Welcome to Staff Spotlight! Get to know the dedicated staff at the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, who work year-round to support the success of the Scholastic Awards.
This month, we’re highlighting Senior Technical Product Manager, Alley Hector!
What are your hobbies outside of work?
I love to travel, but it’s not something you can do all the time. So while I’m home, I love to bike, dance, discover new restaurants and cocktail bars, game nights, and friend hangouts. Definitely also rainy days in with TV, movies, or books (especially sci-fi).
Describe your role at the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers.
I manage anything related to the Portal and our other technical products. It’s largely coordination between programs, our outside developers, and our single in-house engineer. I’m also stoked to get my hands directly into our code and (slightly less so) into our devops, which I’ve been taking on a bit more lately as we move more things in-house (as much as we can as a team of two).
What is your favorite part about working for the Scholastic Awards?
Getting to work with tech for the purpose of art and writing. I actually came to programming through an art degree that focused a lot on somewhat early digital multimedia. Tech jobs can be in any sector, so it’s a joy to be able to come back to an area that I love within that. (No cryptobro workplaces for me!)
What is your favorite book of all time, and what makes it so special to you?
I have a real hard time with “favorites” because I feel like I’m always forgetting something, and it’s so hard to rank just one anyway, but I would say that Octavia Butler is high on my list of favorite authors, and Parable of the Sower is just too prescient today, not to mention.
Name three famous artists and/or writers you would invite to a dinner party.
Catherine Opie, Ursula LeGuin, and Guerrilla Girls, masked or unmasked.
Favorite snack while working?
Onigiri or musubi because they’re not crunchy, so they don’t make a lot of noise and can be eaten one-handed.
Favorite song of the moment?
The new Miley Cyrus, King Princess, and Cardi B albums are some general things that have been on repeat on my Spotify, but in terms of specific song: The Gossip’s “Turn the Card Slowly” is just so good. That album is from last year, but it’s their first new release in a decade, and they are maybe my favorite band of all time, so I’m going to count it as “of the moment.”
A Scholastic Awards alum who inspires you and why?
I mean, I love Andy Warhol, but so as not to be too obvious, I also very much adore Joyce Carol Oates. She always reminded me of my mother, especially when I was younger.
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