ANTIC Interview 342 - Youth Advisory Board: Anneke Wyman

Youth Advisory Board: Anneke Wyman This is the second episode in a series of interviews with the kids of Atari's Youth Advisory Board. In 1982-1983, Atari invited 20 kids, aged 14-18, to be on its new Youth Advisory Board. Atari was looking for well-rounded, computer-literate kids, with equal representation of sexes and a mix of ethnic groups. Anneke Wyman (now Anneke Wyman de Boer) was one of those kids. A wire service article about the Youth Advisory Board, by Kathy Holub, ran in several newspapers around March 25, 1983. Here's an excerpt from that story: "The fat world of corporate perks isn't just for executives anymore. On Sunday, 14-year-old Anneke Wyman of New York flew to San Francisco on a prepaid plane ticket to dine out on pizza and attend her first corporate board meeting. ... "As members of Atari Inc.'s new Youth Advisory Board, they got the sort of pampering reserved for top corporate clients, including a private movie screening, a tour of San Francisco and all the food they could eat. "What did they do to deserve all this? They can't figure it out. 'It's almost a fantasy,' Anneke said, giggling. 'I had a three-minute interview calling from a pay phone at school. The dime ran out and I thought, well, I'll never hear from them again. A few weeks later, they told me I was in. Now I'm sort of nervous.' "The video game market, once monopolized by Atari, has become as fiercely competitive as the home computer and educational software markets, and Atari hopes the kids can keep the company on the right track on all fronts...The 20 young board members are expected to keep Atari in touch with its market. ... "Anneke has danced in about 60 performances of The Nutcracker Suite with the New York City Ballet and can write computer programs in four languages. Her career? 'I don't know yet,' she said. 'But I'm much better in math and science.'" This interview took place on April 5, 2018. A video version of this interview is also available. YAB newspaper article by Kathy Holub Atari Connection magazine article about YAB Video version of this interview