Ok, so we’re doing this: An Intro to my Blog
“I really should start a blog.”
I’ve been saying this to myself for more years than I’d like to admit. It feels like at this point, everyone has a blog, so I guess I’m a little late in the game. Why start now? Well, I realized that this year marks my tenth year as a community professional. It’s a field I’m passionate about, and I will fight to the ends of the earth to raise awareness about it, protect it, and advocate for it. No better way to do that than to share my story, experiences, learnings, and missteps over these past ten years. Maybe it will help you in your journey. Maybe it’ll entertain you. Some of my missteps might even make you cringe! I’m going to lay it all out. One thing you’ll learn very quickly about me as you read these posts — I don’t hold back. I value authenticity and honesty over almost anything else, and that’s what you’ll get from me here. My failures have been just as important as my successes, and they’ve all led me to where I am today.
Why spend your valuable time reading this blog? Well, you can check out my LinkedIn here. I’ve built and run some of the largest B2B communities and community programs in the world. At Atlassian, I started as a team of one, spending two years building the foundation of their powerhouse of a User Group program. I spent five years at Salesforce leading and shaping the User Group Program, evolving the MVP Program, and for the final two years, running the online Trailblazer Community and the aforementioned programs. I built my team from one and a half to seven, and was one of the top-rated managers at Salesforce multiple years running. Now, I’m head of community at Venafi where I’m building our community and community programs from scratch.
I am going to cover a wide variety of topics, based on what I get asked about the most, but also, honestly, what I’m excited to share. Some of the topics I’m planning to write about: my personal journey, the community landscape ten years ago, the naysayers, team-building and management, strategy, tools, swag, user groups, top contributor programs, crazy community stories, community management and conflict, community management and crisis, distributed control in communities, online community, imposter syndrome, leadership, community ROI, getting leadership buy-in, community diversity, and more.
Are there other questions you have or topics you want to hear about? Tell me! While I know this blog will be fun and cathartic for me, I am doing this because of what I said above — this is a field I’m passionate about, and I will fight to the ends of the earth to raise awareness about it, protect it, and advocate for it. I want you to tell me what I can share that will help you in your journey.
We are all responsible for growing this field and pushing it forward in whatever ways we can.
The title of my blog post is “Ok, so we’re doing this” for a reason. No, not only because it’s a line from the greatest show ever, Hamilton, but also because we are in this together, as our own community.
Please share your questions, feedback, and recommendations. I look forward to hearing what you think!
