I hate the “I get asked this a lot” post-thing, but for this, I really do get asked a lot, especially after React Miami, and I think it may be easier to just write something up about it. If there are specific questions that follow, I’m happy to answer them asynchronously.

“How Do You Get Started Building Community?”

I can often tell that the honest answer is pretty disappointing, but there’s really no way around it and no secret hack. Furthermore, I’ll clarify that this is the route that I personally took and I’ve seen most others take. There may be other routes, I’m only going to speak about my experience.

To get started building community, you get started participating in community. Find a community that resonates with you and join as a member. As you come to understand the goals or needs, volunteer to take on those tasks or create ways to contribute to the mission. First support what has been created and then see what kind of value you can bring.

For me, this started when I was working on my Computer Science degree. I was learning to code myself and noticed a Girls Who Code program operating in a local library. I called the library, asked if they needed help, and started filling in where they communicated a need. Eventually, after a year or so when the main organizer went off to college herself, I filled in to lead the club.

Simultaneously, a new non-profit was forming called Code Palm Beach that offered free coding lessons to local K-12 students. Today, I sit as the Chair of the organization, and the soon to be announced next iteration of it, but I started as a weekend volunteer that showed up to help at every event. After a while of this I was invited to sit on the Board of Directors, later voted in as Secretary of the Board, later Vice-Chair, and after a few years, Chair.

Since then I’ve worked with Built By Girls, Developer DAO, South Florida Tech Hub’s Women’s Council, and supported an uncountable number of other organizations and events.

If there isn’t a community project or organization that interests you to join, then create one yourself. I personally haven’t created an entire organization from scratch. I prefer to collaborate with what others are building, but this is where I do fill in with creating events, which ultimately lead to React Miami. Creating a community is a metric fuck ton of work so I would say proceed with caution, especially if you don’t have previous experience participating or contributing to a community. Nevertheless, if you see a need in your community, and no one is working on it, then definitely feel empowered to take ownership and lead the effort.

Speaking Realistically for a Moment

Building community is a lot of work. A lot of work. It’s predominantly very unglamorous work. There are a lot of challenging and difficult moments where delivering to the mission is the only thing that carries me through. I think about quitting a lot. I am genuinely appreciative of the kind words when people share that they feel inspired by or appreciative of my work. It is all I have to go on sometimes. The moments “on stage” are nice, and I’m glad that they inspire, but I do worry it distorts reality. So many days it feels like I’m just getting kicked in the ribs, taken for granted. The free work I do becomes expected and then people get upset with you when you don’t drop everything for them. It’s a lot.

If you’re going to build community, expect to be criticized. Expect to be harassed. Expect things to go wrong. Expect ideas and initiatives to fail. Expect conflict within the community. Expect to be ultimately responsible for all of this. None of this is easy to deal with but it's the nature of the work. Personally, I see a therapist monthly to process the latest Twitter reply/DM getting under my skin, the community charlatans taking credit for my work, the things I do behind the scenes that no one will ever know, or could know...

The point of this being is that at times I get the impression that it seems like I started building/leading communities out of the gate. Even now it feels strange to say “I build communities” because in my mind I’m just filling in the work needed in my local community. “Leading community” seems to be coming into a moment/role in and of itself. Realistically, in my experience, this has simply been the role of a perpetual volunteer and empathizer of people. Doing, failing, iterating every day.

I volunteered constantly and then one day, people just started saying, “you’re a community builder”. This still feels weird because it was not really ever a clearly defined personal goal. I’ve come to learn that this is generally a shared experience of a lot of the “community leaders/builders” I’ve spoken to about this. We just start volunteering consistently and then all of a sudden someone comes to us to “take the lead” on a project or mission.

Community is forever tactical. Even after several years of contributing and building community, it’s rare to escape the role of doing the work. Eventually, a more strategic role can be reached, but I haven’t often seen true builders of community completely remove themselves from “boots on the ground” work. Aim to collaborate, contribute, and partner. A builder/leader of community is just another worker role.

Wrapping it all up

This is definitely a less-than-exciting perspective, but it’s my honest answer, and it’s what I would share with anyone I took a call with on “how to get started building community.”

To end more positively, the work I do is worth it. I love the people I’ve met and connected with over the years. It’s changed my life in innumerable ways and opened opportunities I never otherwise would have had. I have a deep love for my home and the people who live here and will always contribute to our growth. I cherish every word of kindness and support. I over-thank people for their help because sometimes it’s only you on your own.

I guess the tldr; here is that there’s nothing more to building community than just helping with stuff you see is being worked on or starting that work yourself. Be gracious, be grateful, never take the opportunity to help others for granted. It’s an honor to be trusted. It really is a privilege to do the work.