Reflecting on #thirtyNYC

On August 6th 2014, I packed up my life in London and moved to New York City. I left behind a hoard of wonderful professional relationships, and more importantly, my unconditionally supportive friends and family who I love so dearly.

I love people. I really do. I’m interested in their stories, their personalities, their ambitions and their dreams. To seemingly abandon everyone I loved and learned from in London was probably the hardest part of leaving, and I knew that I would want to start building relationships with people as soon as I landed stateside.

It was during the months leading up to my big move that I conceived #thirtyNYC. An ambitious plan to meet 30 new people in 30 days throughout the month of September. Unsurprisingly, the majority of connections came from my relationships in London, but I also had an awesome response to people randomly via Twitter and email.

I did not need any further validation that human beings naturally want to connect, or help others be connected.

Fast forward to the end of the month of September, and 30 days have now past. In the end, I met 68 brand new faces in 40 days.

68 new connections, both personal and professional.

For getting myself plugged into the digital industry community, it could not have gone any better. I’ve met CMO’s of global brands, founders of startups and some of the hottest digital design talent on the east coast.

And what is actually hilarious is more often than not I have totally forgotten about what they do, and just enjoyed their company — honestly some of the most giving and wonderful people I have had the pleasure of meeting.

And I also met non-industry types. I met a guy who used to be a high flying insurance broker on Wall St, who got liver cancer and was forced to quit. He managed a full recovery, and now sells his sisters homemade jewelry at a flea market, because that’s what makes him happy.

I met a woman who used to work as an assistant to Def Jam Records artists, but after one was sent to prison, she decided to quit and re-trained as a chef. She now cooks alongside helping young independent musicians with promoting themselves and having a social presence.

The long and short of it is, meeting human beings is fucking awesome.

And although moving to a new city may be part of the reason meeting new people was easy, I’ve now asked myself why I haven’t tried to do something like #thirtyNYC any sooner.

We are inherently social animals. Technology has both begun to facilitate those connections, but also dehumanize them. I am indebted to Twitter for helping me find people who wanted to connect, but nothing was ever going to beat meeting these people in real life.

So this is my rallying cry. You don’t need to move to a new city to meet new people. You don’t always have to meet someone with a fancy job title, or to look hot in a picture, for it to be a worthwhile experience. I promise you, 30 minutes over coffee with a friendly new face is better than any time you’ve ever spent on any social network. Fact.

So with this in mind, I’m giving birth to the #thirty project. That is, for individuals to step up to meeting 30 new people in 30 days in their respective cities. And for people who maybe don’t have the time to meet 30 new people in 30 days (I’d love to hear your excuses…), for you to make yourselves available to meet those that do.

For now, that means people pro-actively making it known to others that they wish to take part in project #thirty, by using the hashtag and appending their respective city short name to the end on Twitter. I want to see #thirtyLDN, #thirtySFO and #thirtySYD springing up sooner rather than later!

Then it’s as easy as searching Twitter for the #thirty or #thirty(city) hashtags to find new people!

Trying to meet 30 people in 30 days takes some planning, and there is a reality that you might not achieve it. But regardless, your life will be invigorated by the connections you do make.

I am in the process of collating an address book of names and contact details for people in London and New York — of people who are willing to make themselves available to people wishing to be part of project #thirty.

I am currently working out how to best distribute these details, but in the meantime, if you would like to take part, whether as someone with the ambition to meet 30 new people, or quite simply offering to help someone else achieve their goal, you can sign up here.

For me, the #thirty project has the potential to be the biggest real world social network. Those connections will start to mean more than any follower or Facebook friend, and we will begin to rediscover the importance of being human.

And lets not forget, to be thankful for the technology that makes those connections possible.

And finally, I want to say a huge heartfelt thank you to everyone who took the time to meet me, and everyone to took the time to connect me to someone new. I’m indebted to you for your time and generosity.