1. A little bit about myself...here goes! I'm a lucky father of two beautiful girls, Alina (3), and Natalie (10 months). They have the best Mommy in the world, my wife of 6 years, Kelly, whom I met through Match.com 11 years ago. Geez, time flies. Oh and we have two kitties, Molly (12) and Maxie (9). My first cat, Joey (12), stayed with my parents to keep them company after I moved out. I studied Business Administration and Marketing in college, and during my sophomore year, I started a business selling computers, computer hardware and accessories, as well as doing repairs and upgrades for friends. I guess they liked me because the word of mouth allowed me to build up a decent customer base, some of whom utilize my services to this day. At this time, I have one regular client and a few others, here and there. About a year after graduation, I started a full-time job as a Network Administrator at a small marketing firm. I was later promoted to Manager of Information Systems. I left the company after twelve years in 2013, when I shifted my focus toward email after joining a local eCommerce solutions provider as Deliverability Analyst.
2. It
makes me feel pretty old, when I start to think how long ago I began
playing claw machines. It's been a significant part of my life since I
was about 5 years old. There was a little amusement park across the
street from my house, and there was a small arcade, where I experienced
the claw machine for the first time. It was a horizontal cabinet with a
glass top, and the most common prize found in these machines were
cigarettes. Clearly, these machines were intended for adults, but my Mom
allowed me to play it, and I won three times in a row. That kind of
success in claw machines was pretty rare, especially for a child, and it
ignited a passion that has never left me. I bought my first machine 11
years ago and have since owned three others, two of which I still have
in my basement.
3.
Interesting facts... I suppose it depends on what is considered
interesting, but let's start from the beginning. I was born in Baku,
capital of the former Soviet republic of Azerbaijan. I am an only child
and I suppose you could say I'm spoiled, although I've always been very
close with my cousins and spent a great deal of time with them growing
up. Due to civil unrest in my neck of the woods, we were forced to flee
our hometown, and my family was permitted to leave the country as
Armenian refugees to start life anew. We landed on the US soil in
January of 1991. The first couple of years were very difficult, as we
learned to adapt to the new culture and lifestyle. I experienced a fair
share of prejudice and bullying in middle school, which left a good dent
in my confidence and self-esteem, but by the time I started high school
in the fall of 1992, I had adapted fairly well and it was a much more
positive experience with new friends in another school district.
4. I started my YouTube channel in
2006. I love entertaining my friends, and I've always wanted to make a
science fiction type of movie on my own, using special effects, such as
time travel to meet myself in the past or future. When I took a day off
work to try to accomplish this, I quickly realized that doing this on my
own would take a lot more time and patience that I was willing to
dedicate to it, so my first YouTube post ended up being just a
collection of special effect tricks in a video titled "How to be a
Superman". I later made the video private, as I didn't feel it was a
good representation of my skill. I am not exactly sure what prompted me
to make my first Claw Machine tutorial, but with over 300,000 views, it
is by far the most successful video on my channel. Speaking of which,
May 28th 2014 marks the 7-year anniversary, since that video was posted.
During the first year, I made 3 tutorial videos, after which I started
working on music videos. After numerous requests, I revisited the idea
of making claw machine tutorials 5 years later, and once I realized just
how much the interest has grown over the years, judging by Matt's
incredible fan base, I decided to create Be The Claw, the idea for which
was inspired by "The Claw" from Toy Story and SpongeBob's quote "be the
crane" from the Skill Crane episode.
5. Music production is another big one
for me. I started writing, when I was about 10 years old. I initially
played piano, and a few years later, learned to play guitar as well.
Throughout teenage years, I've recorded numerous albums on tapes and
gave out to friends and family and it wasn't until my most recently
album, published in 2009, that I started feeling more comfortable
sharing my work with the public. I created a webpage and offered both
digital and CD versions of my album. Music has always been a great
companion through difficult times and gave me a voice that I seemed to
lack otherwise. I have made a number of music videos to my songs on my
own, which I have also posted on my YouTube channel. My music styles
include soft rock, pop, easy listening, comedy and parodies. I also
enjoy customizing cars, although it is an expensive hobby, which has
taken a back seat after I started family.
6.
Anything else... To people, who haven't met me in person, it often
comes as a surprise that outside of YouTube, I am generally fairly shy. I
have wonderful parents, who traveled across the world in search of a
brighter future for me, and they have always supported my somewhat
unusual obsession with claw machines. My father used to take me to
amusement parks and arcades with the sole intention of playing the claw
machine and I am grateful for that. I became addicted to the Internet in
high school because it opened up a whole new world of people and way of
communicating. It allowed me to make many friends that I wouldn't have
been able to meet otherwise. I enjoy talking to people online, and the
three traits I value in people the most are kindness, generosity, and
sincerity.
7. Where can I be found? I'm pretty Googlable, but my claw machine website is betheclaw.com,
which I created in 2012 in hopes of uniting all the fans out there. I
started using Twitter recently, in light of my invitation to join Matt
in NEN / Sugarloaf's Twitter Chat. My Twitter handle is @betheclaw and
all my posts automatically end up on my Facebook page at
Facebook.com/betheclaw. My Youtube channel is youtube.com/allenkevorkov. For anyone interested in my music, that can be found at AllenKevorkov.com and Facebook.com/AllenKevorkovMusic.
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