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Get Together

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A show about ordinary people building extraordinary communities. "Get Together" is hosted by the team at People & Company and our correspondents Mia Quagliarello, Maggie Zhang, Marjorie Anderson, and Whitney Ogutu.

Spreadsheets rule the world 📊 David Lyford-Smith, Spreadsheet Warriors

Get Together

  • 950 views
  • about 3 years ago
  • 41:00

“The question is ‘how do I keep my volunteers on track?’ because they're hugely motivated.” - David Lyford-SmithIf you spend a lot of time working with spreadsheets, you know they have a special power to rule the world. You can do almost anything with them from creating a shopping list to financial planning and analysis. Spreadsheets' powers lie in the fact they are accessible to people who aren’t programmers and coders. But if even just one cell is wrong, it can wreak terrible havoc.David Lyford-Smith works for the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. In the 1990s, ICAEW started a tech faculty to serve as internal experts researching matters of technology and automation affecting accountants. In 2013, it was apparent that the excel content was the most popular, and a collective of “excel warriors” was spun up into its own community. David raised his hand to help steer the direction of the work and joined several thousands of chartered accountants and others seeking to mitigate spreadsheet risk in workplaces around the world. They’ve created accessible materials like twenty principles for good spreadsheet practice as a guide for those who use spreadsheets daily and for those without special spreadsheet skills.We talked with David about the power of spreadsheets and the way in which he is channeling the enthusiasm of excel warriors to help each other and to help the public mitigate spreadsheet risk.Highlights, inspiration, & key learnings:The spreadsheet ecosystem. The power of spreadsheets and use cases.Documentation. What matters most in creating spreadsheets in teams.Channeling enthusiasm. Giving volunteers direction.Defining “who.” Serving communities needs and creating resources in the public interest.Origin story. How a group of excel warriors emerged at ICAEW.Content creation. Building with volunteer members and online creators.đŸ‘‹đŸ»Say hi to David and learn more about Excel Community✹Say hi to Mia, “Get Together” correspondent.📄See the full transcript This podcast was created by the team at People & Company.Â đŸ”„Say hi! We would love to get to know you.We published GET TOGETHER📙, a handbook on community-building. And we work with organizations like Nike, Porsche, Substack and Surfrider as strategy partners, bringing confidence to how they’re building communities. Hit subscribe🎙 and head over to our website to learn about the work we do with passionate, community-centered organizations.

Meet the huge, leaderless web of fans fueling BTS đŸŽ¶ Ashley Hackworth, BTS A.R.M.Y.

Get Together

  • 900 views
  • about 3 years ago
  • 43:36

"We are a part of their success. We are a part of their team.” - Ashley HackworthBTS is a seven-member South Korean boy band. They became the fastest-growing group since The Beatles to earn four US number-one albums, doing so in less than two years. The rise of BTS is in part thanks to a huge leaderless web of dedicated fans who call themself A.R.M.Y. People like Ashley Hackworth host accounts that serve as informational and even emotional hubs for millions of fans. They don’t just love BTS’s music, they support each other through mental health issues and other very human challenges, many of which the band sings about in their music. They have banded together to impact the outcome of political movements (including foiling a Trump rally this summer), raised millions of dollars for the Black Lives Matter movement, and flooded social media platforms to drown out racist voices. Members feel like they are part of this big family across the world, a point that Maggie’s 14 year-old sister Mira, a BTS superfan who helped co-hosted the interview, emphasized to us.Activism is as important as the catchy tunes for Ashley, Mira and their fellow fans. Ashley manages one of the biggest UK fan accounts for BTS. Not only does she report on what's happening with the band in the region, the account also serves as a hub for worldwide BTS news and media requests, translation requests, fundraising, and more.We talked with Ashley about how fans gather to support each other in many ways without formal leadership and beyond music. Highlights, inspiration, & key learnings:You can’t fake the funk. How Ashley discovered and first connected with BTS.Shared values. The music communicates values of activism and mental health awareness.Decentralized leadership. Creating a space where any fan can step up and see their ideas through.Watering hole. BTS fans gather on Twitter to connect over music and engage beyond in activism.Virtual gathering. K-pop and technology have historically been intertwined to bridge gaps across geography.đŸ‘‹đŸ»Say hi to Ashley and learn more about the BTS A.R.M.Y.✹Say hi to Mia and Maggie, “Get Together” correspondent.📄See the full transcript.This podcast was created by the team at People & Company.Â đŸ”„Say hi! We would love to get to know you.We published GET TOGETHER📙, a handbook on community-building. And we've worked with organizations like Nike, Porsche, Substack and Surfrider as strategy partners, bringing confidence to how they’re building communities. Hit subscribe🎙 and head over to our website to learn about the work we do with passionate, community-centered organizations.

Connecting designers across Africa during COVID-19 🇰đŸ‡Ș Lewis Kang'ethe, The Fearless Community

Get Together

  • 860 views
  • about 3 years ago
  • 43:19

“Let's bring designers together and first talk about your wellbeing. Then let's talk about the next steps forward for you as a designer.” -  Lewis Kang'etheLewis Kang'ethe was first championed as a community leader in primary school when his teacher asked him to spearhead the mathematics club. When the teacher asks, the answer is either, “yes or yes.” Now, Lewis works as a product designer in Kenya. When he’s looking for jobs outside of Africa he often gets asked the question, “are you qualified?” Lewis started the African chapter of The Fearless Community so that designers in Africa can tell their stories. It’s a place for designers like Lewis to find work and a network. Members from around the world convene in local Slack channels and attend video podcast series with veteran designers. When COVID-19 became a threat, they launched the #StayConnected series first to talk about their wellbeing and then, the next steps forward for their members as designers. Lewis takes a “servant” leadership approach to his role as community lead in Africa. We talked with him about the attention to details when connecting people across cultures and how the community has adjusted to online meetups.Highlights, inspiration, & key learnings:You can’t fake the funk.Getting started. Reaching out to potential members on portfolio websites.Bridging the gap. Connecting people across cultures.Virtual meetups. Leaning into playfulness and fun of being a designer.Servant leadership. Building with and in service of the community members.đŸ‘‹đŸ» Say hi to Lewis Kang'ethe and learn more about The Fearless Community.✹ Thank you to Whitney Ogutu, “Get Together” correspondent, for bringing the story to us.📄 See the full transcriptThis podcast was created by the team at People & Company.Â đŸ”„Say hi! We would love to get to know you.We published GET TOGETHER📙, a handbook on community-building. And we work with organizations like Nike, Porsche, Substack and Surfrider as strategy partners, bringing confidence to how they’re building communities. Hit subscribe🎙 and head over to our website to learn about the work we do with passionate, community-centered organizations.

Growing a community one town hall at a time 💰 Claire Wasserman, Ladies Get Paid

Get Together

  • 870 views
  • about 3 years ago
  • 39:07

“The email that I would receive after every single town hall was, ‘I thought I was the only one.’” - Claire WassermanBy 2016, Claire Wasserman was fed up with men not taking her seriously in the workplace. For years, she’d internalized this marginalization as somehow her fault or her problem to struggle through alone. It was time for that to change.With a friend, Claire brought together 100 women in a town-hall style event to talk about money and power in the workplace. Out of those conversations, Claire saw the potential for something much bigger.After that first town hall, she created a Slack group which grew to 6,000 women in the first year. Half a year later, that Slack group had more than 20,000 members from all 50 states. Claire quit her job, incorporated a business, and hit the road hosting town halls around the country.  Today, Ladies Get Paid has helped more than 75,000 women believe in and advocate for their worth, including a young Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez. Town hall discussions, conferences, workshops, webinars and more took place across the country before the pandemic, and those sessions have transformed into webinars and more since COVID arrived.How did Claire get such a massive community and business off the ground? Tune in for the full story.Highlights, inspiration, & key learnings:Can’t fake the funk. Why this work matters to Claire.Origin story. In 2016, Claire hosted a town hall in NYC offering an intimate and vulnerable space to talk about money.Town halls. Claire’s tour across America and learning the dynamics of different cities.Moderation. Creating community guidelines and an ecosystem where there is no need for moderation.Writing the “Ladies Get Paid” book. Centering the book around stories of real women.Lawsuit. How Ladies Get Paid was sued and lobbied elected officials to change laws.đŸ‘‹đŸ»Say hi to Claire and learn more about Ladies Get Paid.📄See the full transcriptThis podcast was created by the team at People & Company.Â đŸ”„Say hi! We would love to get to know you.We published GET TOGETHER📙, a handbook on community-building. And we work with organizations like Nike, Porsche, Substack and Surfrider as strategy partners, bringing confidence to how they’re building communities. Hit subscribe🎙 and head over to our website to learn about the work we do with passionate, community-centered organizations.

Wastin’ away in retirement paradise đŸč Adam Bedoian, Margaritaville

Get Together

  • 910 views
  • about 3 years ago
  • 36:15

“I tell all my staff to have your hearts, your minds and your ears open to new ideas. It doesn't have to come from you to be a great idea.” - Adam BedoianMargaritaville isn’t just a state of mind, it’s a real place. Seniors can live out their Buffett-inspired retirement dreams at the three Latitude Margaritaville retirement communities in Daytona Beach and Watersound, Florida, and Hilton Head, South Carolina.When moving into a retirement community, people care greatly about what their community will be like. The Margaritaville theme communicates a clear identity of fun, food, music and escapism. The theme has resonated. People camped out overnight to be the first to secure spots the Margaritaville development in Daytona Beach.In this interview, Bailey chats with Adam Bedoian whose team is responsible for bringing the Margaritaville lifestyle to life. Each week they host 10 hours of live music, pickleball games, and a number of programs at their restaurants, fitness centers, amphitheater shell, and pool. Residents have stepped up officially and unofficially to support the community as resident advisors, hostess, and even with behind the scenes aspects of running the community, like accounting.We were delighted to see how clear Adam and his team took a “build with” approach to establishing the community at Margaritaville and hope you enjoy the story. Highlights, inspiration, & key learnings:You can’t fake the funk. Adam’s early career in hospitality and transition to community-building.Prototyping Margaritaville. Running the idea by the “Parrottheads,” Jimmy Buffett’s super fans, before launching.Programs that prompt connection. Listening and having ongoing, open conversations.Managing expectations. “I can take care of everything except for who your neighbors are.”Supercharging leaders. Unofficially and officially, residents have stepped up and brought the escapism lifestyle to life.đŸ‘‹đŸ»Say hi to Adam and learn more about Latitude Margaritaville. 📄See the full transcript This podcast was created by the team at People & Company.Â đŸ”„Say hi! We would love to get to know you.We published GET TOGETHER📙, a handbook on community-building. And we work with organizations like Nike, Porsche, Substack and Surfrider as strategy partners, bringing confidence to how they’re building communities. Hit subscribe🎙 and head over to our website to learn about the work we do with passionate, community-centered organizations.

A band of 500 modern day superheroes 💍 Chris Turner, The Ring Finders

Get Together

  • 840 views
  • about 3 years ago
  • 31:49

“The strategy is the questions. You have to ask the right questions. If you don’t, you can be walking away from a smile.” - Chris TurnerWhen Chris Turner was 12 years old he got a metal detector and fell in love with looking for history. Over the years, he would be on the beach or in a park and get approached by a frantic couple looking for their ring. Within minutes, he was often able to help them recover their ring.These rings represent stories and relationships, and when they are lost, it feels as though the stories are lost with them. Chris started The Ring Finders in Vancouver to help people recover their rings and thus their stories. He documented these generous acts and caught the attention of a man in Illinois who invested in the mission.Since then, Chris has built an online directory of 500 independent metal detecting specialists in 22 countries that go out in search of rings, most of which do it on a pay as you wish basis. We talked with him about the human nature of this work and spotlighting stories from the searches.Highlights, inspiration, & key learnings:Origin Story. Why Chris started metal detecting.Rework basis. Pay what you wish and pay it forward.Spotlighting the stories. A video blog documenting searches.Finding Jon Cryer’s ring. The stories that reveal themself after publicity.đŸ‘‹đŸ» Say hi to Chris and learn more about The Ring Finders.✹Thank you to Mia, “Get Together” correspondent, for bringing us this story.📄See the full transcriptThis podcast was created by the team at People & Company.Â đŸ”„Say hi! We would love to get to know you.We published GET TOGETHER📙, a handbook on community-building. And we work with organizations like Nike, Porsche, Substack and Surfrider as strategy partners, bringing confidence to how they’re building communities. Hit subscribe🎙 and head over to our website to learn about the work we do with passionate, community-centered organizations.

Building real bonds amongst diverse groups of strangers 💖 Sophie Mona Pagùs, LVRSNFRNDS

Get Together

  • 890 views
  • about 3 years ago
  • 48:56

“Society is losing something when we don’t share our weirdness with one another. You're losing something when you have someone at your table and they don't share what makes them different. One of the purposes I have in life is to create spaces where people will share what is interesting about them, and why they are different.” - Sophie Mona PagĂšsAs a Moroccan immigrant growing up in France, Sophie Mona PagĂšs grew up feeling a bit “weird” in her complex identity. She craved a space infused with diversity, inclusion, intimacy, modernity, and beauty. Instead of waiting for such a space to appear, she created LVRSNFRNDS herself. The 20 attendees at the first event in East London were people Sophie found on dating apps who she “would be happy to spend an evening with.” She asked them to fill out a form if they wanted to attend, spend 15 minutes with her on a call, and gathered fun facts about each attendee to spark conversations. The group was diverse across identities and ages, and meaningful relationships were sparked. The night was a success. Today LVRSNFRNDS gathers people around the world, to fight loneliness and enable meaningful connections of all kinds. Hand-selected members have access to events where they’re asked to contribute their voice to conversations on intimacy and relationships.In March 2020, the community traded bars for virtual rooms. We’ll talk with Sophie about developing a playbook that captures shared values, facilitating online conversations, and why this work matters to her.Highlights, inspiration, & key learnings:Origin story. Finding the first 20 people.Can’t fake the funk. “I grew up feeling weird.”Going virtual. People showing up and supercharging the why--support.Facilitating online. Empowering members to step up as hosts.Building playbooks with members. Acknowledging that people mess up and creating a response for when that happens.đŸ‘‹đŸ»Say hi to Sophie Mona PagĂšs and learn more about LVRSNFRNDS.✹Thank you to Marjorie, “Get Together” correspondent,  for bringing us this story.📄See the full transcriptThis podcast was created by the team at People & Company.Â đŸ”„Say hi! We would love to get to know you.We published GET TOGETHER📙, a handbook on community-building. And we help organizations like Nike, Porsche, Substack and Surfrider make smart bets with their community-building investments.Hit subscribe🎙 and head over to our website to learn about the work we do with passionate, community-centered organizations.

Connecting over the food & family we love đŸČ Sarah Leung, Woks of Life

Get Together

  • 820 views
  • about 3 years ago
  • 41:41

“As the community grows and people come back, they start wanting to know more about us and where we're coming from. We wanted to make that really clear--the origin of all of these recipes and of our family.” - Sarah LeungThe Woks of Life has opened the door for many families to connect over the food and memories they love. The Leung family, Bill and Judy, and daughters Sarah and Kaitlin started the blog to document their favorite Chinese dishes and family memories in 2013. Food has been a central part of their family's heritage. Sarah’s grandpa was a chef in the New York Catskills and Sarah’s dad, Bill, worked with him in the restaurants.Today, their blog is recognized as an authority for Chinese cooking and has sparked a robust online community. They developed their beloved editorial lens by capturing sincere experiences and rich memories with food as Chinese Americans. We talk with Sarah of how her family found their voice and supercharged others to share theirs too.Highlights, inspiration, & key learnings:Origin story. Sarah and her sister realized they weren’t eating the food of their childhood without their parents around.Role modeling conversations. Attaching memories to recipes.Spark of community. Realizing that the blog was bigger than just their family.Creating an editorial lens. Capturing the breadth of experience people have with Chinese cuisine.Responding to feedback. Keeping the blog “living and breathing” and always improving.đŸ‘‹đŸ»Say hi to Sarah and learn more about The Woks of Life.✹Say hi to Maggie Zhang, “Get Together” correspondent.📄See the full transcript This podcast was created by the team at People & Company.Â đŸ”„Say hi! We would love to get to know you.We published GET TOGETHER📙, a handbook on community-building. And we help organizations like Nike, Porsche, Substack and Surfrider make smart bets with their community-building investments.Hit subscribe🎙 and head over to our website to learn about the work we do with passionate, community-centered organizations.

Supercharging grassroots political action in our communities 📱 Nicole àBeckett, SameSide

Get Together

  • 800 views
  • over 3 years ago
  • 53:56

“You don't have to be a celebrity or a mega influencer to take action and host an event. A hundred people or a thousand people don’t have to attend. It can be five people. That impact is still impact. ” - Nicole Ă Beckett Just after the 2016 U.S. election, many people were saying, “I want to do more to get involved but I don’t know how.” Nicole Ă Beckett and her brother, David, knew there had to be a better way to bring people together for action on issues that matter. They started SameSide with a simple idea—to incorporate civic engagement within existing communities. Based in LA, Nicole worked with a local named Phil in March of 2017 to host the first event. Phil had a large network of friends and rallied them just after the Women’s March to campaign for Sarah Hernandez, a candidate for Senate in California. Together with SameSide he paired phone banking with a brewery tour. While phone banking was intimidating to some, the brewery tour with friends nudged fifteen of Phil’s buds to cross the threshold to activism. Through SameSide, this accessible activism model has been employed at scale. SameSide offers hosts the tools to learn and take action on issues. A host's job isn’t to be an expert; it’s to convene people around something they care about. The Standard Hotel is hosting pool parties advocating for gun safety.  A woman celebrating her birthday wove in efforts to support ending the rape kit backlog in California. We talked with Nicole about how she has empowered hosts with tools to gather folks around what they care about to take action.Highlights, inspiration, & key learnings:Origin story. The beginning of integrating civic action with existing experiences and communities.Supporting leaders. How Nicole instills confidence and educates hosts on civic issues with issue baked tool kits.Ramping up the purposeful and participatory in activities. The tools Nicole offers hosts to make events action-focused.Leaders roadmap. Nicole utilized email campaigns to plant the seed for folks to take their first action and work up to hosting.đŸ‘‹đŸ»Say hi to Nicole and learn more about SameSide.✹Say hi to Marjorie Anderson, “Get Together” correspondent.📄See the full transcript This podcast was created by the team at People & Company.Â đŸ”„Say hi! We would love to get to know you.We published GET TOGETHER📙, a handbook on community-building. And we help organizations like Nike, Porsche, Substack and Surfrider make smart bets with their community-building investments.Hit subscribe🎙 and head over to our website to learn about the work we do with passionate, community-centered organizations.

How a movement took over LinkedIn đŸ—șAnna McAfee, #LinkedInLocal

Get Together

  • 850 views
  • over 3 years ago
  • 50:32

“Leadership is actually the first few followers, not the crazy first person to stand up on stage.” - Anna McAfeeIn May 2017, Anna McAfee put up a simple post on LinkedIn to see if anyone living in her hometown of Coffs Coast, Australia wanted to get together. She had just returned after years of living abroad and wanted to “get to know the people behind the profiles” in her area. Anna included the hashtag #LinkedInLocal. Fifteen people made it out to the first Coffs Coast event, but the online response was what would change Anna’s life. Three strangers—Alexandra Galviz in London, Manu Goswami in NYC, and Erik Eklund in Brussels—raised their hand to also host a #LinkedInLocal in their city. No one could predict what happened next.Host requests started pouring in from around the world. The founding team was soon hosting after-hours trainings six nights a week to help new cities ramp up. For two years, Anna and her co-creators led, mentored, and managed the #LinkedInLocal global community. At its height, #LinkedInLocal had more than 1,000 hosts and had rallied over 300,000 humans, in 650+ cities across 92 countries. Anna & co. fostered this community without formal support from LinkedIn. She walked a fine line between an unexpected, organic community and the priorities of the platform. In 2019, Anna stepped away and she recently co-authored a book about her experience: How a Hashtag Changed the World.We talked with her about creating a host community and the friction that can appear when an organic community erupts on a major platform.Highlights, inspiration, & key learnings:Anna defines personal why. Searching for belonging in her local community, Anna used the tool she knew best--LinkedIn.Identify the “who” of #LinkedInLocal. The power of a network of hyper-local communities.Balancing inclusion and exclusion. #LinkedInLocal’s first core value: diversity.Cultivating your identity. Building an organic community within the guidelines of a major brand.Support leaders. Anna played the role of connector--making connections within the host communities, helping hosts help themself.đŸ‘‹đŸ»Say hi to Anna and grab a copy of her book.✹Thank you to Mia Quagliarello, “Get Together” correspondent, for spotlighting Anna’s story with us.📄See the full transcript This podcast was created by the team at People & Company.Â đŸ”„Say hi! We would love to get to know you.We published GET TOGETHER📙, a handbook on community-building. And we help organizations like Nike, Porsche, Substack and Surfrider make smart bets with their community-building investments.Hit subscribe🎙 and head over to our website to learn about the work we do with passionate, community-centered organizations.

LIVE Interview! “Going Virtual” đŸ‘©đŸ»â€đŸ’» Carla Fernandez & Mary Horn, The Dinner Party

Get Together

  • 830 views
  • over 3 years ago
  • 24:20

“We're not going to give up in-person gatherings, but at the same time, virtual tables have been so meaningful. Post-COVID probably will be a ‘both and’ community.” - Carla FernandezIn November, we hosted a live interview with Carla Fernandez and Mary Horn in front of an intimate audience. For both women, their work with The Dinner Party is personal.  “We know what it’s like to lose someone and we aren’t afraid to talk about it,” their website states.When COVID-19 arrived in March, Carla, Mary, and the team “frantically put together some programming.” They stood up a calendar of events, including yoga and journaling, that Dinner Parties could tune into from around the world. But when they turned to their community and asked, “what do you need more of?” the answer grounded them in their founding purpose. “They weren't as interested in these one-way teaching experiences,” Carla told us. “What they really wanted was connections and homies that they could talk to about what was going on in their life.” People can go to a yoga class any hour of the day, seven days a week. At the outset of COVID-19, there were a lot of organizations providing those spaces (thankfully!). What Dinner Partiers didn't have was someone that they could talk to about their grief. Since that realization, they have launched the Buddy Program, connected affinity groups, and added 70 new tables to their community.  In our live interview, we talked with them about finding an activity that was purposeful, participatory, and offered the peer support people come to The Dinner Party for. We have plans to host another live interview soon! Stay in the loop by subscribing to our newsletter.Highlights, inspiration, & key learnings:Origin story. Why Mary comes to the table. (We first heard Carla’s back when we talked with her and co-founder, Lennon Flowers, on a previous episode of the podcast.)Listening to community needs. Asking questions that revealed next steps. Purposeful & participatory shared activity. How The Dinner Party launched the Buddy Program and transitioned the tables online. Paying attention to hand-raisers. How the team supercharged and supported affinity groups that popped up around shared experiences and identities.Looking to the future. A post-COVID world with the best of virtual and IRL gatherings.đŸ‘‹đŸ»Say hi to Mary and Carla + learn more about The Dinner Party.📄See the notes from our live event!This podcast was created by the team at People & Company.Â đŸ”„Say hi! We would love to get to know you.We published GET TOGETHER📙, a handbook on community-building. And we help organizations like Nike, Porsche, Substack, and Surfrider make smart bets with their community-building investments.Hit subscribe🎙 and head over to our website to learn about the work we do with passionate, community-centered organizations.

Room for reimagining masculinity đŸ€Onyango Otieno, Nyumbani

Get Together

  • 830 views
  • over 3 years ago
  • 37:13

Note: we will discuss sexual assault in this episode and advise our listeners to practice discretion in tuning in.“Everybody's story is valid. The fact that people feel they cannot speak up about their own pain is my motivator.” - Onyango OtienoAt twenty years old, Onyango Otieno was the victim of sexual assault and found he had no where to turn. In Kenya, as in many other societies, the patriarchal structure turns a blind eye to the sexual experiences of men. Men are socially conditioned to hold in their pain.   Because of his background as a storyteller, Onyango instead began writing about his experience. In sharing his story on Facebook and Twitter, he found “some kind of liberation.”Onyango continued exploring African masculinity and advocating for mental health, and eventually put up a post sharing that he was starting a WhatsApp-based mental health support group.Over 200 people raised their hands to join him there. Onyango put these folks into two groups and offered some basic community guidelines that allowed members to define the space the way they wanted. Today they call these groups Nyumbani, which is Swahili for “home.”We talked with Onyango about structuring a community support group starting with community guidelines and his personal self-care as he leads people to unpack trauma. Highlights, inspiration, & key learnings:Sending a signal. Onyango sent a call for men who wanted to join a support group.Watering hole. Gathering on WhatsApp and creating community guidelines.Healing circles. A participatory shared activity where men share stories of sexual assault, often for the first time.Self-care. Onyango’s practices to check in with his emotions.đŸ‘‹đŸ»Say hi to Onyango (onyangohome@gmail.com) and learn more about Nyumbani✹Say hi to Whitney Ogutu, “Get Together” correspondent.📄See the full transcript.This podcast was created by the team at People & Company.Â đŸ”„Say hi! We would love to get to know you.We published GET TOGETHER📙, a handbook on community-building. And we help organizations like Nike, Porsche, Substack and Surfrider make smart bets with their community-building investments.Hit subscribe🎙 and head over to our website to learn about the work we do with passionate, community-centered organizations.

Meet Whitney Ogutu 🎙“Get Together” Podcast Correspondent

Get Together

  • 830 views
  • over 3 years ago
  • 16:32

“Listeners should expect refreshing and new voices from me. The plan is to put Africa on the map.” - Whitney OgutuIn the middle of July, we announced that we were searching for a new podcast correspondent to  help us expand the stories we tell. We had an incredible response to the program–117 applications! We decided in the end to bring on not just one, but two correspondents: Marjorie Anderson and Whitney Ogutu.We’ve been training Marjorie and Whitney over the past few months on our editorial voice, how to do outreach, how to interview, and to edit, and we’re excited to share that they've recorded their interviews. In advance of hearing her first episode, today we will introduce you to the cerebral, sincere, kind-hearted Whitney Ogutu who comes to us from Nairobi, Kenya. Whitney leads Community Engagement and Programs at Mettā Nairobi, a community, and innovation hub that supports startups, entrepreneurs and innovators. She is an investor in people and their potential, which she traces back to her first memories of local chamas, a Kenyan community format for brainstorming and taking actions on local problems.Over the next few months, Whitney will be sharing stories of community leaders on the podcast but first we wanted to share hers.Â đŸ‘‹đŸ»Say hi to Whitney on Twitter.This podcast was created by the team at People & Company.Â đŸ”„Say hi! We would love to get to know you.We published GET TOGETHER📙, a handbook on community-building. And we help organizations like Nike, Porsche, Substack and Surfrider make smart bets with their community-building investments.Hit subscribe🎙 and head over to our website to learn about the work we do with passionate, community-centered organizations.

Instigating grassroots culture change đŸ§© Steve Garguilo, Cultivate

Get Together

  • 840 views
  • over 3 years ago
  • 53:26

“There's strategic value in giving up some control when you're a leader at a company and you want new ideas to emerge.” - Steve GarguiloEarly in his career, Steve did the (seemingly) impossible—he led a grassroots transformation of the culture of Johnson & Johnson, the fifth largest company in the world. Frustrated by the pace and challenges of big company culture, Steve decided to do something he’d done in college: host a TEDx.  He hosted a casual TEDx event at a bar and invited employees within Johnson & Johnson to share their research, wild ideas, and learn from one another. Within an hour and a half of posting the event internally, 90 people had signed up. Soon employees at other offices around the world wanted to host their own. By the time Steve was done, 23,000 people at Johnson & Johnson had engaged in a TEDx and he had a new title: “Head of Instigation at Johnson & Johnson.”Today Steve continues this work shifting big company cultures from the ground up. As a partner at Cultivate, he’s taking the transformative work he did at Johnson & Johnson to other organizations. He co-authored Surge: Your Guide to Put Any Idea into Action which captures the two-decade on the quest to find better ways to take action on our ideas.We talk with Steve about how he pinpointed fellow changemakers within Johnson & Johnson and supercharged their ideas using the TEDx format. Highlights, inspiration, & key learnings:Start with “why.” Aligning behind a shared purpose.Do something together. The steps Steve took to host the first TEDx at J&J.Metrics of success. Shiny eyes and goosebump moments.Pinpointing cultivators. Finding other people that have energy to spark change.Leading authentically. Being the person that you want more of in the world.đŸ‘‹đŸ»Say hi to Steve and learn more about Cultivate.📄See the full transcript and annotate insights.This podcast was created by the team at People & Company.Â đŸ”„Say hi! We would love to get to know you.We published GET TOGETHER📙, a handbook on community-building. And we help organizations like Nike, Porsche, Substack and Surfrider make smart bets with their community-building investments.Hit subscribe🎙and head over to our website to learn about the work we do with passionate, community-centered organizations.

A curated dinner party that went virtual without losing its purpose 🍮Lennon Flowers and Carla Fernandez of The Dinner Party

Get Together

  • 800 views
  • over 3 years ago
  • 46:29

The Dinner Party is a worldwide community of 20- and 30-somethings who have each experienced the loss of a loved one. “We know what it’s like to lose someone and we aren’t afraid to talk about it,” their website states.Before the pandemic more than 400 Dinner Party tables were regularly meeting in nearly 100 cities around the world. Carla and Lennon share in this episode how they have through the age old practice of breaking bread, Dinner Partiers are transforming life after loss from an isolating experience into one marked by community support, candid conversation, and forward movement.When COVID-19 arrived in March, in-person dinner parties were no longer an option and the organization made a shift to video calls. Since then, they have added 70 new tables and launched a buddy program.You're invited!On Friday November 20, 2020 Bailey and Kevin of People & Company host a live interview with Carla Fernandez, co-founder, and Mary Horn, community manager, at The Dinner Party to learn about how the community has transformed since the pandemic. Grab a ticket 🎟Who: You! Leaders, community builders and other people navigating how to bring your people together.What: Following the live, 30-minute interview, we’ll have a town hall discussion to learn from each other’s responses to the pandemic.When: Friday November 20th 9:15 AM - 10:00 AM PT / 12:15 PM - 1:00 PM  ETWhere: Private Zoom listening roomHow much: $15 to register.$5 from every ticket donated to The Dinner Party to support their mission to transform life after loss.Grab a ticket 🎟

Role modeling honesty âŁïž Kibi Anderson, Red Table Talk

Get Together

  • 810 views
  • over 3 years ago
  • 58:27

“If there's drama in your life, you don't want to talk about it. It’s hush, hush. But that's not the way you heal. It's been detrimental to our communities. So when people–especially a lot of black women—saw that representation on camera it just touched them in a way that just exploded.” - Kibi AndersonMany of us may know “Red Table Talk” as the TV show that Jada Smith, her daughter Willow, and mother Adrienne host. What you may not know is that Red Table Talk sparked thriving grassroots communities of viewers. Women in cities around the world started their own “Red Table Talks”—literally dressing their own tables with red tablecloths and gathering with strangers to experience the honest conversations that the Smiths role model on the show for themselves. Kibi Anderson is an award-winning Emmy producer and the former president of Red Table Talk. She was first a fan, drawn in by the raw conversations. We talk with her about the grassroots community that formed around the show and how she used her business savvy and inherent passion for community building to supercharge their efforts.Highlights, inspiration, & key learnings:Can’t fake the funk. Kibi’s shares how she grew up in community.Role modeling difficult conversations. How Red Table Talk maintains the integrity of initial conversation.Supporting an existing community. How Kibi and her team acknowledged, supported, and supercharged the leaders of their community.Building with. Experimenting on then launching new tools and content with your community members.Celebrating. Bringing “OG” members close to the RTT team and creating private, special content for their most passionate members.Hurdles. The challenges of not owning a channel (Facebook) and thus not being able to communicate seamlessly with the community.đŸ‘‹đŸ»Say hi to Kibi Anderson and learn more about Red Table Talk.📄NEW! See the full transcript and leave thoughts, learnings, and insights in the comments plus respond to others. This podcast was created by the team at People & Company.Â đŸ”„Say hi! We would love to get to know you.We published GET TOGETHER📙, a handbook on community-building. And we help organizations like Nike, Porsche, Substack and Surfrider make smart bets with their community-building investments.Hit subscribe🎙 and head over to our website to learn about the work we do with passionate, community-centered organizations.

Crowdsourcing scenes đŸ€Ł Charlie Todd, Improv Everywhere

Get Together

  • 790 views
  • over 3 years ago
  • 53:56

“You don't have to have any talent. You just have to come out. I design things that would work for someone who was a lawyer or a school teacher.” - Charlie ToddIn August 2001, Charlie Todd moved to New York City with an interest in acting and comedy. He didn’t have immediate access to a stage, so he started creating in public spaces by staging undercover performances. Charlie documented his first undercover performances on a blog he called Improv Everywhere. Over the past two decades, Charlie has staged hundreds of “missions” involving tens of thousands of undercover performers and shared them on YouTube, garnering millions of views. Highlights include making time stop at Grand Central Terminal, a mass no-pants subway ride, and letting random strangers conduct a world class orchestra in the middle of Manhattan. Do yourself a favor, check out their YouTube.These pranks are not traditional improv. They require significant logistical work on Charlie’s end. He creates the "sandbox" for participants—first friends from his early comedy career in NYC and now thousands of people who have signed up for the Improv Everywhere mailing list—to play in, exercising their own creativity. We talked with Charlie about crowdsourcing the creativity of strangers to create in his words “a happy mob.” Highlights, inspiration, & key learnings:Commanding attention. In comedy, it’s easy to get a laugh out of negative material, pointing the finger at a victim. Charlie does the extraordinary to live out the golden rule, “anything you perform should be something you want people to do to you.”The “why” for participants. In it for the fun of it.Crowd control. Managing an email list of thousands and knowing how many people to tap at one time.Power of YouTube. How YouTube created global reach for Improv Everywhere connecting them with new performers and opportunities.The “why” of the leader. How Charlie’s motivations have shifted over the past 19 years.Space. Public space as the key element to the Improv Everywhere experience.đŸ‘‹đŸ»Say hi to Charlie Todd and see the Improv Everywhere missions in action on YouTube.📄See the full transcript This podcast was created by the team at People & Company.Â đŸ”„Say hi! We would love to get to know you.We published GET TOGETHER📙, a handbook on community-building. And we help organizations like Nike, Porsche, Substack and Surfrider make smart bets with their community-building investments.Hit subscribe🎙 and head over to our website to learn about the work we do with passionate, community-centered organizations.

BONUS! Kevin's interview on Masters of Community with David Spinks

Get Together

  • 850 views
  • over 3 years ago
  • 01:07:39

You can tune into the original episode on the Masters of Community podcast.Special thanks to David and his team for giving us access to the audio to share directly with our listeners. Check out their podcasts!

Rallying allies âœŠđŸŸ Nate Nichols and Steffi Behringer, Allyship & Action

Get Together

  • 940 views
  • over 3 years ago
  • 57:29

“We need people to see the power they have in themselves to make a very small change that can compound over time.” -  Nate Nichols Nate Nichols and Steffi Behringer are life and business partners and the founders of Allyship & Action. The Allyship & Action Summits took the advertising community by storm these past few months. Like many others, their creative agency, Pallete Group, faced challenges when the pandemic hit. But they flipped the challenge into an opportunity, producing Freelancer Cyber Summit to connect freelancers and to “learn WTF is going on in the advertising industry.”In the wake of George Floyd’s murder, Nate and Steffi spun up the Allyship & Action Summit as an urgent source of information on allyship, providing tangible next steps on anti-racism for ad land. The summit and supporting Slack groups and workshops connect allies to Black creatives and allies to learn and continue the conversation. They are also calling  on major brands and organizations to sign the Allyship & Action Pledge, “a commitment to transparency with a common, core code we use every time we enter into our business transactions.”Today on the podcast, we talk with Nate and Steffi about how they responded to uncertainty with action and filled a need for a community within their industry that promotes, facilitates, and pushes conversations related to anti-racism.Highlights, inspiration, & key learnings:The power of language. What it means to be an ally.Sending a signal. Getting the word out through partners.Creating a brand and telling a story.  How they brought Allyship & Action to life in a raw, unfiltered, honest way.Design choices. Allyship & Action’s secret sauce--making the audience feel as close as possible when meeting virtually. Building with. The transition from live events to an ongoing conversation initiated by the community.Â đŸ‘‹đŸ»Say hi to Nate and Steffi and learn more about Allyship & Action and Palette Group.📄See the full transcript This podcast was created by the team at People & Company.Â đŸ”„Say hi! We would love to get to know you.We published GET TOGETHER📙, a handbook on community-building. And we help organizations like Nike, Porsche, Substack and Surfrider make smart bets with their community-building investments.Hit subscribe🎙 and head over to our website to learn about the work we do with passionate, community-centered organizations.

Crowdsourcing the world’s hidden wonders 🌎Jonathan Carey, Atlas Obscura

Get Together

  • 850 views
  • over 3 years ago
  • 46:08

“We really lean all the way in for our community so they can feel that they're working with somebody and not working for us.” - Jonathan CareyAtlas Obscura is one of the few community-driven travel platforms.  The site focuses on the hard-to-find wonders and oddities of the world, from a church with Frederic Chopin’s heart in Poland to an abandoned Eurostar train covered in graffiti in France, to the Ottoman Bird Palaces (yes, ornate mansions for birds!) hiding in Istanbul. All of the 20,000+ discoveries are sourced by their community and published in partnership with “A.O.” staff editors.Jonathan Carey is Associate Places Editor and Community Headmaster at Atlas Obscura, editing the places people submit and jumping into the forums to encourage conversation. He has developed an eye for spotting what suits the “A.O.” voice and can guide community submissions to the site so they fit the Atlas Obscura lens.In this episode we talk with Jonathan about capturing and supercharging contributors enthusiasm by designing around natural instincts and treating contributors like staff members.Highlights, inspiration, & key learnings:From user to team member. How Jonathan first got involved with Atlas Obscura.Why Atlas Obscura exists. An outlet for people who want to share what naturally excites them.“Build with.” Noticing the interests and desires of community members to help build the community up even stronger.Feedback loop. Creating guardrails for submission and keeping contributors in the loop as if they were staff writers.“That’s so AO.” Spotting the people most excited about what the platform has to offer through the depth and nuance of how they communicate.Hand-raiser stories. A superuser writes a book of the adventures they chronicled and how an email from a 7th grader sparked an art and writing prompts series at the beginning of quarantine.đŸ‘‹đŸ»Say hi to Jonathan and learn more about Atlas Obscura.📄See the full transcriptThis podcast was created by the team at People & Company.Â đŸ”„Say hi! We would love to get to know you.We published GET TOGETHER📙, a handbook on community-building. And we help organizations like Nike, Porsche, Substack and Surfrider make smart bets with their community-building investments.Hit subscribe🎙 and head over to our website to learn about the work we do with passionate, community-centered organizations.