Community Life

"Clients come back, not because you said yes, but because you were real with them."In this episode, we talked about how growing up in a small village shaped Oli's views on transparency, trust, and communication - values he now channels into his business, in particular:

“The money follows when your energy aligns with what you truly believe in.”In this episode, we talked about how embracing your individuality, energy, and intuition can shape not only your success but also how you build and lead a business, in particular:

“Clicking with someone means silence doesn't feel awkward, it feels natural.”In this episode, we talked about how leaving the corporate world behind and embracing who we truly are can help us build more fulfilling, profitable, and human-first businesses, in particular:

“Confidence isn't something you're born with, it's what happens when you keep going anyway!”In this episode, we talked about how embracing your whole self - perfectionism, messiness, dreams, and doubts - can shape the business and life you love, in particular:

If you've been listening to Community Life, you know this podcast started as a place to explore the human side of community builders!The initial idea was to get to know the people behind the titles, their journeys, and what makes them who they are.And it's been an incredible experience! Thank you for being part of it.

Today my guest is Katie Ryser, an amazing human who thrives on bringing people together, a lover of spooky things and dahlias, a confirmed music nerd, and definitely a fan of trolls, but not those on the internet

Today my guest is Corina Gheonea, a global community expert, a dreamer, an art creator, and a mother of five dragons who knows how to make some noise and moves

Today my guest is Maria Soyka, a community enthusiast who loves circle singing and Latin dancing and is passionate about supporting people, enjoying nature, and having fun

Today my guest is Paz Pisarski, a natural people magnet, a Co-Founder of The Community Collective, a community for community builders in Australia and New Zealand, and the multi-hyphenate achiever who loves to drink Chamomile tea and compose relaxation music

Today my guest is Cole Johnson, a human connection alchemist on a mission to shine a light on humanity and make the ordinary extraordinary, who vouches for amazing humans he meets and the value they are bringing to the world, and one of the most frequent and constant participants of Between Two Watercooler meetups

Today my guest is Claudia Cafeo, a passionate community builder and tech enthusiast who loves the sea, enjoys playing piano, football (or soccer) and video games, and playing in general, and prefers to be human, kind, and learn all life

Today my guest is Lia Mladenova, a community builder and events facilitator who brings souls into communities, a yoga teacher, and an avid traveler who is deeply connected with the world and loves exploring different cultures and being in nature

Today my guest is Christian Ray Flores, a leader of the Tribe church community in Austin, Texas, who has been a pastor for 25 years, a professional singer with a successful career in the 90s, an entrepreneur who co-founded the Third Drive – venture development company, and an international man of mystery, who lived in four continents and speaks four languages

Today my guest is Carrie Melissa Jones, one of the best community experts I know, whose speeches I try to always listen to and always learn something new from, and one of the kindest and helpful people in the community world I know, and a good friend of mine

Today my guest is Jeff Bull, a Star Wars Tech and food geek, a baker, a hobby-hopper, and a great community expert who's also a technology storyteller

Today my guest is Blue Arauz, a transformative community dynamo who inspires people with his creativity and passion for the work that he does, a retired host of a food show, Crave GFL, and Craft Beer Ambassador for Greater Fort Lauderdale, the life of the party, a Cuban kid from Miami, and the literal definition of 'If you love what you do, you never work a day in your life'

"Community isn't just about connection—it's about demonstrating real business impact and value, which is the key to long-term success." In this episode, we discussed how effectively integrating community initiatives with business strategies can lead to significant cost savings, drive growth, and enhance customer engagement, in particular:

Today my guest is Charles Vogl, one of the founding fathers of the community industry as we know it now, a person who influenced my professional journey a ton because of authoring The Art of Community and co-authoring Building Brand Communities with amazing Carrie Melissa Jones, a documentary filmmaker, who also produced a “New Year Baby” film that tells a story of his wife's family that survived Cambodian genocide, and avoided death at least 3 times and all of them while pursuing justice for local human rights as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Zambia in his 20's

Today my guest is Morgan Rice, a passionate community builder with a background in political science, a community therapist, a cheese lover, and a “mover, shaker, and changemaker” who always leads with empathy

"My core value growing up was I'm not enough. So, every decision I made, even up until two years ago, everything I did must improve my self-worth." In this episode, we discussed Chris Miles's story of enduring child abuse, struggling with depression, and finding hope through family support and a passion for game development, in particular:

Today my guest is Margaux Miller, a global community builder, a remote-work ambassador with a love of travels and exploration, a TEDx speaker with the Gremlin energy, an emcee, an avid hiker, and an exciting person to talk to

Today my guest is Catherine Hackney, an experienced online community consultant, backpacker, hiker, climber, “Late Show” fan, and a great friend

Today my guest is Viktorija Ignataviciute, an experienced gingerbread house creator, a great community leader and advocate, an explorer, and an intensive traveler who can come back a year older after just a few days' trip and allow herself to be silly & joyful with no day offs

"We all deal with trauma. By sharing my story, I hope others will feel it's okay to open up." In this episode, we discussed Jason's story of losing his dad during COVID and coping with his feelings, in particular:

Today my guest is Tamanna Bavishi, a great community builder, a mother of two who's entered a community world by accident and stayed by heart, and even recently started her podcast and community for working mothers in India “The Desi Mom Hustle”, and a very open, kind, supportive, and just amazing person to talk to

Today, my guest is Rebecca Marshburn, a great community expert and a big fan of writing letters and poems, who's been on the road with Sasquatch for 28 days and is sure that every story is a love story

Today is a very special episode, and not only because it's one hundredth, woohoo, but also because it was a great surprise!

Today my guest is Céline Riemenschneider, a community professional who is passionate about helping other community managers thrive, an artist who creates beautiful abstract paintings, and a mother of twin boys who also helps her husband in his restaurant and hospitality consulting business

Today my guest is Baily Hancock, a connection strategist, a mother of two, a natural-born connector and extracurricular-lover, and a professional friend-maker who, according to her teachers, was a “very bright student but talked to classmates too much”

Today my guest is Ashwin Chacko, a positively playful visual storyteller who, as an Indian, is a very community-driven and multicultural person, a father of three, and a children's books author whose mission is to champion creativity and empower people to find their inner

Today my guest is Avely Pütsep, a mission-driven community and marketing consultant and a digital nomad who's slowly traveling the world and always chooses kindness

Today my guest is Mathew Krawczyk, a community strategist and designer, an embodiment and deep transformation coach who loves co-creating systems in which we can all thrive together

Today my guest is Phoebe Shin Venkat, a senior community consultant, an experienced speaker, a board member at CORA (Community Overcoming Relationship Abuse), an active volunteer, a candidate for city council at Foster City, and the person I loved talking to from the first Zoom

Today my guest is Nityesh Agarwal, a founder of the Curated Connections community tool, a writer who is passionate about teaching, an ex-developer (or maybe not), a host of the Beginner Maps podcast, and a super positive community person

Today my guest is Grace Ling, a UX designer and illustrator, a world traveler, speaker, tech, lifestyle, and travel content creator, influencer, a founder of the Design Buddies community with a huge number of members worldwide, and a person who in her past life In my I wanted to develop games and biohack herself to run faster

Today, we talk with the one and only Jenny Weigle, a dedicated listener of Community Live who listened to every episode, and shares her experience, inspirations, and connections made through that, and even why she keeps listening to it every week!

Today my guest is Pete Heslop, a managing director at Steadfast Collective with the mission to bring people together and leave the internet in a better place than he found it, a runner (sometimes lapsed), a Southampton football club fan, a lawn perfectionist, and Digital Community Leaders podcast host

Today my guest is Ece Kurtaraner, a community strategy consultant, a good tomato and a co-working queen, an online events and workshops facilitator, and a multi-hyphener who has this weird ability to bring people together and keep them there

Today my guest is Edu Giansante, a founder of the E-Dublin - the largest community of Brazilian expats, a visual storyteller, a book and songwriter, an advisor for tech, startups, enterprise and ed-tech communities, a doer with an entrepreneurial spirit, who also got used to wearing multiple hats on his journey

Today my guest is Ruthie Berber, a fractional marketing and community leader, speaker, New York networking events organizer, Local captain of the Old Girls Club, women in tech ambassador, back-of-the-bike rider, and an avid traveler who admires coffee and food art

Today my guest is Talia Basma, a community enthusiast, storyteller, contemporary author of diverse romances, poetess, activist, and blogger who hopes to inspire minorities of all backgrounds to use their stories and love of worlds to bring others together

Today my guest is Patrick O'Keefe, a digital creator with 20+ years of experience in online communities, a happy father, an author of the Managing Online Forums book, a sucker for dark rides that move through physical spaces, and a Community Signal podcast host who lives in Hollywood

This a totally different episode! Two amazing humans - Fihmiya Hamndan and Nicola Earle - came here to ask each other (and me) about their life stories! Check it out!

Today my guest is Luke Zimmer, a community builder and consultant who wants to create a better world online, an avid gardener, a former haver of chickens, a beekeeper, and a great person you'd love to talk to

Today my guest is Jen Serrat, a passionate community builder who was Born in France, raised in Canada, studied in the US, worked in South Korea and Spain, lived 7 different countries, and who firmly believes that a key ingredient to success is people, and even built her wedding website on a community platform, and turned her guest list into community members

Today my guest is Said Saddouk, The Facilitainer, Multipontealite, who is a great person to talk to and one of the most creative people I know

Today my guest is Beth McIntyre, a Community Director for Bevy and CMX, joke lover, travel writer, as Blake Ethridge once said, a lightning bolt of energy, passion, business focus, and creativity, and a person who impacted my professional life very much because of hiring me for conducting an audit for the CMX community without even knowing me well!

Today my guest is Akash Agrawal, a Community builder by passion and profession, avid storyteller, meditator, violin player, and one of the nicest humans in the community world who's always just a ping away

Today my guest is Michelle Sims, a global community, events, and marketing expert who has a passion for empowering women, an avid traveler, a Behind the Community podcast host, and a people-connector who loves to inspire curiosity and collaboration