Create Community

Scott Stirrett is the Co-founder and CEO of Venture for Canada, a non-profit organization on the mission to foster the entrepreneurial skills & mindsets of young Canadians. Venture for Canada's vision is a Canada where young people can equitably realize their entrepreneurial potential to build the most prosperous place in the world.  In this episode, Scott and Marsha chat about how VFC shifted from a thriving in-person community to having to adapt to becoming virtually focused. We then flip the script and Scott interviews Marsha about Fuckup Nights. They chat about failure, why young people should consider entrepreneurship, and why community is more important than ever for young people. Episode Notes: https://www.createcommunitypod.com/episodes/scott-stirrett Venture for Canada's annual ALL THINGS PEOPLE virtual conference is coming up! In this event, you'll learn how to give everyone a seat at the table, and most importantly, how to put people first. Learn more here and buy your tickets today: https://bit.ly/3y9nMiK    

Do you have a best friend at work? According to Dan Manian, it could be a game changer! After spending years working in product at fast-growing startups, Dan co-founded Donut to help teams foster cultures of connectivity and collaboration.  In this episode, Dan and Marsha chat about how to create rituals for your team that foster camaraderie and community. Dan also shares some great ideas around how to build connections equitably in a hybrid environment.  Episode Notes: https://www.createcommunitypod.com/episodes/dan-manian Donut's Community: #donut-be-strangers Donut has a new community, #donut-be-strangers, to connect the people who connect everyone else. If you're interested in meeting fellow connectors, learning vetted approaches to team engagement, and sharing what's worked for you, then you can go to donut.com and use the chat popup to request your invitation!

Ashley Barby is the founder of FashionTech, a global community for people at the intersection of fashion and technology. FashionTech provides programming through speaker series, networking opportunities, ongoing industry analysis and much more. Ashley is also the Retail Strategy Lead at Tulip, a mobile retail technology SaaS company at the forefront of omni-channel experiences. In this episode, Ashley and Marsha chat about scaling a community with integrity, mistakes to avoid when just starting out, the future of retail and how community plays a massive role, and lots more.  Episode Notes: https://www.createcommunitypod.com/episodes/ashley-barby

David Spinks is the co-founder of CMX, VP of Community at Bevy, host of Masters of Community podcast, and the author of The Business of Belonging. CMX is the world's largest network for community professionals. Over 25,000 of community professionals come to CMX for training, research, events, and community. In 2019, CMX was acquired by Bevy, an enterprise software platform that powers community-driven events and virtual conferences. In this episode, David shares his journey of building CMX, how to turn an audience into a community, his thoughts on the future of the community industry, and so much more.  Episode Notes: https://www.createcommunitypod.com/episodes/david-spinks Grab your copy of David's new book: The Business of Belonging  

Many years in business development have taught Jeff MacIntyre that business is built around solid relationships and how rewarding giving back to the community can be.  Jeff leads the Fuckup Nights Kitchener-Waterloo community and is a Vice President Sales of and Corporate Development in the cannabis space. This conversation takes us from Jeff's unique wedding, to thinking through the future of events, how to build your network as an introvert, how to leave communities and situations that are no longer serving you, and so much more.  Episode Notes: https://www.createcommunitypod.com/episodes/jeffmacintyre

Bar Kirshon is the Co-Founder and CEO of Communyco, a new platform that helps content creators who teach their craft to connect with their online communities. In this episode, Bar shares her journey of growing up with creative roots, moving from Israel to Canada, and starting and growing Communyco. Bar and Marsha chat about how to keep communities harassment free, how to find work-life balance, and how to find your community in a new city. Show Notes: https://www.createcommunitypod.com/episodes/bar-kirshon Want to check out Communyco's beta? Sign up on communyco.com using code "communyco-family" + check out their upcoming event - The Creator Series

Sheena Brady is a social entrepreneur and leader at Shopify. In 2013, she started her first company, Tease Tea, out of her condo. Today, Tease Tea has grown into a 7 figure social enterprise selling all-natural loose-leaf tea while giving back to programs empowering women.  In 2019, Sheena created Founders Fund, the first digital accelerator supporting under-represented, women-identifying entrepreneurs during every stage of their journey. Members can access mentorship, resources, and non-repayable funding for their business. To date, Founders Fund has distributed over $100,000 dollars to fund women owned businesses while providing mentorship and community to over 600 founders across Canada. In this episode, Sheena spills the tea on her winding personal and entrepreneurial journey. She opens up about the challenges and barriers that she's faced along the way, and how this drove her to help others and create community. We chat about things ranging from entrepreneurship and financial literacy to when Sheena knew her husband was the one.  Episode Notes: https://www.createcommunitypod.com/episodes/sheena-brady

Marjorie Anderson is the Product Manager for Community at Project Management Institute, a professional membership association shaping the project management industry. Outside her 9-5, she is the founder of Community by Association, an organization and online community for those who build communities for associations and nonprofits.  In this episode, Marjorie and Marsha chat about how to identify and support your community super users, how measure the business impact of your initiatives, and how to create a community strategy. Marjorie shares her career journey in community management, and has some great advice for young professionals looking to advance in this industry. Episode Notes: https://www.createcommunitypod.com/episodes/marjorie-anderson

This episode takes a deep dive into the fascinating world of gaming communities, featuring Victoria Tran, the Community Director for Among Us at Innersloth.  The Among Us Twitter account officially launched with its first post on Nov 18 2020 and gained 1 million followers within 1 month. In this episode, Victoria shares her social media strategies and what she learned after suddenly inheriting a community of half a billion players. In the gaming industry in particular, toxicity and trolling can be rampant. Victoria and Marsha take a deep dive into moderation challenges, creating social values, and how we can create more sustainable and kinder online communities. Episode Notes: https://www.createcommunitypod.com/episodes/victoria-tran

After being hospitalized for COVID-19 in March of 2020, Fiona co-founded the Body Politic COVID-19 Support Group, which offers support and resources to thousands of people living with COVID-19 around the world. In April, Fiona wrote what is believed to be the first account of long-haul COVID in The New York Times. She's been covering the patient experience and leading COVID patient advocacy efforts ever since.   In this episode, Fiona shares her personal experience with long-haul COVID and how she created and fostered her community. Moderation in a support community is very unique - Fiona and Marsha chat through some of those intricacies. They also chat about how we can recenter the health and wellness conversation around the people and groups that have historically been left out and how we can all be better allies. Episode Notes: createcommunitypod.com/episodes/fiona-lowenstein

Have you ever felt like your life is missing deep, meaningful, long-lasting connections, even though you get along just fine with everyone you meet?  That's how Niloo Ravaei and Nina Iordanova felt before they met. They quickly became best friends + co-founders and set out to build a dating app. They thought there was a better way to date and find meaningful relationships, so they built an AI matchmaker that works over text message. But, they realized along the way that they were solving the wrong problem. Today, their startup has evolved into Good People, a community that brings people together in 3-month long cohorts and creates shared experiences. In this episode, Niloo and Nina share the many twists and turns of their startup journey and why *community* was the answer all along. They also chat with Marsha about how to lead with vulnerability and how to make and foster meaningful connections.  Episode Notes: createcommunitypod.com/episodes/good-people Check out the Commerce Chefs podcast What does it take to create a magical ecommerce brand? Join hosts Kyle and Tom as they pit the world's most intriguing DTC visionaries- the “Commerce Chefs” -- with provoking questions to uncover the secret ingredients that make brave brands enduring classics. Whether you're a seasoned eComm leader or an up-and-coming maverick, each episode will find something unexpected at the intersection of passion, performance, and leadership in practice. Listen on your favorite platform now!

Joanne Taranto is driven by a passion for empowering ordinary people to create community change. She's the Founder of Good for the Hood - an Australian social enterprise that's all about bringing ordinary people together and giving them the tools to create meaningful change in their local communities.  This is a feel-good, deeply moving episode that you don't want to miss! Jo and Marsha chat about how to get started in making a difference in your community, how to mobilize and empower the people around you, how to make your initiatives sustainable, and so much more.  Episode Notes: createcommunitypod.com/episodes/joanne-taranto Check out the Commerce Chefs podcast What does it take to create a magical ecommerce brand? Join hosts Kyle and Tom as they pit the world's most intriguing DTC visionaries- the “Commerce Chefs” -- with provoking questions to uncover the secret ingredients that make brave brands enduring classics. Whether you're a seasoned eComm leader or an up-and-coming maverick, each episode will find something unexpected at the intersection of passion, performance, and leadership in practice. Listen on your favorite platform now!

This episode provides a unique look inside the community of a serial entrepreneur and angel investor. Chris Carder is the Executive Director of the Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the Schulich School of Business. He leads the development of accelerator services for the university and various programs and partnerships throughout the wider innovation ecosystem. He also heads up the ‘Schulich Startups' community - now supporting more than 150 student/alumni companies. Chris believes that with crisis comes opportunity. When COVID struck, Chris and his team at Schulich partnered with Google, Shopify, the City of Toronto and more to create the Digital Main Street ShopHERE program. This program helped create online stores for small businesses and employ hundreds of students. Chris shares how he's navigated through 2020 to make a massive impact and create community.  Episode Notes: https://www.createcommunitypod.com/episodes/chris-carder

Holly Firestone has built and run some of the largest enterprise communities and community programs in the world at Atlassian and Salesforce. She is currently Head of Community at Venafi, where she's building a community for security professionals that are invested in the success and management of machine identities. In this episode, Holly opens up about the ups and downs of her community journey. Holly and Marsha take a deep dive into community and mental health. They explore some solutions to better support community professionals.  Episode Notes: https://www.createcommunitypod.com/episodes/holly-firestone  

Does your company really need an internal community? Carter Gibson thinks so.  Carter is currently the Internal Community Management Program Lead at Google. He leads strategies to establish foundations of moderation, amplify positive contributions, and advocate Googlers' needs to decision makers. The challenge? Retain, define, and evolve Google's world-class corporate culture as it adapts to an online-first world.  In this episode, Carter chats with Marsha about his winding career and personal journey and all things internal community.  Episode Notes: https://www.createcommunitypod.com/episodes/carter-gibson  

Crimson Rose is a co-founder of Burning Man, the Black Rock Arts Foundation and the Burning Man Project. Her life passion and work have focused on the arts, artistic expression and community. Crimson began participating in the Burning Man event in 1991 and was the original fire dancer. She developed the organization's Art Department, including the infrastructure that makes the large-scale participatory art works that Burning Man is renowned for possible. In this very special episode, Crimson shares the journey that led her to Burning Man, the growth and evolution of this magical community, and an inside look into its business operations and challenges. She shares the heartbreak of cancelling the physical gathering in Black Rock City in 2020, how Burning Man pivoted to VR, and how we can keep the fire of our communities burning through COVID. Episode Notes: https://www.createcommunitypod.com/episodes/crimson-rose  

Daanish Ahamed is the Founder of PR Ramp - a student focused PR association that provides networking, mentorship and resources for students and graduates. Primarily a screenwriter and director, Daanish is an ambitious young professional now pursuing a career in public relations and marketing.  If you're a new grad or young professional, you don't want to miss this episode. Daanish and Marsha chat about creating win-win mentorship relationships, how to land amazing volunteer roles, and how he's building the PR Ramp community. Episode Notes: https://www.createcommunitypod.com/episodes/daanish-ahamed

Neil Martin is the Co-Founder of Project Spaces, coworking in downtown Toronto for entrepreneurs, digital nomads, and remote professionals. Neil met his cofounder Jeff at university and they founded Project Spaces in 2011 because they were tired of working on their startup from the living room. With no playbook to follow, and armed only with a wifi connection, a keg fridge and a foosball table, Project Spaces was born. In this episode, Neil shares the ups and downs of the Project Spaces journey, how he makes new community members feel welcome, pivoting through COVID, and his thoughts on the future of work. Episode Notes: https://www.createcommunitypod.com/episodes/neil-martin Learn more about Project Spaces: https://www.projectspac.es/fuckup

Angelica Coleman is the Senior Community Manager at Snowflake, a cloud platform that helps companies mobilize their data. There, she's leading the technical community and creating a community engagement program filled with organic brand ambassadors. Previously, Angelica was the Director of Community at Lesbians Who Tech. Along her career journey, she's also worked at Dropbox where she created and led the Black Dropboxers Employee Resource Group. Angelica and Marsha chat about how to scale community programs, improve user retention, and delight customers. Angelica also shares her honest advice for new community professionals who are looking to grow within the industry and for companies that previously slept on community.  Episode Notes: https://www.createcommunitypod.com/episodes/angelica-coleman

Kobie Fuller is a seasoned Venture Capitalist who deeply believes in the power of community. Kobie is a General Partner at Upfront Ventures, the largest and longest serving venture fund in Southern California. He's led investments in companies including TheWaveVR, Cordial, Bevy, The Mighty and MetaCX. Over his career he's invested early in notable companies including Exact Target (sold to Salesforce for $2.5B) and Oculus (sold to Facebook for $2B). Outside of VC, Kobie was the CMO at REVOLVE, one of the largest global fashion e-commerce players, where he built a massive community of influencers. As a Black VC, Kobie wanted better visibility into his own community and couldn't believe that a centralized network of Black professionals didn't exist yet. So, he founded Valence, a community that's on a mission to unlock the global combined power of Black professionals to create massive economic and social progress. In this episode, Kobie shares what VC is really like, how brands can create movements, and how he's building Valence. Episode Notes: https://www.createcommunitypod.com/episodes/kobie-fuller

Jessica Moreno and Jess Zakira Wise are two of the Co-Founders of Mesh, the first platform designed by community experts to connect, moderate, and monetize communities.  Jessica Moreno is the former Head of Community at Reddit and the co-founder of Imzy and RedditGifts. Jess Zakira Wise has worked as a community manager, film producer, progressive activist and storyteller.  This episode is about creating sustainable online communities, community as a lifeline, and why it's more important than ever to maintain democracy within communities. Episode Notes: www.createcommunitypod.com/episodes/mesh

Sarah Stockdale is the Founder and CEO of Growclass, an online course and community that teaches growth marketing. She's also the author of We Need To Talk About This, a popular blog and newsletter for millennial women. Previously, Sarah spent her career working on early stage technology startups. She grew the largest campus ambassador program in the world at a payments startup called Tilt which was later acquired by Airbnb.  Sarah and Marsha chat about creating community in the online education space, how to apply growth marketing principles to grow a community, burnout and the dark side of tech. Show Notes: https://www.createcommunitypod.com/episodes/sarah-stockdale

Jodi Kovitz is the Founder and CEO of #movethedial, a global movement and community to advance the participation and leadership of all women in tech. #movethedial has touched over 60,000 people at events throughout the world.  This episode is raw and vulnerable. Jodi and Marsha take the filter off, and talk about the devastating effect COVID had on Jodi's community and the painful decision to put a pause on operations. They talk about where the dial is now and how small actions can move the dial for those around us in profound ways. Jodi's journey as a community builder is inspiring and full of lessons and hope for the future. Episode Notes: https://www.createcommunitypod.com/episodes/jodi-kovitz

Shannon Farley focuses on the intersection of tech for good, women's rights, and human rights. She's the co-founder and Executive Director of Fast Forward, the accelerator for tech nonprofits. Prior to Fast Forward, Shannon was the founding Executive Director of Spark, the world's largest network of Millennial philanthropists. She also helped start The W. Haywood Burns Institute, an award-winning juvenile justice reform organization. Shannon shares how she's creating community among entrepreneurs building social impact tech startups, how people can apply their skills to social movements, and how we can leverage community in the social sector. Episode Notes: https://www.createcommunitypod.com/episodes/shannon-farley

Rosie Sherry founded the Ministry of Testing, which is the largest community of software testing professionals. She grew this community from casual meetups to 9 yearly conferences earning $1.5 million in annual revenue. Eventually, Rosie outgrew this community and handed over the day-to-day operations to her team. Today, Rosie is the Community Manager of Indie Hackers, a community that helps entrepreneurs become profitable while remaining independent. Rosie and Marsha chat about the challenges and opportunities of growing her communities, when it's time to move on and how to do it smoothly, and building vs buying community tools. They also chat about how Rosie homeschools her 5 kids and balances it all! Episode Notes: https://www.createcommunitypod.com/episodes/rosie-sherry

Karlena Waugh is the creator of The Biz Mixer, a community for creatives, entrepreneurs, and small business owners to connect with and learn from their peers. Karlena is a young entrepreneur herself, as the Founder of an events company called Mini K Creations. In this episode, Karlena and Marsha chat about creating localized communities, bringing your IRL community online, mental health and so much more!  Episode Notes: https://www.createcommunitypod.com/episodes/karlena-waugh

Emily O'Brien is the Founder of Comeback Snacks, a gourmet popcorn company that she started in federal prison. Yes, you read that correctly. After getting mixed up with the wrong crowd and the wrong substances, Emily made a colossal mistake and was sentenced to 4 years in prison. She started her company with the goal of creating a social enterprise that could provide reintegration opportunities for other ex-offenders. As Emily shares her story, she reflects on the role community played in her journey before, during and after prison.  Episode Notes: https://www.createcommunitypod.com/episodes/emily-obrien

Jacob Peters works at the intersection of technology, data and community, so in this episode we take a dive into the math of community. Jacob is a serial community builder, starting at age 10 with a serious passion for Legos and a knack for bringing people together. He spent the past few years building a community of data scientists at an unlikely place – a big bank on Wall Street. Today, Jacob is the Co-Founder of Commsor, a powerful new tool that helps organizations better understand and measure their communities. Episode Notes: https://www.createcommunitypod.com/episodes/jacob-peters

Techqueria connects the largest community of Latinx people in tech, empowering them with the resources and support that they need to thrive. This episode features two awesome leaders from the Techqueria team: David Silva (Co-Founder) and Kristal Garcia (Community Lead). They chat with Marsha about the origin story of Techqueria, the nitty-gritty of growing it, micro-communities within the community, diversity and inclusion, and so much more. Episode Notes: https://www.createcommunitypod.com/episodes/techqueria

Ilya is on mission to create a borderless world for tech talent. He's the Founder and CEO of VanHack, one of Canada's leading HR Tech startups. VanHack has an incredible community of close to 176K candidates from over 100 countries who are ready to relocate or work remotely. Their Slack is probably one of the largest in the world, with close to 70K active community members connecting and learning with each other throughout their immigration journeys.  Ilya chats with Marsha about his experience living in Brazil, finding community as an immigrant, building VanHack, and how to co-create your company with your community. Episode notes: https://www.createcommunitypod.com/episodes/ilya-brotzky

Jodianne Beckford created Noire Girls Plant to foster healing through plants and highlight and connect Black people who have a love for the outdoors. She's the creator and host of The E Project podcast, which explores the ‘Epiphany' moments that lead individuals to do what they love. Jodianne is also a commercial lifestyle photographer and a direct support professional helping adults on the spectrum. Jodianne shares her journey with depression and imposter syndrome, and shares how we can create community to find meaning and beauty in the world when everything seems bleak. This episode is raw, vulnerable and provides a unique look at hope and community. Episode Notes: https://www.createcommunitypod.com/episodes/jodianne-beckford  

David Yarus is the Founder of JSwipe, the #1 Jewish dating app with a community of 1M+ users worldwide. He's also the founder of mllnnl, an agency that helps global brands and Jewish non-profits understand and engage the millennial consumer. Previously, David ran the youth marketing for brands like Coca-Cola, Microsoft, and Spotify.    David and Marsha chat about how people can approach their cultural and religious communities in ways that feel modern and accessible, dating during COVID-19, and David's personal journey with love and community.    Episode Notes: https://www.createcommunitypod.com/episodes/david-yarus

Lisa is the co-founder and COO of Icebreaker, an online event platform that builds community and gives people a sense of togetherness. Previously, Lisa held leadership roles at Facebook, the MIT Media Lab, FWD.us, and President Obama's campaign.    Lisa's on a mission to heal societal division through community and technology. Throughout her career, she's launched dozens of partnerships with academics, peace-builders, and community leaders around the world. She's on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list and her work has been featured in the New York Times, Boston Globe, Washington Post, Vice News, and more.   In this episode, Lisa and Marsha chat about community across politics and tech, how to create a sense of togetherness virtually, finding common ground with people we don't agree with, Lisa's incredible wedding, and so much more.    Episode Notes: createcommunitypod.com/episodes/lisa-conn  

Prasanna is the Diversity and Belonging Lead at Shopify where he leads the development of Shopify's Global Diversity and Belonging Strategy. He's previously worked as a lawyer, human rights investigator, producer, social media strategist, red carpet correspondent and so much more along his very unique career path. As a community builder, he's had the opportunity to work with Oprah Winfrey and curate an online book club and film discussion community. Prasanna proudly claims his identity as an LGBTQ2+ and racialized person with a disability. In this episode, Prasanna and Marsha take a deep dive into how to make communities truly diverse and inclusive. Episode notes: https://www.createcommunitypod.com/episodes/prasanna-ranganathan

How exactly did Startup Grind grow to become the world's largest community for entrepreneurs? In this episode, Derek Andersen (Co-Founder & CEO of Startup Grind) and Marsha Druker (Founder of Fuckup Nights Toronto) chat about growing a global community, letting go of control and empowering chapter leaders, why right now is such an exciting and pivotal time for the community industry, and so much more. Startup Grind is a community of 600 Chapters in 125 countries designed to educate, inspire, and connect startup people. Since 2012, Startup Grind has hosted 10,000 events for more than 500,000 people. Derek is also the Co-Founder & CEO of Bevy, a SaaS product that helps companies like Salesforce, Atlassian, Asana, Slack and Duolingo build virtual and in-person communities. Derek has been building communities for the past 15 years. Episode notes: https://www.createcommunitypod.com/episodes/derek-andersen  

As Fiverr's Senior Community Programs Manager, Beth Wiesendanger is a champion of bringing people together and leveraging resources to educate, inform, and inspire the community. Beth has worked in community building since 2011. She began her career in politics, joining Grassroots Campaigns, then later moved to corporate community building.  In this episode, Beth and Marsha chat about creating accessible communities, growing a community for a marketplace like Fiverr, pivoting during COVID-19, Beth's personal journey to belonging, and more. Episode notes: https://www.createcommunitypod.com/episodes/beth-wiesendanger

Leora is one of the most well-known voices in the community leadership scene in Israel. In 2015, she founded the Israel branch of Fuckup Nights, changing the way that Israelis view and share failure. Leora's career has taken her across activism, social impact, NGOs, high-tech, community and so much more. Along her journey, she's worked in Australia, in one of Israel's biggest social impact NGO's and at Wix as a Community Manager. She's currently the Head of Employer Branding & Internal communications at eBay. In this episode, Marsha and Leora take a deep dive into what makes the community profession unique in Israel, how Leora recruits and leads impactful volunteer teams, and Leora's personal journey and community. Episode Notes: https://www.createcommunitypod.com/episodes/leora-golomb  

Stefan is a co-founder of Venture Out, Canada's largest LGBTQ+ tech nonprofit, connecting LGBTQ+ people to opportunities, mentors and each other.  These days, Stefan spends his days helping scaling tech companies and VC firms with content marketing. He also publishes Remotely Inclined, a newsletter about remote entrepreneurship.  Stefan has raised over $1 million for LGBTQ+ nonprofits and charities since 2013 and built an incredible sales model for Venture Out. In this episode, Stefan and Marsha take a deep dive into growing a community through partnerships, data and feedback, diversity and inclusion, impactful content, and so much more. Show notes: https://www.createcommunitypod.com/episodes/stefan-palios

Elizabeth is a Senior Marketing Manager at Slack where she leads community programs for Slack developers, builders, and makers. Prior to launching Slack Platform Community, Elizabeth was the Director of Marketing at Branch, where she co-founded the Mobile Growth Community and expanded it to more than 25,000 members in 60 cities across the globe. In this episode, Marsha and Elizabeth chat about growing a self-organized community, how to evaluate whether your company should run community internally or hand over control to volunteer-led efforts, how to keep volunteers motivated, and so much more. Show notes: https://www.createcommunitypod.com/episodes/elizabeth-kinsey

Are you a foodie? Valentina Ruffoni sure is - that's why she founded Eat Out Madrid, a Facebook community of food lovers who share their reviews, recommendations and photos from the best places to eat in the Spanish capital. Originally from England, Valentina has spent the majority of her working life at sea for a major cruise line, in entertainment and events, and some time in the air as a flight attendant.

 In this episode, Valentina and Marsha chat about scaling a Facebook community and keeping it authentic, pivoting during COVID-19 times, and Valentina's winding journey of living and working all over the world. Show notes: https://www.createcommunitypod.com/episodes/valentina-ruffoni

Physical distancing does not have to mean social isolation.  Back for a third Community in Quarantine special episode, Marsha chats with community builders from different parts of the world about how they're currently creating and maintaining their sense of community.  Guests include:  [1:30] Réginald (Reggie) Bien-Aimé: Entrepreneur, Community Consultant, Innovation Catalyst, Corporate Speaker & MC. [15:43] Alfredo Morresi: Senior Community Manager of Developer Relations at Google, and the Organizer of the Italian Community Manager Summit [26:25] Neha Agarwal: Community Manager at Quora India, Artist, Ex HR Professional You can find details about how to connect with all guests from this special episode at https://www.createcommunitypod.com/quarantine.

We're shaking things up this episode! Jake Hirsch-Allen isn't building a defined community like our previous guests, but he's a connector in every sense of the word. In his role at LinkedIn, Jake connects people and ideas to create social and economic impact. He's passionate about building public and private partnerships to fight inequality and has done so through international criminal law and intellectual property law, global health, software development, entrepreneurship and education. If you're an entrepreneur joining a company as an intrapreneur, this episode is for you. Jake and Marsha chat about making that transition, creating meaningful partnerships, and Jake's fascinating professional and personal journey. Show notes: https://www.createcommunitypod.com/episodes/jake-hirsch-allen

Are you a cannabis enthusiast? Do you feel stigma around it? Reagan Bradley is the founder of Women Who Weed — a community that connects and empowers pro-cannabis women to use cannabis for mental, physical, and social wellness. As cannabis-user, Reagan felt misunderstood, craved more information, and searched hard to find like-minded women. And when she couldn't find the community she was looking for, she created it. In this episode, Reagan chats with Marsha about overcoming imposter syndrome, building Women Who Weed, her past Community Management role, leveraging your personal brand to build a community, and much more! Show notes: https://www.createcommunitypod.com/episodes/reagan-bradley  

Community is more crucial than ever. Back for a second Quarantine Edition episode, Marsha chats with guests from different walks of life to learn how they're currently creating and maintaining their sense of community during these unprecedented times.  Guests include:  [1:18] Vivian Kaye, the Founder of KinkyCurlyYaki [7:26] Sofia Rodriguez, a Community Manager at Salesforce [13:32] Ash Kumar, the Growth Lead at VanHack  [20:35] Doina Oncel, the Founder of "hEr VOLUTION" You can find details about how to connect with all guests from this special episode at https://www.createcommunitypod.com/quarantine.

Izzy Piyale-Sheard is quite possibly the most positive person on Earth!  Most recently, Izzy was building Unlock China, where he organized trips and resources to help a community of people explore the tech world in China.  Prior to that, Izzy was the Community Manager at a coding bootcamp in Toronto called Lighthouse Labs. He also started a peer-mentorship community for entry-level job seekers called ClearCareer. Izzy is an expert on building partnerships. If you're in a community building role, you don't want to miss this episode. Show notes: https://www.createcommunitypod.com/episodes/izzy-piyale-sheard

Physical distancing does not have to mean social isolation. In this special Quarantine Edition episode, Marsha chats with guests from different walks of life to learn how they're currently creating and maintaining their sense of community during these unprecedented times.  Guests include:  [1:37] Traci Cappiello, a Community Program Manager at Google.  [8:27] Anika Peng, a 4th year student at the Schulich School of Business.  [14:27] Benny Ussyshkin, an English teacher living in Seville, Spain.  [20:30] Shawn Hewat, the Co-Founder and CEO of Wavy. You can find details about how to connect with all guests from this special episode at createcommunitypod.com/quarantine.

How can you turn your online following into a loyal community?  Swish Goswami is the CEO & Founder of Trufan, a social intelligence platform that helps brands activate grassroots communities made up of super fans. Swish is a top LinkedIn creator with over 100M content views. He's an expert at turning his online following into a true community. In this episode, Swish and Marsha talk about creating online and offline communities, Swish's entrepreneurial journey, building a magnetic personal brand, and everything in between.  Show notes: www.createcommunitypod.com/episodes/swish-goswami

What's the best way to start a community? Just start!  Mar Reyes is the founder of LET-GO MOMS, a community that supports and empowers moms through liberating and fun dance workouts.  Before moving to Toronto, Mar lived in Mexico city and ran an amazing chapter of Creative Mornings - a global breakfast lecture series and community for creatives.  In this episode, Mar and Marsha chat about building Creative Mornings and Let Go Moms, becoming a mom, and starting from scratch in a new city. Show notes: https://www.createcommunitypod.com/episodes/mar-reyes

How did one LinkedIn post lead to the creation of a 1000+ people Slack community for HR professionals? Martin Hauck is the Head of Talent at Coinsquare and the founder of The People People Group which is a Slack group for HR, Recruiting and Talent Acquisition professionals.  If you're building an online community, you don't want to miss this episode. Martin and Marsha talk about creating a community to scratch your own itch, defining community conduct and guidelines, and much more. Show notes: https://www.createcommunitypod.com/episodes/martin-hauck-the-people-people-group

How can you replicate the magic of your community across multiple cities? Preet Singh is the founder of DesignX, the fastest growing UX & Design community in North America and Europe.  DesignX hosts meetups, a large-scale conference, and has a robust Slack group where thousands of designers share, learn and grow together. In this episode Preet and Marsha chat about building online and offline communities, Preet's journey of immigrating to Canada, and building a new life and community from scratch. Show notes: https://www.createcommunitypod.com/episodes/preet-singh-designx

What does community mean to you? Today, “community” has become somewhat of a buzzword and business objective. The goal of this podcast is to explore the human side of it.  Everyone can and should create a community for themselves. On this podcast, host Marsha Druker chats with fellow community builders to learn about their journeys. Make sure to subscribe so you don't miss the first episode. Also, follow along on Instagram at @createcommunitypod and our website www.createcommunitypod.com for updates!  Thank you to Origins Media Haus for producing this podcast.