ChicpeaJC turned 4 two months ago and I still can’t believe it. When I look back on the last 4 years, all I really see are the people who’ve been along on this journey. My team. A few members came and went as it’s a natural thing that occurs in any business, but for the most part I have a great core team of people who’ve been with me for over a year. This is a post dedicated to them.

To celebrate these milestones we recently took a team trip to Asbury Park. The 2-year anniversaries of Alex and Mike being on the team, and the 1-year anniversaries of Laura and Tarol being on the team.

Alexandria Perez

When I moved into ChicpeaHQ over 2 years ago, I put it out there on social media that I was looking for a blog intern. Alex emailed me her resume and I asked her to come in for an interview. I hired her on the spot and she’s been basically running this blog since. Now, Alex is Director of Operations/Editor in Chief! I always joke when I introduce her to people that she is actually my boss and essentially runs this web site… well, it’s not really a joke. Alex is an incredibly talented writer and makes me look like I am when in all honesty, my grammar and punctuation suck!

That being said, we are a good team. I am so thankful for Alex and her putting up with my shit the last two years. Without her, I would not be able to do this. Seriously love her and so thankful for her hard work.

Michael Perez

Shortly after I hired Alex, Michael Perez AKA 5thphvse, an incredibly talented photographer I met once at a party, showed up at my office one day and never left #truestory. He came in to hang out with us and we started shooting and had this creative connection immediately. I offered him a job officially as Director of Photography and my best friend. Mike has since shot for MEGA superstars and I wait till the day he will say, “Lynn… I must go.” We love Mike so much, even though he can be a huge pain in the ass (especially when he goes missing).

Mike has basically helped this site and our content level-up, the visuals he creates are like no one else, and I’m thankful to have one of the best photographers in the tri-state area on my team. Not only that, he is a great friend and I love him like a brother (although sometimes, I’m more like his mother).

Tarol Jackson

Since I hired Alex and Michael, we had a few great team members come and go but it was time to hire another part-time writer to join the team. Tarol, a JC native and a student at NJCU, heard about the gig through a friend of hers. Tarol wanted to work for ChicpeaJC and work on her journalism skills.

I remember when she walked into our office. My first reaction was, “DAMN, that girl is FINE.” Tarol is not only gorgeous, she is incredibly smart, outgoing and dorky like the rest of the ChicpeaJC crew. She started a week later as a writer and since then, she’s taken on many other roles! Tarol is our Lifestyle Manager, Account Manager for a few of our social media clients, and she also throws events for local Singles with my best friend Kyra, AKA Singles in JC.

Tarol kicks major butt and she is a boss bitch in the making. I know she is only getting her feet wet.

Laura Galarza

Around the same time Tarol joined the team, so did Laura – a student from Montclair who applied to be part of our visual team. Laura has been shooting some great content for the blog, our weekly #JCspot (which is making a comeback soon, our It Was All a Dream episodes and MANY events. Laura fit in the team right away and, funnily enough, her and Alex are literally twins. What are the chances that two team-members actually look the same? It makes me so happy seeing close friendships develop as a result of this gig.

I am super proud of Laura’s growth as a digital artist! She’s been wonderful to work with and Im so excited to see whats coming.

Kyra Huxel

Kyra is technically not really on the ChicpeaJC team other than throwing Singles events with Tarol. That being said, she actually was my first ever helper/writer/photographer/therapist/assistant when I started the blog. She is such a good friend. She’s been with me for this whole journey from the very beginning, before ChicpeaJC was even really a thing. That is why Kyra is and will always will be an honorary team member! Even though she isn’t part of the day-to-day, she knows everything that’s going on and I will often go to her for advice. She is my best friend through and through. My ride or die bitch. She also looks great in a bikini so I had to invite her to team day.

Honorable Mention Peter B.

Peter is our newest member, he is an incredibly talented photographer who shoots for a lot of our food related clients since that is his specialty. We all love Pete so much, he fit right into the team dynamic and I am so excited to work with him more in the next year.

Alright! Back to Asbury!

We set up a day to head over to the beach and enjoy the sun on a 90-degree day with drinks, snacks, and delicious sandwiches from SubCulture JC! They supplied sandwiches for our team which were all really delicious and perfect for our beach day. We also had some delicious sangria, shout out to Tarol! And listened to tunes all day.

We enjoyed the beautiful weather and each others company and of course had a lot of photo shoots on the beach!

So thankful for another year with my team and so excited for what’s to come!