So @Alyson Stemas suggested that we should have a space to have open discussions about the hardest parts of community that people don't often talk about. We are planning on hosting a short, initial 60-minute meetup next week. Some of the topics we are considering discussing are below: • Can a community be exclusive and inclusive at the same time? • Is there a right way to allow self promotion in a community? • What is the right way for a community respond to local, global, social, and political conflict? • Community leaders are often overwhelmed with feedback from community members, but it seems like the only solution, so how do you scale a community and responding to feedback? • How does one make community DEI metrics that aren’t tokenizing nor performative? Who here might be interested in that?

Thanks for posting @Alex Gordon-Furse (Community Hacked)! Some context - there is a community that is going through a rather public critique as it relates to these questions. And in my community building learning journey, I have yet to find a space where there is a real conversation about these types of topics taking place. Disclaimer: I don’t want to glamorize the shortcomings of a single community, but rather hope to learn from their mistakes and try to move community work forward in a more inclusive direction. ❤️

Thanks @Alyson Stemas

As we prep for Thursday's discussion, I thought it might be helpful to share some of the articles and discourse that inspired these questions: https://12ft.io/proxy?q=https%3A%2F%2Ffortune.com%2F2023%2F03%2F16%2Fchief-womens-network-startup-price-valuation-waitlist-members%2F https://www.forbes.com/sites/janicegassam/2023/03/18/private-womens-membership-group-chief-is-being-called-out-for-white-feminism/?sh=174a31b7669c Again, my hope isn't to disparage this community, rather learn and grow from our collective takeaways. For additional reading, type "chief membership" into LinkedIn. 👀

I did respond YES!

Continuing on this thread for those who attended, and those who might be interested. Our meeting about the hardest parts of community was held yesterday and went well. We are planning to host another in ~2 weeks focusing on DEI & Community, covering topics like strategy, objectives, impact and metrics Who'd be interested in joining that?