One of the many things that ZoHa Islands has to offer that makes ZI different from other land companies in Second Life, is it’s amazing customer service. ZI offers SL residents 24 hour estate manager (EM) and sales coverage, so no matter your time zone, no matter your need, a friendly, helpful staff person is only a message away. Simply open group chat and ask for a manager and someone will IM you immediately.

Or if you’re new to ZoHa Islands and are looking for land, a friendly, knowledgeable sales person is at your fingertips to assist you in finding the land of your dreams. Simply browse through our available properties (you can find them listed in the tab to your left) and teleport to one of our available properties, and you will be greeted by one of our awesome sales staff. They can help you find exactly the land you’re looking for within your budget. If you prefer to browse on your own, feel free to do so.

Because of the recent changes at ZI and the influx of some new staff from the Bonaire Estates buyout, we wanted to introduce the amazing ZoHa Islands staff, so you can get to know them. I will present them in random order, and will introduce three staff members per blog post, in order to keep the length of the posts down. For the first three, I’d like to introduce Deuce, Jules, and Crazed!

Deuce Marjeta: Operations Manager

Deuce is a Second Life veteran, as he has been in-world since 2004. He has been with ZoHa Islands for six years in his role as Operations Manager. Prior to that, he worked for Surreal Estates for four years, and owned and operated his own estate company, Massine Estates, for three years.

When asked what brought him to Second Life, Deuce said that he was drawn to SL by the idea of marketing the concept of a 3-D world, interacting with a solid customer base, and of course making money! He got into SL as a tool for his own marketing platform. “I found it interesting enough to keep at it and have made a lot of money doing it,” states Deuce. “I still think there is a niche for everyone in SL that wants to work hard to achieve a profit margin…I like SL because I find it challenging even in a bad market.”

Deuce doesn’t do much in SL anymore except work. Like many long-time SLers, the bloom is off  the rose and disillusionment has set in. Instead, Deuce threw himself into his work. His idea was to grow ZI with the goal of making it one of the top 20 estates. He is proud to say that six years later, ZI is not only one of the top 20, but is one of the top three! Deuce states: “I have a great team helping me make this happen. If it weren’t for working for ZoHa Islands I doubt I would be in SL anymore. I am in that ‘been there done that’ mode. But ZI keeps it interesting with the work I do for them.”

In RL, Deuce is not married but 8 years is practically married right?. He has grown kids and 18 grandchildren! Deuce is a graduate of MIT and owns a business called Tweak N Peek Electronics and Communications. He is also owner of WTF? BBQ, which specializes in Low country BBQ. He is a musician as well, and collects guitars and writes music. In typical Deuce style, he states, “Look I’m an old dog and set in my ways but sometimes I like to run like a pup and still can hike my leg in the tall grass.”

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KittyKat Jules: Estate Manager

The lovely KittyKat Jules (just call her Jules) has been in Second Life since 2008, so she is also a long-time SLer. When asked why she came to SL, Jules states sheepishly that she was playing a My Space app, and a friend of hers in game told her about Second Life. Like many noobs, she rezzed in, poked around for a couple of hours and thought that it was dumb. She tried it again a week later, found some friendly residents to show her the ropes, and she’s been here ever since.

Jules started with ZoHa Islands in May of 2011. She started as a Sales Agent, then an Estate Manager then eventually Assistant Manager to Duece Marjeta.  Jules stated, “Unfortunately, while I absolutely loved that job and role, some RL things took hold of me (all very good ones) and I decided it was better to relinquish the role and step down to Estate Manager, because I really enjoy working for ZoHa Islands, and it just doesn’t feel like SL unless I’m there.” Prior to ZI, she worked for another estate as an Estate Manager for about a year, which provided her the EM experience she needed.

Jules is not married in RL, but very happily taken. She has two beautiful little girls, and a goofy Australian Cattle Dog dog named Sasha.  She lives in northern Illinois in the US and freely admits to being 31 years old! Jules is a warm weather gal, as her hobbies include camping, bonfires & hanging out with some amazing friends and family in the summertime. The northern Illinois winters cause her to hunker down and wait for the snow to melt! She says, “I also like to draw, attend different ‘cons’, read, spend time with my gorgeous little spawns, go shooting, & cooking in my awesome kitchen!

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Crazed Soderstrom: Estate Manager

Crazed has been in Second Life for six and a half years. He found SL when he was doing a 3-D modeling class in school, and the instructor recommended trying SL to bring their creations to life, and he simply stayed.

Crazed is a recent ZI hire, as he came to us from Bonaire Estates. Crazed was with Bonaire for two and a half years as Lead Estate Manager. Crazed’s skills are many and varied, including some amazing building skillz. Crazed said, self-depracatingly, “I was a jack of all trades, ace of none so to speak.” [author’s note: don’t let him fool you; he’s very talented at all things EM and building related.]

Crazed’s first job in SL was as a security guard for an escort club. Since then, he has owned several clubs, and also a boxing gym for about 2 years called Bad Azz Gym.

When asked what he liked to do in SL on his time off, he states, “The likes are slowing shrinking, as a lot of the stuff I used to do is now gone. My new favorite place is a club, which I am not going to name because they do not need any more publicity.”

In RL, Crazed is 36 years old and is married. He and his wife have three daughters. His hobbies are hunting and fishing “because I live in a state that allows sooo much of it.”

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Stay tuned; more ZI staff introductions next post!

~ Suzanne Piers-Fromund, ZI Social Media Manager