The Way We Work Now
I’m a Mall Santa Trying to Capture the Christmas Spirit Over Zoom
The Way We Work Now is a series chronicling how people’s lives and careers have fundamentally changed because of the pandemic.
Ed Taylor is a 66-year-old Santa Claus impersonator living in Hollywood, California. He spoke to Mai Tran about how he’s used Zoom to meet with families remotely during the holiday season.
I wear two hats: one as a Santa Claus portrayal artist, and the other as the founder of an organization called the Worldwide Santa Claus Network, which has about 3,400 members around the world. I’ve worked in some malls, but mostly I do home and company parties, as well as tree-lighting ceremonies. Now I’m doing 100% virtual meetings. I had about 160 already booked ahead of Thanksgiving. I’m sure I’ll probably do 300 or more in total, and I love it.
In early spring, we saw the writing on the wall and made a pivot from our normal training, which focused on being Santa in malls, home parties, community events, and parades. We shifted to virtual visits. One of the guys jumped on with his background animated—a fire was going in the fireplace, and it was snowing out his windows—and all our jaws dropped. We found out he was using a green…
