Bula Luma!

After spending five days in paradise, we have slowly weaned ourselves off Fiji time and mended our sunburns to get right back into the swing of things.

Every other year our Founder, Payam Shohadai, takes the Luma crew from both studios on a company trip. Last year it was Maui, Hawaii and this year it was Sonaisali Island in Fiji.

The whole crew along with their families and partners were invited for a week of R&R, sun, fun, and a bit of team bonding. We even extended the invite to new artists, and to VFX Blogger Ian Failes.

So, what exactly did the Luma crew get up to in Fiji?

The Island Agenda:

We used the rare opportunity of having our global company all in one space to do daily presentations on the latest and greatest Luma news. We had updates from our key thought-leaders on future projects and plans including from our Founder, Head of Animated Content, Creative Director, and Managing Director. They touched on Luma’s direction towards producing our own original content and the exciting projects lined up for 2017.

Luma’s Launch team gave insight into the companies they’ve partnered with including, Tilofy, Event Farm and Shimmur. Our Dev team gave a talk on new tools and strategies for our workflow that will be implemented in the new year.

And every day, our Culture Team had a whole slew of fun events planned for the crew.

The infamous Trivia Night returned hosted by VP / Head of Culture, Jamy Zink!

Karaoke Night

With a lineup of over 25 performers and a first place prize of $500, the karaoke competition grew fierce. But what literally took our breath away was our System Administrator, Rares Hornet, performance of “Time To Say Goodbye” by Andrea Bocelli. It brought a single tear to our eyes.

And if that wasn’t enough, we also had a beach volleyball competition & a farewell dinner and dance party on the beach.

After five days on the island, we likely emptied the hotel’s supply of Coronas (oops), swallowed an unhealthy amount of pool water, and got sunburned in places we didn’t think we could.

But the most memorable moments were the new friendships we made within the growing Luma family.

And of course, there were many firsts and valuable lessons like:

• Dulshan felt sunburn for the first time
• Nothing gets by judge Pal on Trivia night. Nothing
• Three hours of jet skiing without any sunblock can be…dangerous

A big Vinaka to the beautiful and incredibly kind Fijian people, and especially to the staff at the Double-Tree Hilton. From the moment we stepped foot in Fiji to the moment we left, we were greeted with big smiles and “bulas” at every turn.

For a BTS look into the island fun, check out #BulaLuma on Instagram!