Something is Evolving
When I started this niche community, I was trying to solve something that always felt kind of overwhelming to me. Everyone loves to say, “You need a mentor.”
Great. Cool. And then what? Where do you find one? How do you ask? How do you know if they actually have time for you? And how do you make the whole thing feel less like some awkward professional marriage proposal?
I wanted to disrupt that. I wanted to create a safer, easier, more HUMAN way for people to find mentors, build relationships, and connect with others in this industry without all the weirdness that can sometimes come with “networking.”
But here’s the thing. The community started evolving almost immediately.
Sure…there’s been formal mentor matches. But then there were all the other moments that I could never have planned for. The person you met on an Informal Meet & Greet call who said exactly what you needed to hear. Someone you connected with during an After Dark call…and yes, those calls will be coming back! 😉 The person who reached out to you first and said, “Want to grab a virtual coffee?” Or the person who made a point to find you at a conference because they recognized your name from this community.
And sometimes that person ends up mentoring you without either of you labeling it as a formal mentorship relationship.
That’s something I’ve believed more and more as this community has grown: almost everyone here has the potential to be someone’s mentor. Not because we all have a fancy title or perfectly packaged advice, but because we are REAL people who have lived, learned, screwed up, figured a few things out, and might be exactly the person someone else needs to hear from that day.
That’s also when I realized this community was becoming something much bigger than the name it started with.
It became friendships, introductions, opportunities, accountability, confidence, perspective & support. It became people making the first move. People pulling someone else into the conversation. People saying, “You need to know this person.” People showing up for each other without being asked.
And maybe that is the biggest lesson I have learned from all of you:
To evolve, you have to get involved.
You cannot build relationships from the sidelines. You cannot find your people if you never enter the room. And you definitely cannot know where one conversation might lead if you never have it.
Which brings me to why I am writing this now.
I have been thinking a LOT about where this community goes next, because it is evolving…again.
I’m not ready to tell you exactly what that means yet. But I will tell you that I am paying very close attention to what this community has actually become, not just what I originally created it to be.
And that means I need to hear from YOU.
What is your story with this community? How has being part of it helped you evolve?
Did you find a mentor? Did someone become a mentor to you without ever officially being assigned? Did someone here make the first move and invite you to coffee, find you at a conference, make an introduction, or pull you into a conversation? Did you gain confidence, make a career move, find a friend, discover an opportunity, change the way you lead, or simply feel a little more connected to this crazy industry?
Maybe it was something huge. Maybe it was a brief conversation at exactly the right time.
I want to hear both.
Drop a comment or send me a message and tell me the REAL story of how this community has impacted you or how you have evolved because you got involved.
I would also love to share some of those stories with the rest of the community in future newsletters, posts and other content because I think the best way to explain what this has become is through the people who have actually experienced it. If you would rather I share your story anonymously, just tell me. Absolutely no problem.
There’s just one rule. Please don’t send me the polished LinkedIn version!
Tell me what actually happened.
Because YOUR stories are going to be an important part of this group’s next chapter.
Something is evolving.
And while I’m not quite ready to tell you what yet…I’ll leave you with one little clue:
To evolve, you have to get involved.
Stay tuned.