A mere fifty-nine days from today I will be riding my bicycle at the feet of the Rockies so I can be better aquatinted with the beautiful city of Boulder, CO. I can not wait for the internship that awaits me there with Moxie Sozo. I discovered the firm in Computer Arts No. 161 and the day after I applied for a position, Leif Steiner called me and offered me a internship. It was unbelievable and a pretty obvious blessing.

It was through Twitter that I found an article in The Egotist that interviewed Leif. The article is a fantastic insight to what eighty of my hours per week will look like this summer and I can not wait. The comments following the article had an overall theme of labeling Leif as a "slave driver", "rockstar", and as "pompous". That is not exactly the best description of a boss I would want to work for, however the voices of negativity mumbled with a bitter tone behind anonymous pen names. Leif was also labeled by former employees as the best creative director they had worked for.

I spoke to Leif for about ten minutes when he called me to offer the invitation to Moxie Sozo. Ten minutes is a pathetic sample of time, but it was the first time we had ever spoken to each other and my impressions did not reflect any of the anonymous. I answered a strange number when I should have been in english class and when Leif told me he was from Moxie Sozo, I became so nervous that I instantly forgot who I was speaking with. He told me that he liked my website and that I was the very first applicant for a summer internship. That was some pretty sweet news. He then asked me when the first day of summer was and I threw out a day that made sense, "May 10th". I happened to be correct.

At the end of the conversation I asked who I was speaking with again and Leif told me that he was a janitor who liked to play with the phones. My ten minute conversation is one reason why I already like Leif. His sense of humor is only a bonus. Leif responded to all of the negative criticism following the article by posting this thread:

Hey everyone, Thanks for all of your commentary. Good, bad and ugly. I'm leaving tomorrow morning to go broker a peace deal between the Palestinians and Israelis, buy some more hair product and get a massage for my ego. Actually, I WILL be offline for the next week. Feel free to email your hate mail directly to me and I'll respond accordingly. Thanks - Leif

PS: Loved the baby elephant quote.

PPS: Erin King is right --- This agency would not be possible without the herculean efforts of Teri Gosse and Charles Bloom. Far more humble than myself, these two are rock stars in their own right. So, THANK YOU.

Leif (not verified)

November 19th, 2009, 4:50pm

He also cares about the studio's carbon footprint and organized a massive relief effort for the tragedies in New Orleans and Haiti. Leif has passion and that is why his employees choose to work long hours. Everyone is dedicated to creating beautiful media and maintaining an authentic relationship with clients. That sounds excellent to me, and I am counting down the days until I get to be apart of such a great studio.