At the root of nearly everything I have worked on is a strong community presence. I have several years of experience not just building online audiences, but creating real world events that an audience can show up to. 

Perhaps the best example of this was the work I did for Philadelphia Runner back in 2012 and 2013. Philadelphia Runner was a widely admired retail brand but lacked a strong community. I reset their brand strategy, positioning the company as the hub of the Philadelphia running community by building a large online audience and creating interesting real life programming that the audience wanted to show up to.

The result of this was a positive deviation in sales growth, a large increase in Philadelphia Runner's online audience, and crowded in-store events where people had to be turned away.

The impact of a strong community strategy was realized during the spring of 2013 after the Boston Marathon bombings. We galvanized our new community, pulling together a solidarity run in less than 48 hours that drew 3,500 people to City Hall for a run down Market Street in downtown Philly. For many runners, this was one of the most meaningful and memorable running experiences they have ever been apart of and is something I remember with tremendous pride to this day.

A year later, we launched The Philly 10K utilizing the audience we had built with Philadelphia Runner. The race sold out in less than a day and has sold out every year since.

I am well versed in A to Z community building and getting customers to show up both online and in the real world.