The Monkey is not a mascot. He doesn't like bananas or swinging from vines. He's like our chief innovation officer: he points us to the future and puts the shazam into everything we do. He's the one who goes into the back room and comes out hours later with, like, singed eyebrows and a demonstration involving toner cartridges and non-dairy creamer. And pretty soon we find ourselves crushing another cool photo editing feature you never knew you always wanted.

Most ironic mod: rigging an electric massage tool to wax and buff his muscle car

Significant brother: his hairless cat, Kojak

Moment of glory: winning a Karaoke contest at which he sang the periodic table of the elements

Will lecture for food: now taking bookings for “What others have learned from my speeches, lectures, and fireside chats around the world”

Despite growing up off the grid (No TV! Solar heat! No phone!) Brian Terry got the tech bug early: he won a computer in an Apple programming contest at age 10. After getting a CS degree at Stanford, he coded Web apps at several startups, became a dev manager at Expedia, and was employee #1 at Picnik, where he wrote more than half of the code. Getting high and getting lost are family values for Terry: he and his wife climbed Kilimanjaro together and they love wilderness hikes with their two young boys.

2-for-1 jonesing fodder: Galen Rowell adventure photography

Probable influencer for vegetarianism: childhood cat who played with and then ate rattlesnakes

“127 Hours” wanna-be moment: stabbing himself with a crampon

Has to be leashed when discussing: car commuters who disrespect the spokes!

Jen Shetterly is no stranger to complexity, having designed some of Microsoft's most successful, most labyrinthine, most crazy-making products to work on. But the real complexity has been balancing the vagaries of a full-time work load with mothering her three children and still finding time for creative romps in photography, painting, and drawing. Shetterly is grateful to the fine ladies of “Real Housewives” who impart sage advice and helpful tips on a weekly basis!

Fave effects: Orton, Cross Process, Wrinkle Remover

Latest art project: design her own tattoo and decide where to put it!

You'll have to pry it from her cold, dead hands: Pepsi

Cooper got her start story editing and coordinating scripts at the Muppets. She produced kids and teen programs for NBC, ABC, and PBS. She moved to Seattle in the 90's to write and produce interactive television, online learning, and interactive fiction programs for Microsoft, and learn how to order complicated coffee drinks. At PicMonkey, Cooper makes words happen, and nervously awaits punishment for fake ones like “embetterment” and the scientifically lazy characterization of an ape referred to as The Monkey.

Roommates: two children, husband, and a dog who believes he is her husband

Past time pastime: dislocating her life at Seattle's onstage storytelling series “A Guide to Visitors”

Unnecessary degree, as it turned out: M.A., Instructional Technology, Columbia University

Tony nominating moment: putting out a fire onstage while staying in character in 8th grade play

Wolfe started her software career at Microsoft back when Al Gore had just invented the Interwebs. She honed her user experience design talents working on Money, Office, MSN, and Windows Live, among others, during her 13-year tenure. She rehabilitates stray animals and neglected houses, including every square inch of the 60's ranch she lives in with her (now) geriatric pets.

Most sleep-depriving avocation: night photography, a recent fixation

Fave effects: Boost, Cross Process, Holga

Handy chick initiation rite: installing a water pump in her car at age 16

First taste of altruism: delivering Meals on Wheels with her mom, when she was a kid

Hard-won advice for fellow feline lovers: cats don't dig acupuncture

Systems installations and software consulting for large financial institutions might not sound like a good onramp to digital photography, but Brenda Anderson had no idea she would end up where she is now. After 10 years in finance, she fell in love with a New Zealander, moved to his homeland, and pressed the restart button. She got into photography after they had kids, and became a Flickr group admin. PicMonkey is thrilled to have her onboard, remotely connecting to help people get the most out of their photos.

Often hears when the camera comes out: “Don't put me on the Internet, Mum!”

Favorite photo subject, after kids: New Zealand's colorful birds (with awesome names like Pukeko, Tui, and Kaka)

Celebrity sighting, in her genealogical tree: Celine Dion, 9th cousin

Best time on four strings: playing in her Ukelele orchestra, The South End Strummers

A good listener and a people pleaser, Jenn Wells was a natch for the customer service jobs that kicked off her career. Her first great job was working at the legendary Elliott Bay Book Company, where she developed her customer love mojo. Wells moved to TeachStreet.com, a tech startup that helped lifelong learners connect with independent teachers. When TeachStreet closed their doors, PicMonkey got the best community outreach specialist in this hemisphere. She's also an outdoor enthusiast and an urban culture vulture all rolled up into a foodie burrito.

Current photo project: printing all her photos from the past two years

Favorite backpack destination with a fairy tale name: the Enchantments, in Washington state

Why she never surfed in Hawaii: fear of eels and other creepy deep water creatures

Crawled under the B12 curtain to: defect from veganism, after years of allegiance

Growing up on a ranch in Wyoming not far from Custer's last stand, Charlie's immersion in the rugged realities of cattle raising was enough to fuel a lifetime of aversion. Why would you ride a horse when there are those cool things called motorcycles? He found his place in the digital landscape of his Apple 2E, and his camera and darkroom.

Charlie began his software career as a tester and moved up the ladder at Expedia, Microsoft, Picnik, and Google. He now oversees PicMonkey's operations, and is the first one to queue up the morning tunes. Outside of work, he kicks up mountain bike dust when he's not wrestling with the kids or wine-tasting with his lovely wife.

Ironic pay-back: three year old son who is crazy about tractors and horses

Two words for the glory of living outside the city: elbow room

Atavistic conundrum: why would you drive a car when there are these cool things called trucks?

Maria Kaufman's love of sports and dance led her to a master's degree and work in the field of health promotion. In 1999, she wasn't quite sure she was sleepless enough, so she got a job at Amazon.com cutting her teeth learning e-commerce and getting an M.B.A. At Expedia, she created the ad platform for hoteliers, and then built up Picnik.com's ad business and moved with the team to Google. At PicMonkey, she's jazzed about developing native content with advertisers who want to charter new territory.

When the Tennessee accent comes out: phone calls with hometown friends and whenever she drops stuff

Most painful part of working in high tech: cutting herself making her own desk at Amazon.com

Cowboys she loves: her three children, Wyatt, Levi, and Ruby, not intentionally named to sound like characters in a Zane Gray novel

With summer jobs like updating weapon manuals in the Department of Defense, filing documents at the Teamsters union, and gutting fish on an Alaskan barge, Lisa Conquergood once seemed more qualified to be a “Fear Factor” contestant than the marketing professional she is today. After getting her MBA, she worked at Eddie Bauer, where she came to love making fast decisions on small, nimble teams. She had a stint at Expedia before moving to Picnik as the Chief Marketing Officer. Then onto Google with the rest of the Picnik team. Conquergood considers herself a relationship marketer, not a spreadsheet marketer, and she loves hearing what people want and then giving it to them.

Takes no insult being called: an adrenalin junkie

Got pantsed regularly by 5 year olds: playing “Billybob” at ShowBiz Pizza Place

Love at first click: an antique Brownie camera given to her when she was ten

If it's life you're looking for, it's life you got. After pinballing between Detroit and Kentucky for two decades, Anthony said buh-bye to America and hey-heeyyyyy to adventure. We're talking Morocco. We're talking VW vans. We're talking giardia. After his misadventures abroad, Antoine planted himself in the tech industry, ultimately surrendering to the allure of our digital magic. Now he's our test engineer, making sure the Monkey monkeys just right.

Where he spends a suspicious amount of time: under his house

Most disappointing hitchhiking hiccup: turns out the English countryside isn't filled with cute cottages

When to mention his missed chance at owning a winery: never

"People tell me I'm very West Coast." He is. Mister Mellow hails from a mining town in northern California, where cheap earbuds are the best way to rebel from your audio engineer parents, and hanging out by the river is a thing of beauty. Once upon a time Travis fell into the depths of a Commodore 64, poring through pages of code, enchanting his elementary school peers with animated stories, and igniting a lifelong passion for graphics programming.

Newfound interest after having a daughter: synth-pop girlbands

Best joke made in a full Space Needle elevator: "More like Crowded Needle"

His secret lullaby: that sound in The Blues Brothers where they crawl out from the bricks

Ben's first experiences with engineering were at junior high LAN parties, or as he describes it: "melding minds and creating a proto-friendternet." He had fun with the physics of hardware systems before deciding on the freedom of software. After honing his skills at Amazon and takin' names at start-ups all over town, Ben calls PicMonkey home. As for his amazing work-life balance, he credits his even amazinger soccer team.

Thrilled to live a life without: alarm clocks

Level of willful masochism: traveling cross-country for overnight relay races

Ideal celestial landmark: beer volcano

He's never run a backend server off dilithium crystals, but Justin Huff doesn't mind when people compare him to Scotty, the ingenious engineer of "Star Trek." At Picnik, Huff's software engineering earned major geek cred: he's lectured to large developer crowds, including a keynote at the O'Reilly Velocity conference in 2009. Despite a demanding job, he makes time for the outdoors—running, camping, cycling—with his husband and his Golden retriever, Kaiser, who bears no relation to the German emperor or the hard roll.

Most shadowy job: writing software for underwater sonar equipment. Yes, he does have scans of you swimming in the lake the night of your sister's graduation party!

Takes no insult being called: a "full stack" engineer

Worst outdoor hack: pineapple upside down cake in a camp fire Dutch oven. Hockey puck, anyone?

Forget the concept of magical ability and its evil twin phrase, "I'm just not good at that." As a designer turned wetland ecologist turned designer again, Troy is art and Troy is science. He went from tromping through the Pacific Northwest as a soils chemist to branding "Halo 3" materials at Bungie and then designing for "Taste Magazine" at PCC. In our band of scrappy go-getters, he's shown that with a buncha brains and exploration, he gets stuff done and gets it done right. Take a look around and see for yourself.

Title with a trophy to prove it: 1984 Grand Champion Dairy Goat Showman

First words to the EMTs after a 40mph cycling crash: "You guys got here fast!"

He woke up like this: on a beach to the sound of distant orcas

Lauren can't remember anything before age 12, on accounta the nuclear plant up the hill. What she does remember is saying goodbye-o to Ohio and hittin' up Spain and South America. She ended up in Chile, working for a mining company by day and digging into the art scene by night. A visit to Seattle became a move, and she's been here ever since. When Lauren's not operating PicMonkey headquarters, she's knocking your socks off in the performing arts world.

Decided in the 11th hour against: a doctorate in physical therapy

Obvious next step after a lifetime of triathlons: clowning classes

The casualties of rugby: toenails (but they grew back!)

This self-taught imagineer started making his own games as a kid, then got pretty good at it and dodged a legal career in favor of the emerging gaming industry. Jonathan's interest in building worlds has injected a sense of wonder and whimsy into the core of planet PicMonkey. Besides being our fearless leader, Jonathan is a collector, a geek, a true listener, and a dad.

You'll definitely never hear him say: maybe

No love lost for: his Star Trek figurine collection, unfit for middle age

His pick for the best wood-paneled station wagon: Grand Wagoneer all the way, baby!