Ione & Becs

New site, New accounts and a New article. How refreshing? This time I will make a special about Ione & Becs, or commenly known as “Rebecca & Rebecca” ;-). The so-far greatest & most famous Sulake Staffs ever existed. They both have worked ages at Sulake, and both left the company some years ago. Ione started working for Habbo UK, and Becs too! Only Ione was in the UK office, and Becs worked from home. Ione was since 2001 the Director of Community for all Habbo Hotels, Becs joined the community operations unit in HQ in 2004 as the Community Operations Manager. I believe, Ione & Becs were one of the people who made Habbo as we know it now. We must be really thankfull.

Ione
Ione, aka Rebecca “Ribs” Susiaho Norman joined Sulake on 01 May 2001. She was the first Site Producer for Habbo UK. Shortly after that, in May 2001 she was promoted to Director of Community. That’s one hell of position-change. First she was writing Advertising Sales & Marketing Campaigns and edited the site, and then she was operating all Community activities. She directly managed a split in-house/remote tam, with additional responsibility for Community Managers in all markets. Her responsibilities included Community Management, Moderation, Safety and Customer Services. In September 2006, Rebecca got the position Director of User Experience. She directly managed a split in-house/remote team, with additional responsibility for both Site Producers and Community Managers in all markets. Her responsibilities included community management, customer services, moderation, site production and email marketing. Role subsequently split to create two separate roles: Ione then specialised in Site Production. So, August 2007 Ione became Director of Site Production. She directly managed a split in-house/remote team, with additional responsibility for Site Producers in all markets. Her responsibilities included strategic planning and implementation of site production, email marketing and community management through in-game events with the Habbo virtual world and social network. In January 2009 Ione left Sulake. She is now working for Wolfplain, as (again) Director of Community.

Recommendation by Christian Batist

“I have worked with Rebecca in several different capacities, and I can not recommend her highly enough. Rebecca understands the very soul of community management, both from the creative and from the safety/moderation angle. She has raised her baby \'Habbo\' with extreme care and dedication and today more than 142 million users have signed up to a service that Rebecca has been part of the very heart of. I realize that the world is bigger than Habbo, and I hope her new employer realizes what gem he has recruited in Rebecca. Our paths will hopefully cross often, in this inspiring virtual space.”
September 3, 2009
Christian Batist, Senior Vice President of Marketing, Sulake Corporation Oy.
managed Rebecca \"Ribs\" at Sulake

Interview by Dionysus

What made you choose the name Ione?
- It\'s ione actually (no capital I). :-D The name just popped into my head the day I started working for Habbo Hotel UK and I have to say, I\'ve grown to love it. I even answer to ione IRL now! And in case you were wondering, it\'s said i-oh-nee.

How long have you worked for Habbo/ Sulake, and what roles you have worked over this time?
- I\'ll have been working for Sulake for four years come the first of May. Four years? Good grief. Thankfully the Habbos haven\'t given me too many grey hairs. I was the first Hotel Manager, but at the beginning everyone mucked in, so I also answered emails, filled in as Head Hobba and even made the tea! I\'m now Sulake\'s Community Director, which means I help all the Head Hobbas and Player Support peeps from all the Habbo Hotels around the world. I like to keep up to date with hotel happenings though, so I often visit the different hotels and sometimes it might even be me who answers your email (so best be polite, just in case)...

Becs
Becs / Rebecca Newton joined Habbo UK Ltd in July 2001. She was a Moderator for Habbo UK. In April 2003, she took ofer the Head-Hobba position. Over all her years, she mostly worked from home. Since then, becs was hirering massive of Hobba’s, to keep the hotel safe. Commonly known as “Becs’ Sibblings”. She also hired lots of volunteer & paid Moderators. In December 2003 was an announcement that GlitterKat would be the new Head Hobba, and Becs was promoted to HQ. Since January 2004 Becs is the Manager of Community Operations for all Habbo Hotels. Her responsibilities included: overseeing global online safety for Sulake.com, overseeing global Moderation efforts for the Sulake corporation, developing and implementing online moderation and safety policies and procedures, recruitment, training and professional development for Sulake\'s global Community and Customer Service staff, and setting policy and procedure for community interaction. Rebecca also served on the North American Management Team for Sulake North America, as Head of North American Community. During January 2006 Becs got the position “Manager of Community Training & Development”. In september 2006, when Ione took the lead in Site Production, Becs took over Director of Community. In October 2007 she left Sulake. This role subsequently split in 3 different roles, Safety & Education Officer (Redtiz), Safety & Education Community Assistant (BarbaraAnne) and Director of Customer Service & Moderation (Helmer).

Recommendation by Colm Connolly

“Rebecca is one of the most experienced and knowledgeable Community experts I\'ve had the pleasure of working with during my years in the field. She is passionate about her work and the benefits that a thriving community can bring to both organisations and the community\'s users. She also is adept at maintaining and developing the knowledge needed to keep the community safe, and deliver the service users require to return. She has a deserved reputation within the field and is an huge asset to any organisation.”
December 6, 2007
Colm Connolly, Player Support Lead, Sulake UK
worked with Rebecca at Sulake Inc.

Becs’ Story

I left a lucrative job, once again, to work for Habbo UK Ltd. in 2002. Habbo UK was amazing and way ahead of the curve. Again, I thought I\'d found the Holy Grail. I left RTI for AOL. I left AOL to consult. I left Fowler\'s for Habbo. I spent nearly 6 years at Habbo and worked with some amazing people. Sulake bought out Dee Edwards in October of 2002 (I think it was October) and began planning to open Habbo Hotels around the globe. By the time it was all said and done, Habbo was in 24 countries and we had 70 million users (or more, can\'t remember). It was an incredible learning experience and I was lucky enough to work with so many talented, dedicated, smart and creative people. I really loved the users as well. Working with young people is so rewarding and good for the soul. Working with people is good for the soul :-D.

PS: (Becs once did sing a song with some guy named ‘DJ Carrot’ (I believe), if you can find the song back for me.. I will love you forever! (Found it some years ago on limewire))).