Mod of the Month – November 2016
As we close out November and head into the final month of 2016, many of us are marveling at how fast the year has gone by! Many of our Mods in the U.S. took time last week to celebrate Thanksgiving, and we are boundlessly thankful for the passion and dedication our global team of Mods deliver year-round. We are especially thankful for one Mod in particular… Janice W., our November 2016 Mod of the Month!
Janice joined ModSquad more than five years ago, in April of 2011, after her daughter’s friend, a Mod at the time, recommended she look into it. Janice’s prior experience had been in retail, but her passion was in computers and online games, so she was thrilled at the opportunity to work in a field that aligned with her passions.
At ModSquad, Janice is a member of our Elite Scan Team, which supports a number of our top clients. As part of the Scan Team, Janice is fully trained on a range of client needs, primarily as a community moderator, checking in on a number of projects periodically throughout the day to ensure their communities are consistently maintained.
Among these projects are several kid-focused communities, including PBS Kids and Hopscotch. At ModSquad, we care deeply about maintaining appropriate kid-friendly digital spaces and ensuring all children’s safety when interacting online. For PBS Kids, Janice serves as a community moderator in the virtual world of Kart Kingdom, where she reviews and approves/rejects all comments submitted to the PBS Kids blog.
“I must say, I love this project the best! Some of the things these kids say crack me up!”
Hopscotch is a free app in which kids learn to code to form their own unique creations — games, fun designs, and more — which they can then upload and share with other kids in the community. As a content moderator, Janice reviews each creation shared within the app to make sure the content is appropriate and safe for other children to see and use.
“We look for things like personal information, bullying, and such inappropriate content as sexual innuendo, graphic violence, or vulgar/gross content.”
In addition to her work keeping digital communities safe, Janice dedicates herself to helping her teammates succeed. She sees great value in reading and following directions thoroughly, as well as frequent communication with her remote colleagues. Her dedication to her team results not only in their success but in lifelong friendships.
“When I worked customer support tickets on a video-game publisher project years ago, our project manager hired a new Mod. I took our new Mod under my wing, walking her through the client’s games via Skype, and sharing all the answers she’d need for common player questions. She turned out to be a great success on that project. We have since become friends and talk daily. One day, we will meet (she is in Canada and I’m in Chicago, IL).”
When Janice isn’t busy keeping communities and their users safe, she’s focused on an important personal challenge: learning to walk again. In February 2015, she suffered a rare stroke of the spinal cord that left her left leg paralyzed.
“Learning to walk all over again is a hard road, but I will get better with time and lots of therapy. My favorite saying is ‘Never say never, and never give up!’”
Despite being confined to a wheelchair for nearly two years, Janice has remained the positive spirit we’ve always known her to be. We’re so glad our work-from-home model allows her to keep working in a field about which she is so passionate.
“I have met some wonderful people all over the world while working here, and I can honestly say I love my job!”
We asked some of those wonderful people what it’s like to work with Janice, and they agreed on Janice’s awesomeness:
“I’ve worked alongside Janice as a Mod for several years, and now as a PM/APM on several different projects. One of the things that sets Janice apart is her kindness. When she offers to cover for another Mod, it’s not because of any extra pay she might receive (although I’m sure that doesn’t hurt!); it’s because she wants to help — not just the project, but her coworker.
“I’ve never heard her utter a harsh word about anyone or complain about anything. She just gets in there, does her job, and does it right. If she has a question, she asks. If she can help another Mod with something, she does. Janice has been with the company for a long time, and she deserves to be recognized for her awesome skills!”
—Teresa Moore, Project Manager
“Everything Teresa said doesn’t even express how much we love having Janice on our teams and with ModSquad. She is extraordinary! She is always spot-on with her moderation, even going above and beyond. If she doesn’t know how to do something, she will ask and then remember it.
“She is always willing to help out her fellow Mods, from answering questions to getting extra training on a project she has no experience with, just so she can help cover the time-off needs of others. In short, Janice is all-around amazing.”
—Nicole Mohr, Project Manager