We are excited to introduce Amanda, Monk’s new Customer Advocate. Amanda will be serving our clients in Front-End Web Support.

Amanda graduated from the College of William and Mary with a BA in Communications and Theatre. After a career as an actress in NY and LA, she worked as the Director of Communications for several churches and non-profit organizations. A love of languages sparked her interest in writing code. And her coding skills, along with her desire to help others, led her to web design. In her spare time she loves programming with her son who is 8 (and better at Python than she is), riding horses with her daughter who is 6, and hanging out at the beach with both of her awesome kids.

Amanda is full of personality and tells the best stories. With her intriguing background and experience, I was very excited to learn more about her.

I recently got the chance to do a quick Q&A with Amanda. I found out more details about her career as an actress, and much more. Sit back, relax, and enjoy her answers. I sure did!

Wow, so you were an actress. How cool! How did you get into that?

Being an actress for me was a little like going into teaching if your parents were teachers or into the ministry if you grew up with Pastors for parents. I always assumed acting was what I would do. It was A LOT easier to get started with the connections I already had through both of my parents.  

My dad was on All My Children when I was very young as Ray Gardner and then on The Guiding Light through my teenage years as Hawk Shayne. My mom was on Broadway on and off during my childhood and I spent many an evening doing homework listening to Mandy Patinkin and Bernadette Peters running scales backstage.

I ended up doing loads of TV commercials (puts bread on the table) and a few movies. Most notably, The Guru where I played Marissa, Tomei’s BFF. It was a really fun career but let’s just say they didn’t do a slow-mo tribute to me when I left the business!

What was it like growing up with your parent’s being actors?  

Growing up in NYC with actors for parents seems totally normal to me. It was fun. The best part was listening to stories told by their friends at dinner parties. There were certain perks, like getting asked for autographs and having backstage access to events, but mostly it seemed like a normal life to me!

What are some of the highlight performances on your actress resume?

A couple movies I acted in were the Guru and Almost Famous (not the one you’re thinking of). I was on All My Children (like father, like daughter) playing Caroline (Jake Martin’s wife), for a few episodes. I did plays in many out of town venues (LORT theatres are the big theatres not in NY & LA). I did Steel Magnolias with my mom in New Harmony, IN and I did A Christmas Carol in Indianapolis at the IRT. I did commercials for Progresso Soup, Ford, Lady Speed Stick, Barilla Pasta, Verizon, Radio Shack, and so many others I honestly cannot remember them all.

Of all of those, which would you say was your absolute favorite and why?

I loved working on the Guru, I got to dance and work with the very talented director, Daisy Von Sherler Mayer. I loved working with Marissa, she was so sweet and funny and it was super exciting going to the set every day. For actors, working is great fun. Plays are exciting because of the unpredictability of working live. Commercials are fun because you’re the star for a day. I got to work with Michael Apted (Academy Award winner head of the DGA) and Kirk Jones (Nanny McPhee) on commercial shoots. It was a blast.

What’s your all-time favorite quote?

Oooh! That’s a tough one. I have a few, can I put 3?

• “The greatest thing you’ll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return.” - Moulin Rouge
• “My single peal of laughter startles heaven and earth” - Zen Koan
• “No one is ever saved to watch TV.” - The Celestine Prophecy

It’s Saturday and you have no plans or obligations, paint me a picture of your perfect day.

Hahahahaha!!! Oh hang on - let me wipe my eyes! That was so funny. Um, I have 2 kids, Michael, who is 8 and Ella who is 6. My Saturday’s involve the duck pond at San Dieguito Park, birthday parties, LegoLand or the dog beach at Del Mar with our best friends and their 4 kids. I can’t even imagine having a whole day all to myself!

If you had to eat just one thing for every meal of every day for the rest of your life and would receive no health ramifications, what would it be?

Either sushi or hard sausage and goat cheese with triscuits.  Seriously, a toss-up. OK fine, I choose the sausage and cheese.

What led you to working as the Director of Communications for churches and non-profits? What did you love the most about that job?

I learned to code in order to help people. It was truly a labor of love. I wanted to be able to bring people together. The Actors Union was on strike so I had a lot of free time on my hands. I found there were lots of churches and smaller businesses who did not have any web presence because they were intimidated by the process of creating a site and maintaining it. I had created a website for my Martial Arts school and it had become very successful. So, I thought I could help other people get online in a very personal and friendly way. The first church I worked for was in Little Tokyo in LA, the MJCC. It was a blast. People were so kind and I found that I wanted to be better at my job. Really, like Monk Dev, I wanted to solve people’s pain points and make being on the web fun and easy.  

How did you get into development?

I learned how to code from a book called “Creative HTML Design” It was my bible. It was a really simple book from a long time ago. I built my first sites on a notepad from scratch using frames. It’s so different from what I do now. I learned JavaScript from YouTube tutorials and from “borrowing” code from sites I liked. From there I would monkey code it together until it worked. I always loved the design side of creating a website, but I was truly surprised at how much I enjoyed the actual coding. Over time I read more books, took online classes, and just kept working.

How many different languages can you code in?

I am learning PHP now and it’s really intuitive. Like French or English, the sytax is really elegant. I can code in HTML and I can write CSS. My JavaScript is like my Spanish, passable. I read it and de-bug it better than I can write it from scratch. I’m learning Python with my son who loves to code as well!

What's your favorite tool you've been using recently?

Chris, here at MonkDev, built the code for a really nice HTML scrubber which we have access to under our tools module. It’s a lifesaver when people upload code from a WYSIWYG editor filled with font tags and things that are superfluous.

What excites you the most about your new position at MonkDev?

The people here in the office are the kindest, funniest, nicest people I could ask to work with.  I love coming to work every day!

What are three random Amanda facts everyone should know about you?

1. I have a black belt in TaeKwon Do
2. I love riding horses
3. I have the best kids any mom could ever ask for

Without further adieu... welcome to the team Amanda! We are so happy to have you on board!

Next time you contact our support team, Amanda might be the one helping you out.

Help us welcome Amanda by leaving a comment below.