Today is the fourth Monday in January, also known online as Community Manager Appreciation Day! For those that don't know, CMAD started back in 2010 when Jeremiah Owyang launched a campaign to encourage communities to thank those that bridge the gap between the audience/fandom and company.
For the occasion, I want to spotlight and thank the amazing work by Vida Starčević and Antonela Pounder. Both individuals are from separate companies, but over the past few years, they have been part of a team working to help create community events both online and in-person, and connect with Control fans worldwide.
Chances that, if you're here, you already know Vida. She is the Community Manager at Remedy, a role that covers connecting with the communities across the developer's entire catalogue. At the moment, Control and Alan Wake 2 has been firmly in the spotlight, but CrossfireX, Condor, and Vanguard aren't too far behind. Since joining the company, she has formed the official Remedy Discord servers, travelled internationally representing the studio at events, arranged online events, and was part of the team behind Control's Accessibility Mode, alongside many more.
On the 505Games side is Antonela Pounder, the Director of Global Community. She's the friendly face behind many of the articles that you have read on the official Control website and online community events, although she's also repped the brand at conventions around the UK. Like Vida, these days her work covers a number of different IPS, including Death Stranding.
Thank you to both of you for the amazing work you do. Community Management is... a strange job, for sure! The internet can be an incredible and valuable way of connection, but it's also a place where it's easy to be anonymous, and vent. It's easy to think that the role is all about creativity and working on projects that fuel you, but it also has the days when you just want to curl up into a ball when you deal with the harsher side of the internet, particularly on a bad day or during a global pandemic.
