Head of Customer Service
Greater St. Louis Area
- Current
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- Head of Customer Service at DMD, LLC
- Technical/Design Consultant at Self Employed
- Blogger at Clusterflock
- Past
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- Cellar Worker at Tolosa Winery
- Retail Supervisor at The Wine Experience
- Manager at Glendale Wine and Liquor
- Education
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- Covenant Theological Seminary
- Thomas Aquinas College
- Connections
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86
connections
- Industry
- Consumer Services
Andrew Simone’s Summary
My professional narrative can be easily sketched by three progressive questions I asked in my personal one:
My first question was, "How can I best express being human and what does it mean?" This brought through my unique discussion based education studying Western thought and, finally to my theological studies. When I felt I had a sufficient answer, I moved on.
The second question stemmed from the observation that Americans in particular seem inarticulate about taste: "How can I describe this food or beverage intelligably?". The obvious place to start, at least for me, was in the wine industry. And, while I am not a connoisseur, I more facile with the industry descriptors than most.
My third and final question (for the moment) is more meta: what is the best way of expressing a particular concept? This has brought me to a fascination with design, both visual and sound (two areas very much outside my expertise), and the aggregation of data. Hence, my proddings on the internet (clusterflock.org) and my current employment at a small start-up that produces gadgets. Our most recent line is a variety of kitchen measurement products (kitrics.com).
The common thread in the questions, I suppose, is grasping not only the concept, but finding the best way to present and articulate it. I often call this "practical epistemology."
Andrew Simone’s Specialties:
Communicating complex ideas simply, negotiation/diplomacy, information sifting, connecting people, listening, not presupposing, knowing the right questions and who the best people are to answer them.
Andrew Simone’s Experience
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Head of Customer Service
DMD, LLC
(Consumer Goods industry)
June 2008 — Present (1 year 6 months)
A small company means wearing many hats, mine are: shipping/receiving, customer service, market/product research, and the occasional web/tech support.
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Technical/Design Consultant
Self Employed
(Media Production industry)
January 2007 — Present (2 years 11 months)
It is difficult to spell out just whatt I do. The work itself is more modest than the self-given title communicates. If I am two things in this world, then it is curator and teacher. So, the times I have worked on projects with folks (websites, short films, house rehab), it has been less of me doing the technical work as it has been making them aware of who and what could be used to present/manipulate/facilitate it. A better title might simply be "the guy who knows stuff."
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Blogger
Clusterflock
(Internet industry)
July 2006 — Present (3 years 5 months)
A curator and aggregator of interesting content on the web. I also do some tech/admin support and development for the site.
In February of 2008, Clusterflock, through Deron Bauman's vision and Jason Kottke's patronage, joined The Deck advertising group. -
Cellar Worker
Tolosa Winery
(Food & Beverages industry)
August 2007 — February 2008 (7 months)
This was a seasonal job that required I work in the cellar of the winery during harvest. Job duties included, chemical additions to wines, daily maintenance of tanks, forklift work, barrel topping, bottling, and reception of grapes on the crush pad. Essentially, I made sure to have my hand in every process from grape reception to bottling.
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Retail Supervisor
The Wine Experience
(Food & Beverages industry)
September 2005 — July 2007 (1 year 11 months)
The store was an extension of one of the top Missouri Wineries, Crown Valley. I helped open and layout the store, trained new employees, maintained the wine stock, educated consumers through wine tastings, and both open and close the store on a daily basis.
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Manager
Glendale Wine and Liquor
(Food & Beverages industry)
January 2002 — July 2005 (3 years 7 months)
Glendale was one of the largest forces in New Jersey wine retail. My role was a typical retail supervisory position. I was promoted to this position within my first year of employment and helped expand the beer selection in the store and increase awareness of the products for both employee and consumer. Duties included, open and closing the shop, money handling, product recommendation, delivery reception, stocking shelves, merchandising, employee training, and supervision.
Andrew Simone’s Education
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Covenant Theological Seminary
M.Div (unfinished) , Theology , 2005 — 2007
Primarily a seminary created to develop ministers in the Presbyterian (PCA) church. My hope, at the time, was to continue on to do further graduate work in the interrelationship between theology and postmodern philosophy.
The website for the school may be found here: http://www.covenantseminary.edu/- Activities and Societies:
- The Catacombs Community
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Thomas Aquinas College
Liberal Arts , Philosophy, Theology, Mathematics, Science, History, Literature , 1998 — 2002
My undergraduate institution was an unusual one. It describes itself as a "four-year, Catholic liberal arts college offering a Great Books education."
It is worth reading the about page for a fuller perspective: http://www.thomasaquinas.edu/about/index.htm
Additional Information
Andrew Simone’s Interests:
Postmodern philosophy, language theory, hermeneutics, writing, wine, sound and its relation to geography, chess, and web technology, design and culture
Andrew Simone’s Groups:
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Thomas Aquinas College Alumni
Andrew Simone’s Contact Settings
Interested In:
- career opportunities
- consulting offers
- new ventures
- expertise requests
- business deals
- reference requests
- getting back in touch
