: About Me

VP, Strategic Services

Brian VanKonynenburg is a startup veteran and a recognized leader in product strategy, systems and requirements analysis. Prior to Helium, Brian was a Senior Systems Analyst in Strategic Systems at Monster where he focused on employer products and commerce systems. While at Monster, Brian worked with all levels of leadership to facilitate definition and execution of product development and worked with Monster Labs on strategic consumer initiatives.

Brian's 20+ years experience in technology includes work with startups such as Ziff Davis Interchange Online Network, UNIFI Communications, Elcom.com and BaseSix.

Brian is a prolific artist who has written screenplays in collaboration with his wife and has worked in films such as Manchurian Candidate and Mystic River, acted in lead roles in independent films shown at the Sundance and Woods Hole Film festivals and can be seen on imdb.com as "Brian Van Kay".

My passion is ...

exporing reality during the downtimes when reality isn't busy exploring me.

I know too much about ...

the loss of a child.

My parents always told me ...

I can't recall ever being "told" anything - they just gave me a stable, happy home and let me become whoever I wanted to be.

My childhood ambition ...

to be a pilot.

My favorite memory ...

being in the Grand Canyon with my wife at midnight, and inching on our bellies to the edge of a cliff and peering down into the darkness - the intense feeling as though gravity was going to suck my head down into the abyss.

My first job ...

mowing lawns when I was 9 in Oklahoma.

My inspiration ...

my wife and kids.

Parenting & Pregnancy > Toddlers How to get your toddler to start talking

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Kiddos are motivated by different things. Not all kids, such as autistic children, are motivated by praise and attention. Watch your child and see what motivates them, be it candy, tv, a funny sound, etc. Then start playing a game "Talking for <whatever". For this example I'll use Talking for Candy, because that's what worked with my son who is diagnosed with Autistic Spectrum Disorder. While at a friends house there was someone's child present, also closing on three years old. This child was quite the crowd pleaser and totally enjoyed saying what the adults asked him to, soak...

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