The Digital Marketing Team has been expanding and that means we’ve welcomed some awesome new additions recently! Each time someone new joins the Webspec Crew, we like to get to know them a little better with a Q & A session. Starting with the newest content coordinator, Katie Gilbaugh, we found out where her affinity for foxes originated, how important music is to her life, and that she’s a little morbid (we welcome that here).
You worked with SCOPE Productions (the University of Iowa’s Student Commission on Programming Entertainment.) Who was the artist you were most proud of booking? Which were you most excited to meet?
That’s such a hard question. I loved so many of the shows we booked and each booking was a team effort! The coolest show might have been booking CHVRCHES on the U of I Pentacrest for Homecoming. Thousands of people showed up and I even caught some dude watching the show in a hammock from a tree.
Who is the most underrated musician/band right now? If we were to start listening to them now, what’s the first song we should hear?
Most underrated? I don’t know about that. Perhaps Anderson East. He’s a soul and blues guy similar sounding to Leon Bridges. I think that type of music is just what the music world has been missing for a while. Check out the song, “All I’ll Ever Need”. You’ll wish you would have chosen it for your first dance at your wedding.
We’ve noticed your affinity for foxes. Where did that begin? Is that your spirit animal?
I think it began when I spent a summer in China. I liked it as a tattoo idea for a really long time. Foxes are mentioned in the Bible at a few different places. And try and tell me this isn’t one of the most impressive Bible stories you’ve ever heard: “So Samson went and caught 300 foxes and took torches. And he turned them tail to tail and put a torch between each pair of tails.” (Sorry PETA, this was before your time, I’m afraid).
If you could build your dream home anywhere in the world, where would it be and why? Have you ever been?
It would be in the Pacific Northwest area of the country on a forested cliff facing the ocean. Maybe near Cannon Beach in Oregon. My husband and I went there on our honeymoon and I think it’s my favorite place I’ve ever been.
Okay, let’s shift in another direction: You just inherited a billion dollars from a great aunt you never knew about. What’s the first thing you do?
Book a vacation and invest the rest until I can think of something else to do with the money.
Obviously we’ve already fallen in love with your dog already. However, he has three names. How did that happen?
Full name–Malachi Kevin Gilbaugh. I went with Malachi because he’s the last prophet in the Old Testament and also because I really like the name Kai for short. Kevin came from my younger cousins. I was nannying them for the summer when I got Kai as a puppy. At the time, they were obsessed with this really irrelevant minor character in a Thomas the Train iPad app. The character was a small yellow crane named Kevin. Then I realized that every Kevin I’ve ever known to exist in real life or on TV is super awkward. Kevin Malone from “The Office” is the most notable to me. So there you have it.
What’s your life slogan?
“We’re all just stuck in bodies that will eventually die and turn to dust (morbid, sorry), so there’s nothing more important in this life than to search and live for something imperishable.” For me, that means my Christian faith and relationship with Jesus Christ.
It’s time to binge-watch a show. What’s your first choice?
“NCIS.” I love the characters and the humor, and the show is a bit nostalgic for me because I grew up watching it with my dad.
This is a question going around the office: is a hot dog a sandwich? Why or why not?
For sure not. I firmly believe that a sandwich needs to have a downward-facing horizontal bun structure. Therefore, if gravity were to suddenly become exponentially more forceful, the sandwich would still be edible as a very flat sandwich. If gravity took its time on a hot dog, said hot dog would not be edible.
What’s the first thought you had this morning?
Back hurts (I’m 34 weeks pregnant today). Geesh, body.
So far, what’s the funniest thing you’ve ever seen in life?
In China there are a lot of adorable toddlers that wear shoes that squeak with each step they take. Watching them toddle around and giggle somehow becomes hilarious with a squeak in every step. And you can hear it from yards away. There are also a lot of hilarious-looking stray dog breeds that roam the streets in China. You never know what to expect.
If you had to watch one movie each day for the rest of your life, what would it be? What’s your favorite quote from said movie?
Probably “Hot Rod.”
Rod Kimble: Hey, Denise, have I ever shown you a picture of my dead dad?
Denise: No.
Rod Kimble: Oh, you’ve gotta see it. He’s super-dead.
Denise: That’s him? He looks so nice. He was a stuntman?
Rod Kimble: Oh, yeah. He used to work for Evel Knievel, testing his bikes before big jumps. He would do the jumps first to make sure they were safe and let Evel come in and get all the glory. After a while the old man said, “To hell with that. I want the credit I deserve.” So one afternoon, he set out to jump ten milk trucks. He nailed the take-off, but when he landed, something terrible happened. His front tire exploded like a cannonball, and his handle bars went straight through his head. Blood was everywhere. His teeth were ground down to a powder and the front of his face exploded out the back of his skull. He died instantly… the next day.
You’ve somehow become all-powerful and have the ability to make every rule society must follow. What’s the first rule you make?
Nobody is allowed to be a cat person. It’s simply the wrong lifestyle.
What’s your favorite word?
Habiibii. Pronounced (hah-bee-bee). It’s an Arabic word that means “my love”. It’s an endearing term for a good friend or a spouse. And it looks really pretty written down in Arabic.