Not often are experts in community deeply researching at a scholarly level how community works, our next guest Nadia Egbal does. She's the Head of Writer Experience at SubStack and the author of Working in Public, where she dives into the history and evolution of Open Source communities. They ended up laying the groundwork for how online communities outside of Open Source behaved and built culture. Not to mention, how that lead to people actually getting involved and becoming contributors (or not) in those communities. Even in the largest software projects or popular services like Wikipedia, a very small percentage of contributors make up most of the content available. She also discusses a rarer topic in the world of community, intensive research. Stemming from her work with the Ford Foundation “Roads and Bridges: The Unseen Labor Behind Our Digital Infrastructure”, Nadia has taken an approach of dissecting how community works through a more academic lens. She shares how she sees this kind of research so impactful and how companies, venture capital firms and other institutions might be able to empower more of this kind of research and what those roles might look like. She also shares how she has brought this approach to SubStack and her current community of writers and content creators and the trends she is seeing in the world of written content. Who is this episode for?: B2C, Online, Scaling Communities 3 key takeaways: - The stories and evolution of Open Source communities can tell us a lot about how our current online communities can evolve even outside the world of software. - The majority of contributions come from a small number of highly engaged users, even from the largest crowd sources communities projects like Wikipedia. - Implementing more research and research roles will help shape not only the communities of our companies but how we can build as a community industry.Masters of Community is hand crafted by our friends over at: fame.so

Carlos Gonzalez de Villaumbrosia is the Founder and CEO of Product School, the largest community of product managers in the world. After recognizing a gap in the Product Management industry, Carlos created a niche hybrid between engineering and business school. From 1 to 1 million, the community skyrocketed in growth over 6 years and continues to educate, train, and certify product managers globally. In 2013, Carlos moved from Spain to Silicon Valley to work on an online education marketplace startup - Floqq. After four years of grinding, he decided to shift gears and focus on what would benefit others and make them happy, resulting in Product School. Carlos wanted to give back and share his knowledge so he created a space for others to access product management resources and began training and educating people at events. Carlos recruited high level product managers from companies like Facebook, Netflix, and Uber, to mentor, support, and teach the community members. Across the world, Cohort classes of 20 students were created to educate and certify eager product managers, with a lead mentor, guest speakers, career support, and networking opportunities. Ninety percent of resources are free - including recordings, templates, and a variety of training courses, with paid certifications available. Product School now hosts 5 conferences a year and 2 events a day. The community of 1 million is made up of 20,000 alumni, inner circle product leaders, and event attendees, and is the ideal place for product leaders to test out new products and features. Who is this episode for?: B2C, Online, Starting 3 key takeaways: - Giving back and educating others with the knowledge that high-quality product managers gained was what made Product School so unique and successful. - The Product School Community became the best place to test out new ideas and theories, because everyone was learning and growing together with the same end-goals of success. - Product School filled the void in the market for product management training, resources, and connections and now has 1 million members benefitting from the program.Masters of Community is hand crafted by our friends over at: fame.so

Gordon Bellamy and Kobie Fuller take the stage to discuss how they grew their inclusive, pride-focused communities. Gordon speaks about the queer industry unitedly coming out and removing the anonymity that previously existed. Within the Gay Gaming Community, Gordon created ‘Default Spaces’ to create a place for people of different orientations, expressions, or identities to connect and be authentically themselves, without being identified by labels. The nonprofit community provides scholarships, resources, and employment for those marginalized or underrepresented. Gordon’s final piece of advice was, “There’s a difference between waiting for the world to act on you and waiting to act on the world.” Kobie Fuller, the Co-Founder of Valence, then dives into how he developed a solution to the underrepresented black individuals in the corporate setting. He created an interactive database of black talent to celebrate and showcase talented and admirable individuals who previously went unnoticed. Kobie invested $1 million into this product and watched the community grow from a mere 3,000 members to 11,000 and counting. The recent Black Lives Matter movement greatly impacted black community growth and brought black individuals together to unite in power and support. Gordon and Kobie end with reiterating the importance of self-realization and having pride in who you are and what you stand for. Who is this episode for?: Non Profit, In Person & Online, Starting 3 key takeaways: - Self-realization and having pride in who and what you are is key to community growth and establishing authenticity. - Gordon emphasized the importance of ‘default spaces’ to ensure all members are recognized for who they truly are, rather than their label. - Kobie discusses the need to associate being black with positivity and not as a setback, and using that self-realization to unite in power with other black individuals.Masters of Community is hand crafted by our friends over at: fame.so

Elizabeth Kinsey is the Senior Marketing Manager at Slack and runs the in-person community, Slackcommunity.com. The Slack community consists of developers, power users, admins, builders, as well as segmented pockets of community. The in-person volunteer led community gathers to discuss different aspects of Slack, whether that’s developing, building, or administering. Each segmented community within Slack has a different focus, for example the San Francisco group is primarily made up of Founders so the meetups emphasize monetization and integrating apps with Slack. Elizabeth discusses how Slack hosts events to complement its community and meet the needs of all members. She also discusses the need to let go of control and hand the reins over to community leaders with regards to posting and hosting events. Slack provides clear brand guidelines for chapter leaders to keep the Slack brand image consistent. Elizabeth shares her tips for successfully executing events and encourages community leaders to be clear and exact with sponsors, stay organized with an event agenda, and be proactive with attendee communication. Who is this episode for?: B2B, In Person, Starting & Scaling 3 key takeaways: - Slack executes successful events by providing guidelines for chapter leaders and handing over the reins to give leaders a voice and flexibility. - Personally reaching out to customers before and after events is a key way that Slack maintains and grows its community. - The Slack community continues to grow with its segmented community groups across the country, constantly developing, sharing, and learning more about Slack and its capabilities.Masters of Community is hand crafted by our friends over at: fame.so

Mike Porath began The Mighty after being inspired by his daughter Annabel, who was diagnosed with Duplication Q15 syndrome – a rare disease that rapidly slows down development. He built this community to understand other families’ experiences with this syndrome, create a safe space for individuals to share their health challenge stories, and for individuals to help one another. Mike and his wife bought The Mighty URL and began recruiting individuals to write their health challenge stories and convert them to members of the community. As more and more individuals joined the community, Mike noticed how simple some solutions were and saw individuals in similar situations providing tips and solutions to issues that doctors couldn’t resolve. The Mighty focused on the storytelling side of community and real connections were built, more individuals spoke up about their struggles, and they grew to have over 15,000 writers in the community. Mike talks about the importance of listening to what community members want and how they used Bevy to create the events and interaction that the members desired. The Mighty now has over 3 million members and continues to support, uplift, and provide a safe space for anyone dealing with health challenges. Who is this episode for?: Non Profit, In person & Online, Starting 3 key takeaways: - The Mighty found success in recruiting individuals to share their health stories and write thank you letters to those who helped them on their health journey, eventually growing to 15,000+ writers. - Mike grew The Mighty to over 3 million members by focusing on listening and learning from community members to ensure the community evolved in the way they desired. - When The Mighty community members’ shared struggles, many solutions were found amongst other community members sharing insights and suggestions when doctors had no answers.Masters of Community is hand crafted by our friends over at: fame.so

Sarah Leary began her research of community back in 1999 which led to developing a sports community in 2008, Fan Base. The community had little success and Sarah faced the question of “when do you cut the rope and try something else? Or hustle a little more to get the momentum?”. Sarah decided to cut the rope and two years later founded Next Door. She recognized that people had both social and professional identities, but there was an underserved neighborhood identity that needed attention. Sarah began going door to door, meeting to meeting, and person to person explaining the concept of Next Door. She began a long and thorough process to find neighborhood champions who would invest time in their neighborhood to recruit and introduce the platform to others. As the community grew, racial profiling became an issue, but after implementing detailed checklists and procedures for members to stop and think before taking action, Next Door’s racial profiling reduced by 75%. Next Door now has communities in 94% of US neighborhoods and continues to grow rapidly. Who is this episode for?: B2C, In Person & Online, Starting & Scaling 3 key takeaways: - The quality of neighborhood community champions was crucial to the success and growth of Next Door. - Next Door reduced Racial Profiling by 75% after initating a detailed checklist for community members to stop and think before reporting. - Gathering individuals together in a physical space developed deeper connections that strengthened the Next Door community and made it possible to scale online.Masters of Community is hand crafted by our friends over at: fame.so

This week’s Master of Community is Anika Gupta, the author of a new book and moderator expert. We discuss the importance of moderators - both the invisible and the visible, the role they play in defining the community, and the best way to deal with difficult conversations. Back in college, the comment section of news articles sparked Anika’s love for community and years later developed into her writing the book, “How to Handle a Crowd”. Anika’s research for her book involved engaging with a variety of communities, ranging from large subreddit’s to tight knit political communities like ‘Let’s Make Dinner Great Again’. Anika shares her findings with us, explaining that Moderating is a Proactive role that creates a space for healthy, respectful engagement. Moderators shape the purpose of the community and take on an emotionally tolling position. Anika opens up about the challenges of moderating such as dealing with race and politics, imperfectly inclusive communities, trolling, cancel culture, and more. Anika continues to uplift, mentor, and develop resources and guidance for Moderators, due to the emotionally taxing nature of the job. Who is this episode for?: Nonprofit, Online, Revitalizing Community Builders 3 key takeaways: - Moderating is proactive, rather than reactive and shapes the purpose of the community by creating a safe and respectful environment. - Anika reveals that much of the moderation that occurs is ‘invisible’ work done behind the scenes to establish guidelines, community values, and define who the community space is for. - Alison’s new book ‘How To Handle A Crowd’ will educate and enlighten all community members and moderators of the reality and hard work that goes into moderating and best practices moving forward.Masters of Community is hand crafted by our friends over at: fame.so

In this episode, we sit down with Naj Austin, the founder of Ethel’s Club, to learn how she created a community for Black professionals after facing microaggression and racism in co-working spaces. Naj began her community just last year in January 2019, and after a month she already had journalists rolling in to write up posts and articles on Ethel’s Club. Naj had never experienced a space where people of color were empowered, thriving, and healing. So she set out to change this by hosting multiple events per week where people of color would gather and share creative ideas, provide wellness help, and engage in meaningful conversation. Ethel’s Club now hosts multiple events per day and has launched a virtual clubhouse with the onset of Covid-19. The question Naj continues to reflect on is: “are we still a place for everyone? If not, how do we change that?” Naj discussed how a community can remove all systemic racism, and how Ethel’s Club has been affected by the Black Lives Matter movement. Ethel’s Club is currently working on creating a social marketplace for people of color to explore, shop for products, communities, and experiences. Who is this episode for?: B2C, in person and online, Starting 3 key takeaways: -Naj affirms that an inclusive, diverse community must begin from Day 1 in order to completely remove any systemic racism. -Ethel’s Club has been ‘transformative’ for people of color who now feel like being a person of color is the norm, and they are fully empowered, celebrated, and centered. -Ethel’s Club’s core value is that their space is a space for everyone, and they continually reflect on this each day to ensure they live and represent this belief.Masters of Community is hand crafted by our friends over at: fame.so

In today’s episode, we welcome to the stage the one and only Allison Esposito, Founder of Tech Ladies. About 5 years ago, Allison began organizing events in New York for women working in tech to come together and share experiences, collaborate, and network. This came as a result of Allison’s perceptions on sexism in the tech industry and her inability to make long lasting connections in a male-dominant industry. As these women came together, they realized they were not alone in their struggles and over time, the community grew to 100,000 women. Eventually, Allison transitioned the community from a side job to working full time, and Tech Ladies turned into a business, offering a Founding Members Paid Exclusive Membership. Allison emphasizes the importance of being able and willing to define the feminine voice of the community and creating a safe space for all underrepresented genders, including woman, non-binary, and transgender individuals. Tech Ladies continue to grow and represent women’s rights by helping hundreds of women land jobs in the tech industry, learn from one another through webinars, and network with each other at coworking events. . Who is this episode for?: B2C, In person & Online, Starting & Scaling 3 key takeaways: - Allison shares the importance of being able and willing to define her community and not being afraid to take a stance. - Transforming a community into a business does not transform the people into clients, community and business is about truly helping people and creating connection that is what makes a community and business grow. - Allison left her Google career to dedicate her full time to her passion and joy, Tech Ladies, which has since skyrocketed into 100,000 member community and business.Masters of Community is hand crafted by our friends over at: fame.so

Today we get the pleasure to hear from Rosie Sherry - founder of the Ministry of Testing, the largest network of software testing professionals, and is the current Community Manager of Indie Hackers. Rosie began her career as a software tester in 2000 and began hosting her own casual, community events, which eventually resulted in the Ministry of Testing Community. In the beginning, she recruited volunteers in different cities to run local software testing events. Eventually, she decided to host a conference that resulted in 60 attendees, and has since skyrocketed to 9 yearly conferences earning $1.5 million in annual revenue. She discusses the challenges of growing a community and determining whether to buy or build community software. Eventually, Rosie outgrew this community, handing over her title as CEO, and discussed the hardships, challenges, and the emotional toll it takes to leave a community she built from scratch. She transitioned to the Indie Hackers Community and has continued to break out of her shell by speaking and educating others on the power of community. Who is this episode for?: B2C, in person and online, starting 3 key takeaways: -Rosie has discovered that you don’t build a community tool until you need to because it’s not the tool that makes the community it’s the people. -Rosie successfully left the Ministry of Testing after outgrowing and losing interest, and affirms that it’s normal to move onto other opportunities. -Community isn’t about one person leading, it’s the person to person relationships that cultivates community, as shown by the Ministry of Testing growing from 1 conference a year to 9.Masters of Community is hand crafted by our friends over at: fame.so