Program the reason to show up
Shape event concepts, recurring traditions, and small details that turn an amusing premise into an experience people remember.
Community, events & experiments
Things I've helped bring to life.
Some of my favorite work happens outside a conventional product roadmap: organizing events, creating traditions, building the systems behind them, and giving people an excuse to meet.
Established 2023
Ryan Meetup
A joke with surprisingly durable infrastructure.
Ryan Meetup is a not-for-profit community run by Ryans, for Ryans. I joined at the beginning and helped turn the premise into a real operation: three and a half years in, that is 25+ events, 16 active chapters, 75+ press features, a recognizable brand, and the digital systems holding it together.
My role crosses the usual boundaries. On a given week I might be designing a new event format, refining the website, working through sponsor details, coordinating logistics, writing a campaign, or figuring out how to make a growing operation feel as personal as the first meetup.
The joke gets attention. The real work is creating the conditions for strangers to arrive alone and leave feeling like they found their people.
The work between the idea and the crowd.
Community work is rarely one job. The interesting part is connecting the creative premise, the practical details, and the systems that let other people participate.
Build the operating system
Create the websites, workflows, shared tools, and repeatable processes that make more events and chapters possible.
Give the idea a voice
Write campaigns, develop the brand, and create stories that are funny enough to travel without losing the warmth underneath.
Bring in the right collaborators
Work with venues, sponsors, press, organizers, and community members while keeping the experience recognizably ours.
A few of the nights we've thrown.
CrowdNeighborhoods
Making a remote company feel more local.
At CrowdStrike, I also contribute to CrowdNeighborhoods, an employee-led initiative that helps remote coworkers meet the people who live and work near them.
It is a different environment from Ryan Meetup, but it raises many of the same questions: how much structure helps, what makes an invitation feel genuine, and how do you create a format that can adapt locally without losing its purpose?
I keep the internal details internal. What I can share is the perspective it has added to my work: community does not happen because a calendar invite exists. Someone still has to create the reason to participate, remove the awkwardness, and follow through on the experience.
Have something in mind?
Let's make it worth showing up for.
Tell me what you're building, who it's for, and what part you'd want me on. I'd rather get into the details than trade introductions.
Community initiatives
Starting something new, or reworking a community that has outgrown the way it's run.
Events & formats
One-off concepts, recurring traditions, and the logistics that keep them running.
Partnerships & collaborations
Venues, sponsors, organizers, and creative teams who want to build something together.
Products with a human side
Work that needs technical judgment and an actual point of view about the people using it.