Ask most any Edison Nation member, and they’ll likely tell you of a common addiction rapidly spreading across the EN community — compulsively checking the member dashboard! Today, meet the EN team member who not only assists our review team with making idea selections, but also serves in the role of making those ever-anticipated dashboard updates, Kim Langdon!

Q1. What is your position within Edison Nation and what does it entail?

Senior Product Reviewer. I lay eyes on every single submission that enters Edison Nation’s virtual doors and help our IP Manager, Scott narrow down our selections for final presentation. Yes, I am the person on the “other side” of your dashboard!

Q2. Where are you from?

Charlotte, North Carolina. Natives are rare here, but you can’t beat having the mountains and the beach at your doorstep, along with a thriving city. And I wouldn’t trade the weather for anything! What’s that? Carolina Girls…..best in the world? Well, yes, of course!

Q3. What are 3 items you can’t live without?

1. My fur child, Buddy (my Chihuahua)
2. My camera, for my creative outlet
3. My glasses. Sad, but true, I can’t see a thing!

Q4. What are the 3 things on your bucket list?

1. Complete tour of Italy
2. Write a book (don’t worry I have plenty of material!)
3. Go on an African safari ……I have always wanted to see animals live the way they were meant to……or I may just watch too much Animal Planet!

Q5. What is one of your favorite quotes?

“Watch your thoughts, they become words.

Watch your words, they become actions.

Watch your actions, they become habits.

Watch your habits, they become character.

Watch your character, for it becomes…
your destiny.”

Stay tuned for the next “Meet the EN Team” where you’ll meet the Edison Nation staffer who wears many hats, including keeping all the rest of us on task, our Project Manager, Ryan Gorman.

If you’ve read about Edison Nation in Popular Science, watched a segment about us on CNBC, or seen our products featured both in national television and print media outlets, then you’ve seen the fruits of the behind-the-scenes efforts of Edison Nation’s PR team. Today, meet the staff member who oversees that team, Mary Dickson!

Q1. What is your position within Edison Nation and what does it entail?

A. I am the PR manager for Edison Nation, helping to lead our media efforts behind the company, our inventor community and our products. Our team dabbles in everything from media relations to social media communications and copy writing.

Q2. What do you enjoy most about working at Edison Nation?

A. As corny as this may be, I love the people here. I’ve worked at Edison Nation for four years, so many of my coworkers are great friends, and then some… (here’s to you, Ryan Gorman . I enjoy the fact that we all work hard each day, but there’s plenty of room for humor and sarcasm, good music and the odd happy hour.

Q3. Where are you from?

A. I was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana, hence my obsession with good food and drink! I’ve lived in Charlotte since middle school with stops in Boston (for college) and Seattle (for those fun and reckless years post-college).

Q4. What’s on your DVR right now?

A. My DVR is a bit all over the place. I may have to watch it from behind a pillow, but I am digging American Horror Story and The Walking Dead. I’m a sucker for reality television, including Project Runway, Top Chef, Next Iron Chef, Chopped, America’s Next Top Model. I maintain my youth and brains by watching Gossip Girl. I promise: I do have a social life.

Q5. What are the 3 things on your bucket list?

A. Travel to Greece and stay in one of those picturesque whitewashed buildings with the bright blue shutters along the coast. Master my headstand and crow pose in my bright-and-early power vinyasa yoga class. Cook and entertain like Barefoot Contessa, without having to follow a recipe or my beloved Food Network.

Stay tuned for the next “Meet the EN Team” where you’ll meet another staffer who plays an important role in digging through each of your ideas to find the very best ones — our Senior Product Reviewer, Kim Langdon!

For someone outside of the Edison Nation organization, it may seem that product searches launch, close, and then some time later there is an announcement of the outcome. If you’re an Edison Nation Insider, you’re likely a bit more entrenched in the process, having anxiously awaited a time or two (or a dozen!) as your ideas gradually moved along the dashboard. In whichever category you may fall, there’s an unseen process that takes place for every single idea submitted to Edison Nation, and it is one of the most crucial components of the product search process: idea review.

Today, you’ll meet the staff member who oversees the Edison Nation review team, which works hard each and every day to evaluate your great ideas and give them a shot at success! Meet Scott Dromms!

Q1. What is your position within Edison Nation and what does it entail?

A. My title is Manager, Intellectual Property. I lead the review team and manage the review process. I also develop presentations and then have the pleasure and privilege to represent inventors’ ideas to sponsors, handle follow-up with the sponsors, and work to secure a licensing deal for products. This includes developing the financial metrics around deals and negotiating on behalf of the inventors and Edison Nation.

Q2. What do you enjoy most about working at Edison Nation?

A. My first day I went home and remarked to my family that I had never worked anywhere where the individuals I worked with were so brilliant in their given field. It is such a creative environment, and being able to represent the EN community and the innovative spirit that exists is so fulfilling. The interaction with the community is tremendous and I enjoy seeing people follow their goals, stretch themselves in the desire to succeed, and then being able to have the chance to inform an inventor that they have licensed an item… that is priceless. It’s such a rewarding feeling to see someone succeed in the pursuit of their dreams.

Q3. What are you likely doing on a Saturday morning?

A. Neighborhood Men’s Tennis Club for several hours and then spending time with my wife and 5 ½ year old twins. For the last few months, I’ve been coaching baseball for my son and watching my daughter’s soccer games.

Q4. What is one of your favorite quotes?

A. “To me, there are three things we should all do every day. Number 1 is laugh; you should laugh every day. Number 2 is think; you should spend some time in thought. Number 3 is you should have your emotions moved to tears — could be happiness or joy. But think about it — if you laugh, you think and you cry, that’s a full day; that’s a heckuva day.” – Jim Valvano, recipient of the Arthur Ashe Award for Courage at the 1993 American Sports Awards

Q5. What do you think is the greatest invention in your lifetime and why?

A. The Internet – the ability to connect globally instantly is amazing. To research and connect with family and friends are all great features. A REALLY close second is the Foreman Grill. I mean, to be a guy who likes to grill and to be able to do that inside as well… that was a great idea!!

Stay tuned for next month’s “Meet the EN Team” where you’ll meet the head of the Edison Nation PR team!

If you enjoy the look and feel of Edison Nation emails, or find our website graphics aesthetically pleasing, meet the team member whose creativity brings those designs your way, Chris Engler!

Q1. What is your position within Edison Nation and what does it entail?

A. I’m a web/UX designer. My job involves designing graphics and working on front-end code for edisonnation.com, and weekly email communications to Edison Nation members. I also help provide art for day-to-day things like press releases, Live Product Searches, and whatever else comes down the pipe.

Q2. What do you enjoy most about working at Edison Nation?

A. Not only do I get to work with some very smart people who appreciate my work, but we’re located in a cool old industrial building near Uptown Charlotte and tons of good lunch spots.

Q3. What are the 3 things on your bucket list?

A. Take boxing lessons, learn how to play banjo or guitar, and own a beach home. Some of these goals are more realistic than others.

Q4. If your life had a soundtrack, what’s at least one song that would be on it?

A. “Do You Realize?” by The Flaming Lips. It’s a musically rich and compelling song with a bittersweet message.

Q5. What do you think is the greatest invention in your lifetime and why?

A. Broadband internet access. It has fundamentally altered the way human beings communicate, helped ignite revolutions in oppressed countries, and (much less importantly) allows me to make a living.

Stay tuned for next month’s “Meet the EN Team” where you’ll meet an Edison Nation staff member who gets up close and personal with member submissions!

So how exactly do we at Edison Nation turn your ideas into the best possible product, for the best possible price? That’s where our team member, Jeff Browning, comes in!

If Edison Nation were to have office superlatives, Jeff would likely take home the “Most Congenial” award. Jeff arrives at our EN headquarters in the early morning hours to make house calls to source product samples, oversee manufacturing and to find the best methods of production for our products. When he’s not going back and forth with manufacturers, you can expect to find Jeff making the essential first pot of coffee, lending a hand with the office dishwasher, or delighting fellow coworkers with stories from his native Midwestern roots.

Read on in this month’s “Meet the EN team” post to learn more about Jeff!

Q1. What is your position within Edison Nation and what does it entail?

A. Director of Product Sourcing and Purchasing. I review selected products and develop the costing to determine how to improve the design and costs to make the best possible product at the best price.

Q2. What are you likely doing on a Saturday morning?

A. Up early, have a little Java and breakfast, then work on cars or work on the yard. And in cooler weather, go hunting!

Q3. What are the 3 things on your bucket list?

A. Go on a photo safari to Africa, drive a car on Bonneville Salt Flats at 200+ mph, and take a cruise to Norway with my wife.

Q4. If your life had a soundtrack, what’s at least one song that would be on it?

A. “Takin’ Care of Business” by Bachman-Turner Overdrive.

Q5. What is one of your favorite quotes?

A. ”Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure… than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.” – Theodore Roosevelt

Wanna see more of Jeff’s work in action? Check out this behind-the-scenes footage of the development of Eggies!

By Patricia Herzog-Mesrobian

From the moment I entered the converted Grist Mill built in 1906, whose character and charm still echoed throughout, I knew this day would be like no other. It had been my long awaited dream to make it here, one way or another, just to meet all the amazing people at Edison Nation and to see the infamous Everyday Edisons Production Studio.

It all started out with a gigantic warm welcome from Rich Holmes and the team. As I posed for an exciting photo in front of the prestigious “Wall of Patents,” I couldn’t help but think about all those inventors, their dreams now a reality. It confirmed for me once again why I have chosen to hang my dreams on the EN Star.

It became quickly apparent, as Rich led me on a wonderful and informative tour,  that he was truly passionate about his role at EN as a Legal Counsel and Inventor Advocate. I was quite an enthusiastic visitor, to say the least, and as he welcomed each and every question he was thoughtful and extremely knowledgeable. It is obvious he is relentless in helping to protect our patents. Little do we realize what is involved on a daily basis to keep our products safe and on the market.

At the end of my terrific and fun filled visit I hated to leave, but I left feeling inspired, motivated, thankful, and confident in the Edison Nation organization. They are truly the best in what they do!

We had a very special guest at EN headquarters today! Edison Nation Member, Patricia Herzog-Mesrobian, dropped by to pay us a visit and meet the crew while vacationing in the area. While Patricia was here, our Inventor Advocate, Rich, gave her a grand tour of where all the magic happens!