Pache.co Information Technologies

January 6, 20217 min read

At Zoom, children have become common (and welcome) guests on video calls as parents juggle sharing their workspace with their kids and grandkids. Across a variety of departments, you’ll find employees babywearing during meetings, taking time during the workday to help with school, and being flexible to support working parents and caregivers of all types.

Even so, balancing work and childcare hasn’t been easy for anyone involved — but as one Zoomie said, “We’re all in this together.” Our employees around the world shared their stories, struggles, and bright spots working and caring for children from home. 

Check out their tips on setting boundaries and embracing the wonderful moments that arise when the office, daycare, and school are all under one roof.

Stories from home

“I have 18-month-old twins so working from home during the pandemic has been challenging. I had to host several webinars during this time and in one of them my kids were screaming in the background — there was nothing I could do about it, so rather than ignore it, I simply told the audience that I, like them, was working from home, and I had two toddlers in the other room that were having a moment. I received so many nice comments from our customers just laughing about it or cheering me on, which was nice.” – Kristen Klein, Customer Marketing, California, USA

“The days are long, the work is endless. I would find myself changing my newborn’s nappy while listening to our CSM team weekly catch-up. It would finish at 10 p.m. London time and I’d take the opportunity to answer some last-minute emails before finally falling asleep — only to be awoken for feeds every 2 hours. The alarm would ring at 8 a.m., time to deliver user training to 500 new Zoom users. Safe to say, it has been a huge energy drain. But then our baby smiles, and his wonderfully useless noises and flapping recharges my batteries. My advice: Cherish those around you, take comfort in the small things, and remember it’s not forever.” – Dan Beet, Customer Success Manager, London, England

“I have three kids (9,10, and 14 — all of them have been virtual at some point during the pandemic) and my elderly mother has been staying with us. My husband and I both work at Zoom and my co-workers, customers, and managers have been understanding if I have to quickly answer a question or move times for meetings due to all the roles I have to juggle during the day. My kids always want to say hi to whoever is on video and everyone has been incredibly gracious. Every now and again I even introduce my mother as well as my dogs and cats.” – Elyce Seaman, Channel Manager, North Carolina, USA

“I have been in the industry for 12 years now and most of the time I work the graveyard shift. I have an 8-year-old son on the autism spectrum and leaving the house used to be a struggle. It took a lot of mind-setting telling him, ‘Mama has work today and I will see you in the morning.’ Working from home allows me to spend more quality time with him while doing my work at ease without feeling guilty. He knows I’m just downstairs in my ‘office’ working and it gives him security knowing that I’m just a few steps away. And every morning, the moment he opens his eyes he can see me right away and give me hugs and kisses!” – Farrah Era, Retentions and Renewals, Manila, Philippines

“Working from home with a toddler has been 50% insane, 50% amazing. Zoom has been supportive in each meeting where my son has shown his dinosaurs or construction trucks, where I’ve had to reschedule because he had a meltdown, or we didn’t have childcare.” – Michelle Dotson, Sales Ops & Enablement, California, USA

“At Zoom, working mothers are celebrated and so supportive of one another. Children are invited to show their faces on team video calls, my supervisor asks about my daughters by name regularly, and we have chat groups dedicated to other working parents where we can vent our frustrations or share ideas about sharing our workspaces.” – Elysha Gellerman, Education Account Executive, Minnesota, USA

Tips & advice from Zoom parents & caregivers 

On setting boundaries

“Set boundaries for your kids where you have colored notecards on your desk, red, yellow, and green, that signify when it is OK to come in and disrupt. If (or rather, when) customers hear the commotion in the background, make light of it in a funny way that makes that human connection with them and allows more connections to be made. We are all in this together.” – Alex Pacheco, Online Account Executive, Colorado, USA

“I block my calendar from 6-7:30 p.m. on weekdays so that I can feed my kids dinner, give them a bath, and put them to bed. My team knows I will come back online to help them later but everyone respects my nightly routine, which is amazing!” – Kristen Klein, Customer Marketing, California, USA

On connecting generations

“My wife takes care of our two granddaughters (ages 4 years and 8 months) during the week.  My advice to other (grand)parents, first and foremost, is to make the most of the time. It is extremely rare for someone with a ‘regular job’ to be able to spend so much time with your family. I share meals when I can, try to participate in as many ‘Pops…come look at this’ moments as I can, and do whatever I can to co-exist while maintaining my productivity. I think setting boundaries is also important. For example: headset on means ‘Pops is on a call.’ Leaning back in chair means ‘come on in.’ Hands on forehead means ‘I could use a hug!’” – Larry Michalewicz, Engineering Operations, Texas, USA

“In our home, we make the most of the Zoom platform to bridge two generations in our family who are dealing with isolation from the shutdown. Every Tuesday, my daughters spend several hours with my parents over Zoom, first learning the guitar and the ukelele and then cooking or baking a family recipe. I also take time away from my desk to spend one-on-one time on them, whether it’s taking them for a walk, reading them a story or having a little dance party. I schedule this time every day, and I treat it as if it was a meeting with a very important executive.” – Elysha Gellerman, Education Account Executive, Minnesota, USA 

On embracing the moment

“My advice to parents is to know that since so many of us are in the same boat, it’s OK to have your kids in the background, on your lap, or involved in the meeting. It breaks up the day for others, it brings joy to others. I feel like we all love to see our colleagues’ and customers’ kids in meetings, so let that apply to your own kids!” – Michelle Dotson, Sales Ops & Enablement, California, USA

To learn more about life at Zoom and to view any open roles, check out our LinkedIn page.

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Our guest in this Dad to Dad podcast is special brother, Brent Chase. Brent grew up having a younger brother who’s autistic. We’ll hear Brent’s stories and how he’s working to develop products that will benefit his brother Alec and others like him. That’s all on this Dad to Dad podcast.

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It begins with a screen that peels back to reveal a trio of smiling faces in rapid succession, each delivering a self-introduction with zeal.

“Aloha, I’m Christopher Kim.

I’m Dayna Yamasaki.

And I’m Justin Collado.

We’re here on the campus of our school, Maui Waena Intermediate, home base for this premiere episode of Hiki Nō, the first statewide student news network. Hiki Nō means “can do” and you’ll see what students from our team of schools can do. On the show you’ll hear from diverse voices across the island chain telling stories that connect communities, on Hiki Nō … Can do!”

The end comes with an energetic thumbs up. And with that, PBS Hawai‘i debuted the program that would give voice to thousands of students, from elementary through high school, from Lāna‘i to Hawai‘i Island. Every week, the half-hour Hiki Nō show broadcasts video pieces pitched, written, recorded and edited by local kids guided by their schoolteachers and honed by broadcast professionals. Student journalists have covered everything from homelessness in their neighborhoods to the challenges of transgender students at school to the Thirty Meter Telescope controversy years before the protests halted construction vehicles. They’ve also shown the typically mature PBS Hawai‘i audience how to use Instagram, the do’s and don’ts of Facebook and how to make a bristlebot with a toothbrush and a motor. But the key difference, and you can feel it as a viewer, is the way these stories are told—through the lens and language of the young storyteller.

SEE ALSO: 5 Hiki Nō Stories that Changed the Game for Hawai‘i’s Student News Network

The first episode aired on Feb. 28, 2011, with pieces from nine campuses on four islands. But the creation of the program began years before. Then PBS Hawai‘i President and CEO Leslie Wilcox, Vice President of Programming and Communications Linda Brock and their teams developed an idea to form a student news network that connected schools on every island. By 2009, PBS Hawai‘i’s e-magazine announced that the now-named Hiki Nō had garnered $200,000 in grants from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The station kept seeking other grants and funding to get it going while compiling a list of media teachers across the state, working closely with Candy Suiso, whoˊse successful Seariders Productions at Wai‘anae High School inspired the concept, and other experienced professionals, and building an infrastructure. Next, they began reaching out to educators to see who might be interested in joining the fledgling project.

“We were happy that, I think, 35 schools … on all the main islands, said that they were game,” says Robert Pennybacker, current vice president of learning initiatives and Hiki Nō executive producer since day one. “I think that was more than we expected. And then it quickly blew up to 55.”

Fifty-five schools all funneling ideas, questions, rough drafts of scripts, videos and everything else through a core team of three: Pennybacker, managing editor Sue Yim and then editor Lawrence Pacheco. “It was crazy,” Pennybacker says. “We just did it. It was a lot of growing pains.”

Hiki Nō executive director Robert Pennybacker working with kids at Kanu o ka ‘Āina New Century Public Charter School in Kamuela. Photo: Stuart Yamane, courtesy of PBS Hawai‘i

And it took a lot of time. Every video went through PBS’ rigorous process to ensure only broadcast-quality pieces made it to the show. Story ideas had to be approved by PBS Hawai‘i before work began and schools were required to follow Hiki Nō’s guidelines to produce well-shot and composed video, clear sound and an interesting script while abiding by PBS Hawai‘i’s standards for objective and fair reporting. Equipment and experience varied, from seasoned teams with up-to-date technology to first-time media teachers with just a few cameras to go around. Most student teams needed to edit their projects multiple times, with PBS feedback each time, before their pieces were finally approved for broadcasting months later.

Even then, just getting finished pieces to PBS could be problematic. Uploading a huge video file was not easy for anyone in 2010, especially in areas with slow or spotty Internet connections. Many had to email fuzzy, low-resolution versions to PBS for tentative approval then send a flash drive in the mail hoping the full-resolution video would pass muster. Others had to drive to town or wait for Yim, Pennybacker or Pacheco to make the sometimes hours-long trek to pick up a 3-minute video. And if a package didn’t make it, if someone hit traffic, or if any other complications occurred, Hiki Nō still had to make air every week, on-time. Participating schools were expected to understand the strict deadlines.

The Hiki Nō team was there to guide students through the creative and technical steps, at all hours of the day in between their and the teachers’ other duties. They traveled to every island to work with classes. Pennybacker, especially, was stretched thin as he helped every school through the new process while continuing to produce the stations’ local programming. Still, the folks at Hiki Nō maintained their expectations.

A Hiki Nō student team at work. Photo: Courtesy of PBS Hawai‘i

“In the beginning, we just said, these are journalists. We’re not going to soft pedal this; we’re going to work with them like we would our peers,” Pennybacker says. “We may have stepped on some toes but it also got some of the schools feisty.”

Some of the kids as well. He recalls a phone conversation with a teacher who was upset by the amount of re-editing requested for her student’s story. She told him it was too much and was basically cruel punishment for a child. Then, in the background, Pennybacker heard a small voice say, “You know, I think I can do that.’” It was the student, who promised to deliver the new draft by noon the next day.

Searider Productions Video and Journalism adviser John Allen III was in the inaugural class of educators. By then, the Waˊianae High School-based media program was one of the top in the state, earning national honors for more than a decade. He and Suiso had already hosted workshops for other teachers building their own programs and were soon helping their Hiki Nō peers.

Searider Productions Video and Journalism adviser John Allen III. Photo: Courtesy of Searider Productions

“A new school comes in, they look at what we’re doing and they’re thinking, we’re not this school, we don’t have this production, we don’t have these kids, there’s no way we can do this,” he says. “I knew that it was going to be intimidating. So how do we make it more approachable for people? How do we help them?”

Help was on the way for Pennybacker and Yim as well. By the time the first show aired, they had created a pool of local mentors for the schools: former news producers and reporters, documentary makers, videographers, editors and others with real-life experience, including myself, to coach the schools from the first story pitch to the final product.

Beyond the added training and input for the students, Allen says the student news network provided a way for teachers to meet and connect in a way not possible before. Hiki Nō brought them together for workshops on each island and, starting in 2014, statewide conferences where they could learn new techniques for interviewing, writing, editing and setting a compelling storyline from professional mentors and other school instructors. Allen would say at the start of his sessions: “The cool thing about this, guys, is I’m by myself at school. But here we have a team. And I think we should all remember that as we’re going back to our individual classrooms in our individual schools, that we’re actually not alone anymore, because of Hiki Nō.”

Pennybacker working with students of Kua o ka Lā Public Charter School on the Big Island. Photo: Stuart Yamane, courtesy of PBS Hawai‘i

Allen, Pennybacker and Yim all immediately credit those teachers’ passion, tenacity and support for the ultimate success of the show, and for keeping it going. In 10 years, the largely grant- and donation-funded Hiki Nō has broadcast 1,142 stories created by teams at 109 schools. At the core was always the voices of the kids behind the cameras. To give you a sense of the range, I have personally mentored teams trying to explain why there are so many chickens on Kaua‘i, and teams that have taken us on a security guard’s journey to American citizenship, tracked the battle against little fire ants, and profiled a family that started a nonprofit after the sudden loss of their 3-year-old son. Many others have produced slice-of-life segments about their neighborhood stores, exceptional classmates, interesting community characters and cultural practitioners.

“I’m always surprised by the stories that come out, because these are ones we never saw when we were in news,” Allen says. “It’s not big enough [for that] but they are still very important stories to tell and these stories are amazing.”

Inclusivity is still the mantra.

“You may not get on the air yet until you’ve learned, but we’re not going to reject anybody who wants to try,” Pennybacker says. “That went along with the original spirit of the grant, community engagement, and that shouldn’t be based on how advanced or well-resourced your program is.”

Some things have changed. Uploading video to PBS is much simpler and faster. Hiki Nō is on Instagram and dabbles in TikTok. The team has years of resources, training videos, guides, iPad video kits and an archive of 242 shows to turn to as well as a large group of now-seasoned educators. But one of the most significant shifts, Pennybacker says, are the new directions they’ve explored beyond the traditional news stories at the center of the first shows. Students now have the option to create point-of-view pieces, inserting their own thoughts instead of a strictly objective tone. When schools went into distance learning, Hiki Nō asked kids to start producing short, simple student reflections, inspired by MTV’s confessional cameras, to talk about the good and bad of their lives during the pandemic.

Still, even new genres must remain balanced and fair to make it into a show. In a world where social media can spread misinformation and lies in an instant and distrust of news is at an all-time high, Allen says learning this is as essential, possibly more so, than the technical skills.

“You can pick up a phone and you can literally do a whole expose on somebody or bring awareness to an issue. So just learning how to be responsible with that is a huge deal,” he says. “Hiki Nō is one of the most valuable curriculums we have at our disposal in terms of media production because it brings out those conversations, those hard conversations. It forces the kids to make decisions that have benefits and consequences.”

Says Pennybacker: “The filmmaking and techniques and journalism aside, what I see coming out of the stories is a great aptitude for empathy and curiosity [and] wanting to solve problems, but really being empathetic to people who are different from you. And it’s very sincere, it comes out of them naturally.

“I say this, and it sounds corny, but this generation really does give me hope. Maybe because I get to see the best of it.”

The 10th anniversary show revisits with those Maui Waena Intermediate School students from the first episode, who are now in their 20s, and other students and teachers from Hiki Nō Episode 101. You can see it on PBS Hawai‘i on Saturday, Feb. 27 at noon and Sunday, Feb. 28 at 3 p.m. or on the station’s YouTube channel.

Hiki Nō airs new episodes every Thursday, 7:30 p.m., on PBS Hawai‘i. Watch past episodes and find out more at pbshawaii.org/programs/hiki-no.

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The Cutthroat Brothers are a garage punk duo formed by two barbers – Big Island’s Jason Cutthroat (guitar/vocals) and drummer Donny Paycheck. They’ve now teamed with punk legend Mike Watt (Minutemen, fIREHOSE, The Stooges, etc.) for a collaborative album, The King Is Dead, due June 12 via Hound Gawd Records (one of the two upcoming Record Store Day drops).

The album was produced by grunge veteran Jack Endino (Nirvana, Soundgarden, Mudhoney, etc) and it features artwork by Raymond Pettibon, who designed the iconic Black Flag logo, Sonic Youth’s Goo album art, and more.

The opening track ‘Killing Time’ snarls out a battle cry and sets the scene. Jason Cutthroat’s guitar slashes and slides like a straight razor. Donny Paycheck’s (ex Zeke) drums land harder than a barber chair thrown off a 13-story building, while under it all the mighty and unmistakable bass thunder of Mike Watt (Stooges, Minutemen) sticks everything together like blood to the scene of a crime.

This collaboration began when Mike Watt interviewed Jason and Donny on The Watt from Pedro Show. When the real-life barbers casually asked Watt to play bass on their next album, they didn’t expect to hear, “Yes.”

Mike Watt added his magic and is now an honorary Cutthroat Brother barber. Watt’s gritty, powerful playing will blow your greasy black pompadour back like a jet engine. World-renowned visual artist Raymond Pettibon (Black Flag, Sonic Youth) contributed the cover art, making The King is Dead packaging hotter than a wet shave and twice as slick.

The third and title track ‘The King is Dead,” is a spooky blues burner.  The rest of the album pummels forward in the gritty, grimy, grinning fashion that leaves the listener twisting on the barbershop floor wanting more.

Connect with The Cutthroat Brothers here: https://www.cutthroatbrothers.com

Photos by Anna Pacheco Photography.