Our Team

Jesse Kalisher

Guy with the camera

With Team Since:
Um….

Hometown:
Manhattan, the center of the universe

3 things I do on the weekend:
Nap. Play family ultimate. Nap. See friends. Nap.

Favorite Time of Day:
Toss up... either when Jordan and Tamar climb into bed with us first thing in the morning, or when they finally (!) get to sleep at night. Go figure.

Favorite Place:
Masaya, Nicaragua. Hands down. I want to live there

Favorite Movie:
Twelve O'Clock High

Only album I’d take to a deserted island:
Something by Johnny Cash

How I take my coffee:
A reformed French Press, French Roast junkie, it's all Earl Grey tea for me now.

Fun Fact (personal or general):
I always thought I was goi ng to be a novelist.

Email:

Helen Kalisher

V.P., Creative Director and
Teatowel Laundress

With Team Since:
Day One.

Hometown:
Wolverhampton, U.K.

3 things I do on the weekend:
Cook exotic, complicated vegetarian meals for friends. Do art projects with my kids. Wake Jesse up from his naps.

Favorite Time of Day:
Just before twilight

Favorite Place:
My yoga mat, or the next place on my travel list

Favorite Movie:
Harold and Maude

Only album I’d take to a deserted island:
Adventures in Afropea, by Zap Mama

How I take my coffee:
In my trusty travel mug. With soy milk or real cream, depending on my mood and what's in the fridge.

Fun Fact (personal or general):
In my 8+ years of solo globe-trotting I had a rule—try out any job, but never do the same job twice. Hence things like camel handling and book binding on my resume.

Email:

Sarah Elder

V.P., Studio Director and
Company Muscle

With Team Since:
August 2005

Hometown:
Boca Raton, FL

3 things I do on the weekend:
Run. Make pancakes with hubs. Stress about, obsess over and make futile attempts to obliterate dust and dog hair.

Favorite Time of Day:
Any time that involves eating.

Favorite Place:
My kitchen. My bed is a close second.

Favorite Movie:
Punch Drunk Love for nonconformity and a general love of Mr. Sandler. Ace Ventura Pet Detective for sentimental value.

Only album I’d take to a deserted island:
This is an impossible question that I refuse to answer.

How I take my coffee:
Unadulterated

Fun Fact (personal or general):
As a child, when asked what I wanted to be when I grew up, my two answers were supermodel and veterinarian. Apparently I wanted to go to college for 8 years or skip it all together. This all or nothing approach has never left me.

Email:
Tel:   + 1 (919) 967 4300 ext 22

Account Director and Moral Compass

With Team Since:
January 2009

Hometown:
Wilmington, NC

3 things I do on the weekend:
Go out to Sunday brunch. Grocery shop. Convince husband to increase craft budget for umpteenth trip to Michael’s and attempt to create something from the random items I end up with after said trip.

Favorite Time of Day:
Morning

Favorite Place:
NYC

Favorite Movie:
Elizabethtown

Only album I’d take to a deserted island:
Vince Guaraldi Trio- Charlie Brown Christmas

How I take my coffee:
with a small bit of skim or half & half

Fun Fact (personal or general):
Personal: I am a certified scuba diver…. but I hate scuba diving. General: The human eye blinks on average 4,200,000 times a year.

Email:
Tel:   + 1 (919) 967 4300 ext 32

Brian Helder (ASID)

Account Director

With Team Since:
2011 physically, but 2009 spiritually

Hometown:
Grand Rapids, MI

3 things I do on the weekend:
Extra long dog walks, worry that the neighbors hate my yard, art fair circuit

Favorite Time of Day:
Golden hour (right before sunset when everything turns golden). Seems like anything is possible when everything is in Technicolor

Favorite Place:
Cafe in Barcelona eating Tapas at the Golden Hour (See above)

Favorite Movie:
Anything without violence

Only album I’d take to a deserted island:
Classic Christmas songs, at least I could sing at the top of my lungs and not bother anyone

How I take my coffee:
One Splenda, 2 half & halfs (they offset each other)

Fun Fact (personal or general):
I was a bowling champion in 3rd grade. I quit the circuit to watch Scooby Doo on Saturday mornings.

Email:
Tel:   + 1 (919) 967 4300 ext 34

Margaret Irvin

Account Manager and Cupcake Queen

With Team Since:
August 2009

Hometown:
New York City

3 things I do on the weekend:
run, practice ballet in the kitchen while baking, have adventures with my boyfriend and dog

Favorite Time of Day:
early – mid morning

Favorite Place:
Vietnam Veterans Memorial Ice Skating Rink in North Adams, MA

Favorite Movie:
Babe

Only album I’d take to a deserted island:
Talking Heads "Stop Making Sense", but only if I had the ability to skip the Tom Tom Club track

How I take my coffee:
cream and sugar, please

Fun Fact (personal or general):
I was born at home two months early

Email:
Tel:   + 1 (919) 967 4300 ext 23

Account Associate

With Team Since:
May 2011

Hometown:
Chapel Hill, NC

3 Things I do on the weekend:
Cook, laze about the house, explore new walking trails with my spoiled lab.

Favorite Time of Day:
Evenings and weekend afternoons

Favorite Place:
Local Yogurt in Greensboro

Favorite Movie:
500 Days of Summer

Only album I'd take to a deserted island:
Rogue wave - Descended Like Vultures

How I take my coffee:
Cream. sugar occasionally

Fun Fact:
I am boring. Will update when something interesting happens

Email:
Tel:   + 1 (919) 967 4300 ext 29

Account Associate

With Team Since:
March 2012

Hometown:
Wilton, CT

3 Things I do on the weekend:
I haven't had many weekends to reclaim my sanity before joining Kalisher, so going forward I plan on... Cooking all the recipes I've collected from my family/magazines/Pinterest, exploring Carrboro/ Chapel Hill with my favorite tour guide, and going on adventures with my dog (which of course I don't have yet....details my friends).

Favorite Time of Day:
Anytime that I can curl up in my reading nook with a good read—albeit a classic, summer trash, or a stimulating novel.

Favorite Place:
At my family's restaurant, Bamonte's, in Brooklyn, NY, surrounded by the people that matter the most... and lots of mussels in red sauce.

Favorite Movie:
Any film with Audrey Hepburn (my idol).

Only album I'd take to a deserted island:
I honestly don't think I could choose just one album...

How I take my coffee:
Half & half and three Splenda please, I like it sweet .

Fun Fact:
I remember taking the shapes, alphabet, and numbers tests to enter kindergarten at age four, which in turn made me the youngest member of my class growing up... until high school when Miss. Smarty-pants-girl-who-skipped-two-grades totally stole my thunder. I'm not bitter ten years later, never.

Email:
Tel:   + 1 (919) 967 4300 ext 27

Associate Creative Director
and Technical Wizard

With Team Since:
September 2008

Hometown:
Starkville, MS

3 things I do on the weekend:
Make lamps (lowellandlouise.etsy.com), take my sweetums out to dinner, and pool (the indoor kind on felt).

Favorite Time of Day:
5:30am

Favorite Place:
Glasgow

Favorite Movie:
Rushmore

Only album I’d take to a deserted island:
The Essential Roy Orbison

How I take my coffee:
Black with more black

Fun Fact (personal or general):
I’m a Volvo man.

Email:
Tel:   + 1 (919) 967 4300 ext 25

Studio Manager

With Team Since:
February 2011

Hometown:
Austin, TX

3 things I do on the weekend:
Cycling, playing and recording music, reading

Favorite Time of Day:
Either Saturday morning or really late at night

Favorite Place:
Hot Doug’s in Chicago

Favorite Movie:
Singin’ In The Rain

Only album I’d take to a deserted island:
Odyssey and Oracle by The Zombies…. or Loveless by My Bloody Valentine…. or What’s Going On by Marvin Gaye…. or Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison…. or Kind of Blue by Miles Davis…. or Tommy by The Who…. this is why I try to avoid deserted islands.

How I take my coffee:
I love the smell of coffee, but I would have to put so much cream and sugar into it to make it not taste like tree bark that I just don’t drink it to begin with.

Fun Fact (personal or general):
I was an insomniac in high school, and would spend my nights walking around Austin’s deserted streets. It was very relaxing and I really miss it sometimes.

Email:
Tel:   + 1 (919) 967 4300 ext 31

Studio Associate

With Team Since:
August 2011

Hometown:
Cary, NC

3 things I do on the weekend:
Catch up on my DVR, snuggle my kiddo, & eat delicious things

Favorite Time of Day:
Bedtime

Favorite Place:
Home

Favorite Movie:
White Christmas

Only album I’d take to a deserted island:
Now That’s What I Call Music – Volume 5

How I take my coffee:
With lots of caffeine.

Fun Fact (personal or general):
A homeless woman once tried to steal my purse because her, ‘hand got empty.’ After I stopped her, she asked me for a dollar. I said no.

Email:
Tel:   + 1 (919) 967 4300 ext 26

Creative Assistant

With Team Since:
September 2011

Hometown:
Four Oaks, North Carolina

3 things I do on the weekend:
Paint (TBA- as soon as I get a real studio), clean and the occasional weekend workout extreme.

Favorite Time of Day:
Mornings and meal times

Favorite Place:
Cinque Terra

Favorite Movie:
Forest Gump

Only album I’d take to a deserted island:
I would rather take my glasses/contacts, just for survival purposes

How I take my coffee:
With soy coconut cream (if I can ever find it again)
I try to drink tea but that never works out for me

Fun Fact (personal or general):
I can name all 44 U.S Presidents to the melody of Yankee Doodle

Email:
Tel:   + 1 (919) 967 4300 ext 33