The Breakwater team closes each Monday all-staff meeting with a “Question of the Week” to get the creative juices flowing. QOTWs are posed by team members on a rotating basis and range from prompts on current global issues to the most underrated Halloween candy to imaginary scenarios that call for outside-the-box thinking. Our answers help us get to know one another better and we thought it might do the same for you. We hope you enjoy these snippets and learn more about the people behind Breakwater Strategy.
What’s your answer?
Question of the Week:
We spend a lot of time thinking about the future through the lens of technology. We’ve explored VR worlds and virtual meetings through Meta Quest 2 headsets and thought deeply about implications and opportunities of web3 and decentralized finance. When you’re in the Metaverse, existing limitations disappear and the possibilities of what, who, or where you can be seem endless.
This got us thinking. If the possibilities were endless, and you could live out your unrealized professional fantasies, what would you – or your VR avatar – do for a living?
Shea Agnew, Director
I’d take a different approach and trade the luxuries and excess of my everyday life for something more pastoral; maybe raising Highland cattle. You read about tech executives and business barons who have achieved everything material, yet still lack fulfillment and purpose, so they strip life back down to the basics. Maybe I could give that a go in the metaverse without actually having to sell off my shoe collection.
Arik Ben-Zvi, President, CEO & Founder
Other than being at Breakwater Strategy (of course), I can think of no more fun working environment than the Writers Room of a really good TV series. The creative back-and-forth, thinking about characters’ backstories and motivations, plotting out the issues they’ll face and how they’ll navigate them, moving pieces up and down the narrative chessboard…sounds awesome. Would be pretty cool to be in the room where someone said, “wait, what if Walter White uses Don Hector’s bell as a trigger device to blow up Gus Fring!” (Apologies to the non-Breaking Bad fans).
Henry Brill, Senior Associate
I would be a professional organizer in the Metaverse, helping clients get their NFTs and other digital assets in order. As a devoted fan of Marie Kondo, I would take a similar approach to “sparking joy” through decluttering in the VR world—plus, is there anything better than getting paid to snoop through people’s stuff?
Jin Kang, Senior Associate
I would be a professor. I’ve always considered myself an armchair psychologist, and now I could literally deliver a psychology lecture from the comfort of my armchair.
Caryn Leahy, Vice President
It’s a singer for me. As a believer in the power of music, there’s something about being able to command and awe an audience with your voice that I’ve always longed for.
Lydie Neill, Associate Director
A photojournalist – assuming travel is much more seamless in the metaverse, I’d love to approach the world from a perspective of telling people’s stories.
Nick Rosenberg, Director
Even if it is a bit cliché, I’d love to see life through the eyes of an NBA player. I can’t imagine how incredible it would be to feel the thrill of competing at the highest level, and the pressure in navigating all the off-court meetings, contract negotiations, and press availabilities. I wouldn’t be able to handle the physical challenge of playing an 82-game schedule, but it seems like an epic adventure.
Karianna Torres, Associate
I would be a baker and own a bakery. Baking is a universal language that brings people together, plus who wouldn’t want to smell like freshly baked cookies every day?
Nora Wahlbrink, Associate Director
As a pop culture fanatic, my VR avatar would be a celebrity publicist. That way, I would get to go behind the curtain of Hollywood without the pressure of being famous. My top celebrity picks would be Emma Chamberlain, Nicole Kidman or any of the Kardashians and Jenners.
Steve Weber, Partner
Wide Receiver for the New York Giants. I would be a 6’1”, 210 lbs wide receiver who runs a sub 4 second 40-yard dash — and then I would catch a football with one hand while falling backwards into the end zone, and being interfered with by the cornerback. I would not, however, wear the number 13 (in case THE CATCH sounds familiar).
Ben Williams, Director
I’d be a dual music photographer-adventure cinematographer. Backstage passes to all the shows, friendships with some of the greatest musicians ever, plus free skiing and travel to incredible places around the globe! If your familiar, think a combination of Danny Clinch and Warren Miller.
Claire Wootton, Associate
As a self-described loud person, I sometimes think not being a theatre kid was a missed opportunity for me. I’m not sure what the Broadway of the metaverse looks like, but I’d like to think I’m the star of the show.