Chris Smith has been a member of our Club since August 2022. This is a two-part presentation from a Classification Talk to the launching of a new non-profit that he has named the Creator-Zone. Fascinating background both personally and professionally and the exciting news about developing a non-profit that will provide the skills that will lead to meaningful vocations.
Chris and his wife Zea are creating a Washington State Nonprofit where innovation happens. The non-profit is Creator Zone where we are encouraged to enter their dynamic open space that is surrounded by fully equipped and hi-tech creative studios. Entrepreneurs, beginners, and skilled creators can work alongside or with each other, discovering and building their craft. There is an arena for sharing knowledge and experience, for inventing on insights, for active fabrication and doing of the work, for collectively empowering a positive and engaged society.
Their vision is to engage the practical expansion and application of skills that may lead to meaningful vocations; to encourage invention and the future-thinking necessary to improve our tomorrow; and to grow individual capabilities, critical thinking, and self-confidence. Their area of interest is Audio Recording, Video, Photography, Virtual Reality Lab, Screen & 3D Printing, Woodworking, Art Room and access to experts. Their idea is to provide modern, new, hi-tech equipment in a local studio setting. Check it out at CreatorZone.org.
Now a little bit about Chris. Originally from California, but his family moved to Seattle when he was incredibly young. At an early age, Chris fell in love with aerospace and computers because of the opportunities they offered in the Seattle area. After high school, he decided he wanted to explore the world but wanted to attend a university. So, he decided to go to college in New Zealand. He studied International Business and Marketing which in hindsight was a great decision because it helped him understand the practical, financial, and human side to the software he built.
The first college challenge was he didn't know anyone. He explained that the Kiwis have a hugely different culture. So, he ended up developing a school club centered around helping people connect and network which was opened to all but really focused on international students. The Club evolved into one of the largest student networks and they started hosting large scale events. These events led Chris to a unique business opportunity. Tickets were being sold through Ticketmaster with a hefty service fee. So, he dusted off his development skills and built what he calls the world's worst ticketing system, but it had a huge benefit because they could create and sell tickets for free.
Other opportunities evolved for outside events where he expanded and enhanced his ticketing platform to make it unique and responsive to the real needs of the industries and their customers. After taking a couple of years off to travel the world with his wife, they resettled in Seattle where he took an engineering manager role at Amazon. After a couple of years, he was looking for a change in his career and joined Meta where he is today. He is an engineering leader heading up their Release team. He is personally responsible for the tools that deploy every core app at Meta globally. Welcome to our Club, community, and the future Chris for you and Zea and your two girls.