Pixelz Newsletter

People Doing Cool Things

I'm stepping into your inbox with a slightly different kind of newsletter this month. Normally, I dedicate this space to a single, reflective topic, where I ramble a bit about the industry-adjacent things. This month, I thought we might all want something uplifting, a little reminder of why we love what we do.

We just published the Finalist list for the Top 50 E-commerce Studio Professionals, and I had the unique privilege of putting that blog post together. I call it a privilege because I get to read through every single nomination. And let me tell you, it's truly inspiring. It honestly hurts not to be able to include every single word that was written about each Finalist, because the nominations are so thoughtful, witty, and full of admiration.

What struck me most this year is that nominators would rattle through a person's accomplishments, talk about their innovations, and then—almost as an afterthought, but clearly heartfelt—end with a very simple line. Things like, "They're just a cool person," "They're just a joy," or "They've got a great sense of humor." Something about that short, simple line, like the nominator was almost afraid to write anything too personal, but they absolutely had to let us know that the nominee is genuinely awesome.

It’s these little insights into character, beyond the professional accolades, that really resonate. It's a reminder that while we're all pushing boundaries and striving for excellence in our industry, the human element, the joy, the humor, the sheer coolness of the people we work with, is what truly makes our community special. If you need that reminder and want to get into your feelings, read about all the finalists here.

Pixelz Pulse

It’s all about community in this month’s updates from Pixelz:

Hot Links

A few things from around the internet that had us thinking this month:

  • Our colleague Pedro chatted with Fernando Ribeiro and posted the conversation on his LinkedIn. They talk about operational debt - what happens when you’re spending more time fixing problems than working and planning.
  • How do you world build? I loved listening to this podcast about storytelling and content in commerce from Fashion People (a new to me podcast with some really great episodes).
  • Oasis are about to start their reunion shows complete with merch stores. A side of our industry I’ve been thinking about recently. I wanted to know more about just how big the merch industry is and I found this impeccable breakdown of the stats.
  • Last month, I wrote about Daydream AI shopping. The beta version is officially open if you want to test it out along with me.