Kfir Mendel
Hey there! Thanks for coming. If you're here, you're probably a hiring manager who for some reason thought my application was worth checking out in more depth.
I better say something cool quick before you think better of it, so without further ado...
Welcome!
I'm Kfir (Yep, it's pronouced exactly as it's spelled. Ask me at the interview, I'll teach you), I'm 43, and I'm originally from Israel, where I was born and raised. Like many of my generation, I grew up playing Dungeons & Dragons, video games, and having adventures outside "till the street lights came on".
What's next? ...and why?
If you've looked at my resume, you're probably thinking "This guy has the coolest job ever! Why is he applying here?!"
So glad you asked!
There are lots of reasons, but the most important one is... I'm want to be part of something bigger. When I decided I was ready to move on, I looked back and realized that I spent my entire adult life managing projects. Most of those were educational or creative projects. I also realized that the most fulfilling projects involved being part of a team. Whether I was teaching groups, collaborating with other creatives, or leading the Flavor Text Adventures team, being a part of something larger than myself was always the most satisfying.
Most of the roles I'm applying to are in the gaming industry, because as you might have gathered already, I'm pretty passionate about games. Games can change lives! And who of us doesn't have a list of games that we always return to, or can remember playing even decades ago? I want to be part of that! But there are lots of other fields I find fascinating and would love to get involved in.
To that end, and because I dont (yet) have much experience in the tech world, I've been taking as many training courses as I can to introduce me to that world. Project Management and Data Analytics were the start. Some programming, UX Design, Perforce, Jira, and others. Not because I want to be a programmer or a UX designer, but I want to be the best project manager I can be by knowing what my teammates do and how. I know that whatever I end up doing, like anything else I've done in the past, I'll pursue it with passion and excellence!
I look forward to the next step leading me to bigger, and even better, things!
And if you want to learn how I got to this point, read on...
The Beginning...
After finishing my military service in Israel in 2003, I immigrated to the US, where I embarked on a career as a nature educator and primitive skills instructor. In essence, I became a professional caveman, producing handmade traditional buckskin and teaching workshops internationally to students of all ages.
I enjoy problem-solving, and there's nothing more satisfying than figuring out how to teach someone a new skill, watching them have that "A-HA!" moment, and their life changing before your eyes!
This is where Project Management really started for me. Imagine taking 12 students through a 5-day hand-on journey to learn how to "Use the Whole Animal". Teaching a near-endless list of skills (that they're all new to), all interconnected and time-sensitive, with an ever increasing scope. Planning alone took months.
To this day those workshops are the most rewarding and challenging work I've ever done.
When Life Gives You Lemons...
After teaching for a decade, a back injury forced me to scale back that work significantly, and I took up art.
This time, I combined my passion for primitive skills and natural materials with my love for all things geeky. The first project I made was a map of Middle-earth on buckskin, for myself. The result was surprising! The combination of materials and techniques I had used created something hadn't expected, and that's exactly what I enjoy: Making something no one's ever seen before!
I spent the next decade perfecting my craft, working on intricate and complex custom commissions that required intensive planning and attention to detail. I gained recognition not only for my unique product, but also for my outiside-the-box thinking.
And as if that wasn't enough, in 2019 inspiration struck again...
"What Would Cave Troll Taste Like?"
As a lifelong gamer of video games, board games, and table-top RPG's, I had always wanted to break into the gaming industry, but until 2019 I did not feel like I had anything new to say. And suddenly, I did.
"What would cave troll taste like?" a friend asked. It was one of those "you had to be there" moments, but from that whacky conversation Flavor Text Adventures was born.
It is an entirely unique product in the TTRPG sphere, combining story-telling, gaming, and cuisine. Its aim is to bring people together around the table through both gaming and food. Of course, I did not have all the skills needed to bring such a complex vision to life, so I brought together a team of chefs, writers, artists, and game designers designers.
As the managing director of this small tribe, I wore many hats: editor, art director, sometimes writer, game designer, and above all... a project manager. I bring the entire team together month after month, to publish content not only loved by our growing community of fans, but that we are immensely proud to attach our names to.
For a portfolio of Flavor Text's behind-the-scenes project documents, click here.
 |  |  |
|---|---|---|
 |  |  |
 |  |  |
 |  |  |
 |
A cozy cyberpunk adventure...
In October of 2022 I attended SIEGE con (Southern Interactive Entertainment and Games Expo) in Atlanta. There, I met a very small indie developer team working on their dream game - Seneca 7: A cozy, hilarious, irreverant, cyberpunk adventure rpg.
"Do you guys need a producer?" I asked.
"Sure! There's a lot of stuff in our heads that needs to be put on paper! And we could use help juggling all the pieces." they answered.
And thus a wonderful friendship began. Being a VERY small team, there isn't a whole lot of call for complex processes, but there's always room to improve. I got the team to start using Jira to track tasks and bugs, which has proved immensely helpful, and we began having weekly production-specific standups. In truth, being the only producer, and this not being an established studio, I'm making it up as I go along. And while I'm learning a lot, it'd be great to learn from a senior producer with long experience (Plus, the team knew I'll be joining until I find a full-time role).
You can check it out at https://www.thesenecaproject.com/
So here we are, back in the present day. I can't wait to find my next path.
Thank you for reading, and I look forward to hearing from you.
Kfir
