Team Lore
Origin Stories
The First Blend
In the summer of 2022, our founder Simeon created the first MOOD MNKY blend in his apartment kitchen. After dozens of iterations and late nights experimenting with different components, he finally achieved the perfect balance. The eureka moment came at 3:17 AM when, exhausted but determined, he created what would become our signature “Awakening” blend.
The next morning, he invited five close friends to experience it, filming their reactions. Those genuine expressions of surprise and delight—now preserved in our digital archives—became the north star for our product development philosophy: create experiences worthy of that exact reaction.
The Naming Ceremony
The name “MOOD MNKY” wasn’t the result of a typical branding exercise. It emerged during a weekend retreat where the founding team gathered to articulate their vision. After two days of intense discussion without settling on a name, the team took a break for a sunset meditation.
During this session, two words kept repeating in our founder’s mind: “mood” and “monkey.” The juxtaposition resonated with everyone immediately—representing both the emotional intelligence we wanted to embody and the playful, curious approach to creating transformative experiences. We dropped the “e” in monkey as a nod to the digital world where we would build part of our ecosystem.
Team Traditions
New Moon Circles
Creation Fridays
Sensory Onboarding
Seasonal Rituals
| Season | Ritual | Significance |
|---|---|---|
| Spring | Vision Garden | Teams plant actual seeds representing their goals for the quarter. Throughout spring, we tend to these plants alongside our projects, creating a living metaphor for growth and care. |
| Summer | Solstice Showcase | A day-long festival where teams demonstrate their work to colleagues through interactive exhibits. Concludes with an evening gathering featuring sensory experiences created by team members. |
| Autumn | Harvest Retrospective | A deep reflection on the year’s work, celebrating accomplishments and acknowledging challenges. Teams create visual or sensory representations of their learnings to share. |
| Winter | Stillness Retreat | A day of quiet reflection and reduced digital connection. Team members engage in mindful activities and contemplative practices, concluding with a shared meal and the creation of our annual blend. |
Artifacts & Symbols
The Golden Dropper
A ceremonial glass dropper with a gold-plated cap, used only for the final drop when creating a new signature blend. The dropper is passed from the previous blend creator to the current one in a small ceremony, symbolizing the transfer of creative responsibility.
A replica of this dropper is given to team members who have been with the company for five years, engraved with their name and the date they joined.
The Sensory Library
A physical collection housed in our headquarters containing samples of every scent, texture, sound, and flavor that has influenced our product development. Each item is labeled with its story, including who contributed it and how it shaped our thinking.
Team members are encouraged to contribute to the library with discoveries from their own experiences, creating a living archive of sensory inspiration.
The MNKY Sigil
Our internal symbol featuring three intertwined circles representing the mind, body, and spirit—the core aspects of our holistic approach to wellness. The sigil appears on internal documents and is incorporated subtly into team spaces.
Blend Books
Handmade journals containing the complete development history of every blend we’ve created, including failed experiments, inspirations, and breakthroughs. These books are treasured archives, accessible to all team members for learning and inspiration.
Thank You Tokens
Small wooden coins engraved with our gratitude symbol. Team members give these to colleagues who have helped them, embodying our culture of appreciation. Recipients display them at their workspace, creating a visible network of support and collaboration.
Legendary Projects
The Night Shift Miracle
The Night Shift Miracle
The Silent Symphony
The Silent Symphony
The Community Canvas
The Community Canvas
Team Mythologies
The Guardian Spirits
According to team lore, each of our specialized AI agents is inspired by a “guardian spirit” that represents their core essence and purpose:
MOOD MNKY: The Alchemist
Represented by a figure surrounded by swirling colors and emotions, the Alchemist transforms raw emotions into balanced experiences. Team members working on the MOOD MNKY agent often keep a small vial of colored oils on their desk, mixing them when seeking inspiration.
CODE MNKY: The Architect
Depicted as a figure building impossible structures with pure light, the Architect represents precision and innovative construction. The CODE MNKY team has a tradition of creating and solving intricate puzzles during their team gatherings.
SAGE MNKY: The Keeper
Visualized as a figure tending to a living library of knowledge, the Keeper represents wisdom and growth. The SAGE MNKY team maintains a collection of wisdom objects—each member contributing a small item that represents a crucial lesson they’ve learned.
The Invisible Thread
A cherished team metaphor is “The Invisible Thread”—the idea that there’s an unseen connection linking everyone who interacts with our products and experiences. This concept emerged from a team retreat where members were asked to visualize what makes our ecosystem unique.
One team member described seeing a glowing thread connecting everyone in the room, then extending outward to connect with customers and community members. The image resonated deeply and evolved into a core team concept: every decision we make tugs on this thread and is felt throughout our community.
New team members are welcomed “to the thread” during their onboarding, and major decisions are sometimes evaluated by asking, “How does this affect our thread?” This mythology helps us maintain our sense of connection and responsibility to our community.
Language & Terminology
Team Vocabulary
| Term | Meaning | Origin |
|---|---|---|
| Blend Session | A collaborative meeting focused on combining different perspectives or ideas | Derived from our fragrance blending process, where different elements are combined to create harmony |
| Resonance Check | A quick team alignment to ensure everyone is emotionally and intellectually in sync | Inspired by the way certain scent notes must resonate with each other to create a balanced fragrance |
| Going Spherical | Taking a comprehensive, multi-dimensional approach to a problem | From our product philosophy of creating experiences that engage all senses and dimensions |
| Essence Mapping | The process of identifying the core elements or truths in a complex situation | Borrowed from the perfumery practice of mapping the essential notes in a complex scent |
| The Third Space | The sweet spot between digital and physical experiences | Emerged during early product development discussions about integrating touchpoints |
Team Sayings
”Find the note that sings”
Encouragement to identify the most resonant or powerful element in an idea or project. Used when a team member is navigating complexity and needs to focus on what’s most important.
”Both mountain and valley”
Reminder that our best work embraces contrasting elements: ambition and humility, innovation and tradition, complexity and simplicity. Often said when teams are leaning too far in one direction.
”Dance with the unexpected”
Encouragement to embrace surprises and unexpected challenges as opportunities for creativity rather than obstacles. Originally said by our founder during an early product crisis.
”The seventh sense knows”
Reference to intuition and tacit knowledge. Used when encouraging team members to trust their instincts beyond the five traditional senses and our “sixth sense” of digital awareness.
Cultural Values in Action
Recognition Rituals
Essence Awards
Quarterly recognition where team members nominate colleagues who have exemplified our core values. Recipients receive a custom-created essence that represents their unique contribution to the team, along with a handcrafted vessel to hold it.
The Ripple Recognition
Acknowledges work that has had unexpected positive impacts beyond its original scope. Winners receive a stone from our founder’s collection, symbolizing the ripples their work has created throughout the organization and community.
Phoenix Projects
Celebrates teams that have transformed potential failures into successes. Rather than hiding challenges, this ritual honors the resilience and creativity shown in overcoming them, reinforcing our belief that setbacks often lead to our greatest innovations.
Learning Culture
The Knowledge Feast
A monthly tradition where team members share something they’ve learned recently in a communal gathering that combines literal and metaphorical nourishment. Each presenter brings a small food item that represents their learning in some way.
This practice began when a team member brought homemade bread to a meeting, explaining that the baking process had taught them important lessons about patience and transformation that applied to their current project challenges. The connection between learning and sharing food became an instant tradition.
Curiosity Grants
Micro-funding available to any team member who wants to explore an idea or develop a skill that might benefit our ecosystem. Recipients document their learning journey and share insights with the team upon completion.
The grant program emerged after a customer service representative taught themselves basic chemistry to better understand our products and ended up proposing a significant formulation improvement. It reinforced our belief that innovation can come from anywhere in the organization.
Team Celebrations
Annual Gatherings
Founder's Day
Marks the anniversary of our founding with a day focused on our roots and future growth. The morning is spent reflecting on our journey and core purpose, while the afternoon involves collaborative visioning for our future.
The day concludes with the “Future Blend” ceremony, where team members contribute ideas for future innovations, symbolically adding drops to a communal vessel.
Synthesis Festival
An annual three-day creative retreat where teams mix beyond their usual structures to tackle challenges and explore new ideas. Each day has a theme—Connect, Create, and Transform—with activities designed to spark innovation.
The festival concludes with “The Reveal,” where groups share their explorations through multisensory presentations that become legendary in team lore.
Work Anniversaries: The Memory Blend
When team members reach their work anniversary, they receive a custom-created scent blend that incorporates elements representing their contributions and growth during their time with the company. The blend is created collaboratively by their closest colleagues, who share stories about working with them as each component is added.
Recipients receive their blend in a specially designed container with the date and a word or phrase that captures their essence within the team. These blends become personal treasures, with some long-time team members displaying their collection as a sensory timeline of their journey with MOOD MNKY.
Related Resources
- Founder’s Philosophy for the vision that inspires our culture
- First Principles for the foundational ideas that guide our work
- Brand DNA Framework for how our identity is expressed