Kyle Corbett
Hello dear reader!
If you ask for my name, it’s Kyle Corbett. I’m one of the earliest continual members of the Ventures ATL team, though Alex Calais and Maria Collazo’s work record beats me for seniority’s sake.
I worked other previous jobs before going to college at Kennesaw State University. These ranged from breaking down electronics for recycling components at the Tommy Nobis Center, to being a convenience store clerk as part of the Warm Springs Institute work program, to being a radio station assistant. Before that, I was a tour guide and grounds assistant for The Little White House national park in Warm Springs, Georgia as part of the previously mentioned work program. All were short-term opportunities that had a finite, set period of employment. However, I’d like to think the experience I gained from those brief jobs, as well as my studies in college, all led up to my employment at Ventures ATL soon after I graduated KSU in 2018.
On that note, I have been here with the company since 2018, and hopefully for a while more! I started my position as a team member that slowly learned how to navigate and execute smaller tasks for our client, Keystone Insurers. For this client, on a monthly and weekly basis I organize, file, and update a series of medical insurance documents. With the Keystone’s growth, I’ve since taken charge of a specific portion of that project as my main role and source of work on any given day. Currently, this all happens alongside my partner for said project, Taylor Doyle, who I am very proud of and consider my initial forays of training him in how to do this specific kind of work as one of my accomplishments.
Other projects I’ve worked on run the gamut of anything from printing labels for handbag orders to putting together various packages for a special purpose, such as gift bundles for a Passover order (which still involved me printing out many, many address labels). I’ve also worked on other data-focused projects besides Keystone, most of which were short-term tasks that needed quick turnaround. For example, we did a data project that required me to research and catalog instances of a sushi chain that operated out of grocery stores across the country. Oddly enough, that sushi project tends to take the cake for me as my favorite project. Just seeing one entry that was in the town of West Lebanon, NH put a smile on my face, as that is a town I visit often when I take vacation time in Vermont. A small reason, I know, but it was memorable.
Through all this, I have grown in the sense that this is the first job I’ve held for more than just a few months. I have accomplished a certain ability to stay consistent with my workflow, grown to stay flexible about challenges and situations that would typically stress me in and out of the office, as well as learning new skills that I otherwise would not have gained.
I’ve grown to really like working for Ventures ATL, as it is the first consistent and stable job that I’ve held that’s given me a wide but firm berth to develop a potential career in. So, for a first, that means something to me.
Outside of work, I have quite a few hobbies. One of the first ones I pursued, and still do, is my love of music. I sing mostly as a means of entertaining myself in my downtime, but others do like to listen to me, I’ve been told. I still would like to learn an instrument or two. Another hobby is collecting old toys and video games that were made when I was young to historic military surplus items like canteens, helmets, bags, tools, and bayonets or knives from various armed forces from around the world. It should be noted that for many with autism fascinations are developed in specific fields, mine just happened to be more martial in nature. The video games I play also tend to reflect this love and keen interest of historic militaria and past conflicts. The Age of Empires series or something like Red Orchestra and Rising Storm come to mind. I have been known to play a lot of a Western genre gunslinging game called Hunt: Showdown set in the early years of what is called “The Gilded Age”, one of my favorite historic eras. In the past, I have built what are known as “Gunpla”, plastic model kits made by Bandai in Japan. They are a series of model kits that don’t usually require glue or paint. They are all based upon mecha designs from the long running anime franchise “Mobile Suit Gundam”. There should be a picture of me balancing a vintage 1990’s 1/144 scale kit of a MS-06F Zaku-II in my hand for reference and example. I have a few unopened kits I purchased that I want to get going soon!
I’d like to think I have a lot of talents and strong points to my person. I know earlier I mentioned that I sing well for example, as well as having the capability to do public speaking and voice impersonations or narrations. I’ve been slowly learning how to cook halfway decent meals, though not nearly as good as my father’s cooking. I’m also quite physically strong, I usually attribute this to all the physical work that I’ve done over the years for my parents, moving large furniture and big, heavy potted plants over and over will do that, I suppose! Though my endurance and overall diet need a lot of work still.
So, when I mentioned that I do things with my voice such as narrations, I primarily use that skill not only to entertain myself and friends, but also to perform duties of being a lector within Holy Family Catholic Church in Marietta. For those who don’t know, a lector is an order within the Catholic Church that involves a lay person within the congregation to get up from the pews and to read a passage from the Bible’s Old or New Testament before the priest or deacon reads the homily, or sermon from the gospels. In my case, I read both prior readings. I’ve always been praised for being able to do this service for the church in such a way that it gets people’s attention and inspires them, without breaking the balance of the order by being too performative. I’ve given thought from time to time of becoming a deacon down the road, though things always change. As my late Grandmother would say, “Want to make God laugh? Make a plan.”
To wrap things up, I just want to thank anyone who reads this that you took some time to do so. Just as I took the time to write this, you took the time to read about me and the things I have done and still do. Hope everyone has a pleasant day, be well.