can’t wait for them to launch!

When did you first know you were a geek? Describe that moment: I grew up in Silicon Valley so I never thought I was a geek (but always wanted to be one – geeks are cool!). But when I went away to college and found my time split between the computer lab and my sorority, I knew.

Who are your geek heroes, and why? Galileo – the original geek!

Look into your crystal ball: What's the next big disruptive technology/event/movement? When advertisers can sync their analytics with geographic and demographic data and send you subtle advertising messages via your social networks and mobile phone. That intersection of data translated into intent coupled with marketing seems like both nirvana and hell.

Final thoughts? I think everyone should travel the world. Grab your passport and go somewhere obscure or just not where you are from. It is the best way to get perspective on the world and what we’re all doing – and revive your creative energies.

Geek link: natala.net

Twitter: natala

Last week's GoW, Jenny Lam, asked Natala, "If you were a typeface, which would you be?"

Natala answered:

I absolutely love Segoe UI. This font, when viewed with ClearType, is a beautiful, clean sans-serif font with a roundness to the letters that make it friendly while still being sharp. However, it is also a Microsoft font -- so if you aren't using Vista or Office 2007 (or looking at MS ads) you probably haven't seen it! And since most people don't have it (there isn't even a publicly available Mac version), it is not a great web font. (Side note: I can't wait until Jeff Veen's company, Typekit, launches. Pretty fonts on the web will make everything better!).

So, I guess if I were to pick a "geeky" font, it would have to be Bitstream Vera. Vera has a wider range – serif and sans-serif – and is useful for coding (since it's monospace) AND it's truly open and free since its open source, plus my friend Amitp swears by it.

To keep a thread going with future GoW's, we asked Natala to submit a question for the next geek. Check back next week to find out what it is, and how it's answered.