my Community journey
A timeline-ish
I became excited about community after moving to San Francisco in 2008 and discovering mine. I didn't know anyone in the city, but quickly learned that if I created a fun and inclusive environment or experience, the people I wanted to surround myself with would appear.
WELCOME TO EARTH
In April of 2018, I produced a 300-person mini-festival taking place over four days on Earth Day weekend. I worked with over 75 co-creators to bring to life 100+ art pieces, workshops and performances, all created around a fantastical core narrative inspired by Agapolis' 5 Pillars: Community, Consciousness, Nature & Sustainability, Art and Future Generations.
AGAPE HALLOWEEN
I've had the joy of producing Agape's Halloween party every year since 2012, beginning with a modest "Halloween Haunted Housewarming, to 2021’s "Halloween X," where we opened every single room of the house to very different experiences for over 300 guests.
patreon
I joined Patreon's Community Happiness team in June of 2015, and became their first Community Manager shortly after.
In my 2 1/2 years on both the Community and Marketing teams, I wrote over 200 pieces of content, ranging from highly-shared blog posts to comprehensive "How To" guides, aimed at helping independent creators foster highly engaged, financially profitably communities made up of their biggest fans.
When I was given the opportunity to produce Patreon's new brand video in ‘16, I knew I wanted to keep creators front and center.
I worked with a videographer to write a script that showcased creators on Patreon in their workspaces, with narration by Youtube sensation (and Patreon's CEO), Jack Conte. I reached out to a number of high-profile creators who use Patreon to earn a sustainable income, and ended up featuring over eight, including Issa Rae, Hank Green, and Penatonix.
The final video has been viewed millions of times across Youtube, Facebook and Patreon's homepage.
SCI-FI NOIR ART SHOW
In 2017, I teamed up with Luke Harrington of Time Beards and art gallery, Heron Arts, for a sci-fi noir-themed visual art show. The event, which featured over 50 artists and their original work created just for the show, welcomed over 500 people for it's one-night debut.
By creating a partnership between Heron Arts, who agreed not to take a cut of artists’ pay, and Time Beards, who set up an online gallery for artists to sell more affordable prints, all showcasing artists ended up selling art.
THE HISTORY AND FUTURE OF FUNDING ART
When I was a teenager, I was obsessed with Radiohead. I would often spend hours on Ebay, scouting CDs of rare recordings and concert posters for shows I wasn’t even old enough to get into.
Whenever I received a new CD in the mail, I would gently rip away the weathered manilla packaging before immediately placing the cellophane-wrapped album on a shelf, where I could delight in my shining new find, proudly stamped with a sticker that simply read “Import.”
After surveying and interviewing thousands of creators using Patreon about their number one hangups and difficulties with using Patreon, I worked with a small team to write and produce a 100+ page guide, aimed at taking creators through the process of setting up their pages for success. We included the guide to the onboarding flow, help center, drip campaigns, and outreach emails, resulting in an increase in both the percentage of users making it through the set-up process, as well as well as overall monthly creator earnings.
Substack On! was a one-day virtual conference for independent writers using Substack
It was attended live by over 3,000 writers worldwide, across several unique venues on January 8th, 2021
I'm always interested in working on impactful projects with inspiring people, so feel free to drop me a line if you'd like to collaborate (or even just ideate) on something. I can take the lead on the entire project or assist in whatever aspects you’d like to focus on.