Free Daily Podcast Summary
How We Connected: Daily Summaries Delivered
by US Chamber of Connection
The most creative artists in America right now aren’t in galleries. They’re in your neighborhood. How We Connected is a front-row seat to the social artists rebuilding human connection. Hear inspiring stories about roller skating crews, bad art clubs, jousting societies, city saunters, Georgian dinner parties, catch-playing challenges, midnight runners, and picnic societies. Hosted by Charlotte Massey and Aaron Hurst, co-founders of the US Chamber of Connection. Aaron Hurst is the Co-Founder and CEO of the US Chamber of Connection and a long-time leader in the movement to strengthen community through work. A serial entrepreneur and social innovator, he previously founded Imperative and the Taproot Foundation, two organizations that reshaped how companies think about purpose, service, and meaningful work. His book The Purpose Economy helped define a new era in which connection, meaning, and relationships stand at the center of business value. At the Chamber, Aaron focuses on reconnecting America by mobilizing community builders in every town and city. Known for turning big ideas into practical action, he works at the intersection of business, civic life, and community leadership. Aaron co-hosts How We Connected, bringing thoughtful perspective, personal stories, and a clear belief that human connection is a skill every organization can cultivate. Charlotte Massey is the Co-Founder of the US Chamber of Connection and Executive Director of the Seattle Chamber of Connection, where she leads strategy, programs, and partnerships dedicated to strengthening the connective tissue of communities in Seattle and nationwide. Her background spans political organizing, digital marketing for large-scale nonprofits, and venture-backed entrepreneurship. She is a Forbes 30 under 30 awardee, a Thomas J Watson Fellow, and a Tory Burch Fellow. Charlotte creates environments where collaboration is natural and accessible. Charlotte started her career in political and civic organizing, later serving as a digital marketer for major nonprofits and advocacy organizations, helping them mobilize supporters and scale their impact. She co-founded Gnara, a venture-backed outdoor apparel company that developed patented zipper technology to make clothing more functional and accessible for women, earning national recognition and viral reach. A lifelong community builder, Charlotte also founded the Seattle Picnic Society, a 2,000-plus-person open-invite community that gathers for creative, joyful events across the city. As co-host of How We Connected, Charlotte brings grounded, practical insight and a keen sense for the moments that reveal how connection actually happens – in workplaces, neighborhoods, and local ecosystems.
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- Today50 min
We Bought a School: Mike Skirpan, Executive Director, Community Forge
In 2017, Mike Skirpan and seven friends bought an elementary school. Johnston Elementary in Wilkinsburg, Pittsburgh had been closed for five years. They negotiated the price, took out a loan, and scraped together some collateral. Mike's share was lent to him by a former student with one condition: please get out of tech and do this.Why does a tech ethicist buy a school? Mike grew up in a small family with a single mom. Friends were his emotional safety net. He became the ultimate socialite, hanging with the chess club and captaining the soccer team. Years later he watched his hometown split into silos while his own industry accelerated the isolation. The mantras from day one: relationships first, break down Pittsburgh silos.They fixed the building themselves. Friends sanded staircases and laid floors. Community Forge was solvent within a year and threw more than 100 events annually. It grew into a nonprofit built on four pillars: social capital for everyone, pathways into the economy, training in the tools of the future, and wellness.The next act is a modern-day Elks Lodge. The ground floor is becoming a social hall with a 130 seat theatre, coffee shop, and social clubs. The question behind it all: what is the third space for this generation?Charlotte reports from the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta, where one pilot flew a cluster of party balloons to 20,000 feet like the movie Up. Aaron comes clean about the day he was shown the door at Target.00:00 Introduction00:47 Balloons, Minneapolis and an incident at Target11:56 Welcome, Mike12:48 Origin Story: Small Family, Big Friend Network16:29 From Tech and Philosophy to Community Work21:56 Founding Community Forge24:37 Buying the School28:52 Who Rented the Space31:34 Four Elements of a Healthy Community36:29 Social Hall: Third Space for This Generation42:05 Reflection: Third Spaces---The most creative artists in America right now aren’t in galleries. They’re in your neighborhood. How We Connected is a front-row seat to the social artists rebuilding human connection. Hear inspiring stories about roller skating crews, bad art clubs, jousting societies, city saunters, Georgian dinner parties, catch-playing challenges, midnight runners, and picnic societies. Hosted by Charlotte Massey and Aaron Hurst, co-founders of the US Chamber of Connection.Aaron Hurst is the co-founder of the US Chamber of Connection. He’s a longtime entrepreneur focused on purpose and community. He founded Imperative and the Taproot Foundation and wrote The Purpose Economy. Charlotte Massey is the co-founder of the US Chamber of Connection and leads community programs nationally. A Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree and former organizer and founder, she works at the intersection of civic life and entrepreneurship.Connect with Uswww.chamberofconnection.orgMike Skirpan, Executive Director and Co-Founder, Community ForgeMike grew up in a small family in the Mon Valley outside Pittsburgh. He became the ultimate socialite of his school. He studied philosophy and economics, earned a PhD in computer science, and teaches technology ethics at Carnegie Mellon. In 2017 he and seven friends bought a shuttered school. They renovated it themselves. Today Community Forge is a hub where neighbors find social capital, pathways into the economy, training, and wellness support. Next year the ground floor becomes a social hall with a 130 seat theatre and cafe. He met his wife swing dancing, so there will be dance classes.Learn more: https://www.forge.communityHeylohttps://www.heylo.comHeylo is a community-management platform built for real-world groups of every kind, giving leaders a clean, branded home base to run events, manage members, communicate clearly, and handle payments without friction. It brings scheduling, RSVPs, waivers, announcements, topic-based chats, and membership tools into one place so clubs, teams, and interest groups can stay organized and connected without the noise of traditional social platforms. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
- 1 weeks ago41 min
Heartbeats, Not Lightning Bolts: August Elliott, Co-Founder, Neighborhood Village Project
A man in a rural California town joined the Neighborhood Village Project and threw a potluck. Nobody came. So he asked what his neighbors actually cared about. The answer was the dried brush ringing their homes in a wildfire zone. He put up a new invitation. People who'd never spoken cleared 8,000 pounds of brush together, then stayed for dinner.That's the method, according to August Elliott, co-founder of NVP. His own path to it started in Boulder's intentional communities, where a weekly open potluck called family dinner taught him that agreements, not intentions, are what let messy humans go deep.When his co-founder Savannah moved into an ordinary apartment building and found neighbors averting their eyes in the hallway, she started knocking on doors. Within a year people had fallen in love and somebody noticed when a 91-year-old’s life alert ran out of batteries.Charlotte asks for advice on her own street and gets three steps: start and forget perfection, attune to what's happening on your block, and think in heartbeats rather than lightning bolts. She shares her own breakthrough, knocking on a stranger's door with a measuring cup to borrow sugar and walking away with a standing invitation.00:00 Welcome and Weekend Catch-Up01:51 Today's Interview02:58 Connected Cities Summit Update07:11 August's Origin Story11:44 Inside an Intentional Community15:19 Building the Neighborhood Village Project19:55 Three Steps to Start on Your Block27:39 August's Vision for the Future31:54 Reflection34:55 Drumbeat of Community39:51 Wrap and Gratitude---The most creative artists in America right now aren’t in galleries. They’re in your neighborhood. How We Connected is a front-row seat to the social artists rebuilding human connection. Hear inspiring stories about roller skating crews, bad art clubs, jousting societies, city saunters, Georgian dinner parties, catch-playing challenges, midnight runners, and picnic societies. Hosted by Charlotte Massey and Aaron Hurst, co-founders of the US Chamber of Connection.Aaron Hurst is the co-founder of the US Chamber of Connection. He’s a longtime entrepreneur focused on purpose and community. He founded Imperative and the Taproot Foundation and wrote The Purpose Economy. Charlotte Massey is the co-founder of the US Chamber of Connection and leads community programs nationally. A Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree and former organizer and founder, she works at the intersection of civic life and entrepreneurship.Connect with Uswww.chamberofconnection.orgAugust Elliott, Co-Founder and Program Director, Neighborhood Village ProjectAugust has spent more than a decade helping people build the community they wish they had. After civic organizing in Memphis, he's lived in intentional communities in Boulder for close to 15 years. With founder Savannah Kruger, he now runs the Neighborhood Village Project, a free six-month program that gives participants the guidance, accountability and peer support to turn their own streets into villages. Neighborhood stewards have built childcare networks, painted murals and cleared wildfire brush together in 171 neighborhoods across 10 countries. His advice for anyone starting out: ask for help as quickly as you can, because the second someone helps you, it's their neighborhood too.Learn more: https://nvp.communityHeylohttps://www.heylo.comHeylo is a community-management platform built for real-world groups of every kind, giving leaders a clean, branded home base to run events, manage members, communicate clearly, and handle payments without friction. It brings scheduling, RSVPs, waivers, announcements, topic-based chats, and membership tools into one place so clubs, teams, and interest groups can stay organized and connected without the noise of traditional social platforms. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
- 2 weeks ago52 min
Gardener, Not CEO: Saumya Gupta, Co-Founder, Build IRL
Saumya Gupta was six months postpartum when she read a statistic she couldn't digest: one in three teenage girls feels persistently lonely, and one in four has considered suicide. She'd worked in health her whole life. She left her full-time job without a plan.That question took her and her co-founder Colton Heward-Mills around San Francisco, asking the people who host clubs how it was going. Everywhere they heard the same answer: I'm burnt out. I love this work and I can't keep doing it. So they built Build IRL, an accelerator for social clubs. Three cohorts and more than 100 clubs later, they've open-sourced everything they learned as 12 hot takes at buildaclub.org.Aaron wants to start an e-bike club and Saumya coaches him through her three ingredients: the who, the rhythm, and co-creation, because if you're doing everything, it's not a club. Saumya insists that scale is a myth. There is no club of 5,000 people that works. Relationships don't scale, they deepen.Meanwhile, Aaron and Charlotte debrief a rare shared weekend: Priya Parker at Town Hall, a Best Day Ever in Hillman City, and a thousand paddleboarders raving on Lake Union.00:00 Introduction01:55 Priya Parker: The Art of Fighting07:20 Best Day Ever in Hillman City09:25 Paddleboard Rave on Lake Union15:20 Meet Saum: Build IRL19:20 Saum's Origin Story22:00 What is Build IRL?25:55 The Build a Club Playbook27:10 Club Building Role Play40:15 Scale is a Myth42:45 Club of Club Builders48:05 Closing48:55 Reflection---The most creative artists in America right now aren’t in galleries. They’re in your neighborhood. How We Connected is a front-row seat to the social artists rebuilding human connection. Hear inspiring stories about roller skating crews, bad art clubs, jousting societies, city saunters, Georgian dinner parties, catch-playing challenges, midnight runners, and picnic societies. Hosted by Charlotte Massey and Aaron Hurst, co-founders of the US Chamber of Connection.Aaron Hurst is the co-founder of the US Chamber of Connection. He’s a longtime entrepreneur focused on purpose and community. He founded Imperative and the Taproot Foundation and wrote The Purpose Economy. Charlotte Massey is the co-founder of the US Chamber of Connection and leads community programs nationally. A Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree and former organizer and founder, she works at the intersection of civic life and entrepreneurship.Connect with Uswww.chamberofconnection.orgSaumya Gupta, Co-Founder, Build IRLSaumya has been a community builder all her life. She grew up in India throwing the biggest Diwali parties in her neighborhood and was social secretary of her hostel in undergrad. She spent a decade in health, from Google to healthtech, but the turn came six months after becoming a mom, when she read that one in three teenage girls feels persistently lonely. She left her job without a plan. With co-founder Colton Heward-Mills, she built Build IRL, an accelerator that helped more than 100 San Francisco social clubs get started, funded, and running. This year they open sourced everything they learned as the Build a Club playbook. She hosts the Loneliness Busters podcast, and she'll tell you her guilty pleasure is talking about how to build clubs. Her mantra for founders: you're the gardener, not the CEO.Learn more: https://buildaclub.orgHeylohttps://www.heylo.comHeylo is a community-management platform built for real-world groups of every kind, giving leaders a clean, branded home base to run events, manage members, communicate clearly, and handle payments without friction. It brings scheduling, RSVPs, waivers, announcements, topic-based chats, and membership tools into one place so clubs, teams, and interest groups can stay organized and connected without the noise of traditional social platforms. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
- 3 weeks ago51 min
Friendship Isn't Magic: Jessica Gifford, Founder, ProjectConnect
Jessica Gifford grew up in a tiny community of hippies, peace activists, and draft dodgers who built their own one-room schoolhouse. From kindergarten through eighth grade she was with the same 15 kids, so she never learned how to meet people. Her fix came at college: become the RA. It's easier to create the community you want than to break into one that already exists.Years later, as a social worker on college campuses, a survey crossed her desk showing loneliness rates off the charts. What they were doing wasn't working. So she built ProjectConnect, a program now used by more than 100 organizations, on the idea that friendship isn't magic. Jessica boils it down to three practices: sharing, caring and repairing. And the conditions matter: an hour of icebreakers between strangers who never see each other again is, in her word, pointless.Jessica's newest program is a 30-day challenge of acts of social courage. Do the awkward thing on purpose, because awkwardness is often the first step to connection.Over at the Chamber, Aaron and Charlotte workshop the Chamber's new message out loud, and Aaron previews Pickle at the Palms, where his Oura ring ruled that a pickleball session had earned him a couple of extra desserts.00:00 Welcome to How We Connected06:17 Sharpening the Chamber's Message14:18 Meet Jessica Gifford16:35 From Social Work to Project Connect22:15 The Arthur Aron Aha Moment25:50 Six Conditions for Connection31:16 What Makes an Organization Invest36:29 Advice for Leaders46:04 Reflection---The most creative artists in America right now aren’t in galleries. They’re in your neighborhood. How We Connected is a front-row seat to the social artists rebuilding human connection. Hear inspiring stories about roller skating crews, bad art clubs, jousting societies, city saunters, Georgian dinner parties, catch-playing challenges, midnight runners, and picnic societies. Hosted by Charlotte Massey and Aaron Hurst, co-founders of the US Chamber of Connection.Aaron Hurst is the co-founder of the US Chamber of Connection. He’s a longtime entrepreneur focused on purpose and community. He founded Imperative and the Taproot Foundation and wrote The Purpose Economy. Charlotte Massey is the co-founder of the US Chamber of Connection and leads community programs nationally. A Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree and former organizer and founder, she works at the intersection of civic life and entrepreneurship.Connect with Uswww.chamberofconnection.orgJessica Gifford, Founder and Chief Connection Officer, ProjectConnectJessica grew up in a small community of hippies and peace activists, sharing a one-room schoolhouse with the same 15 kids from kindergarten through eighth grade. She learned to make community by creating it, first as an RA at Antioch College. She became a social worker, earned her master's at Smith College, and spent years leading mental health promotion at Amherst College. When campus surveys showed loneliness off the charts, she built ProjectConnect, a six-week program that turns Arthur Aron's research into a repeatable recipe. More than 100 organizations have used it, from colleges to corporations. Her latest challenge invites people to commit 30 days of acts of social courage, because awkwardness is often the first step to connection.Learn more: https://projectconnect-us.comHeylohttps://www.heylo.comHeylo is a community-management platform built for real-world groups of every kind, giving leaders a clean, branded home base to run events, manage members, communicate clearly, and handle payments without friction. It brings scheduling, RSVPs, waivers, announcements, topic-based chats, and membership tools into one place so clubs, teams, and interest groups can stay organized and connected without the noise of traditional social platforms. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
- 4 weeks ago46 min
Friendship Machines: Gina Phillips, Director of Operations, Pickle at the Palms
Gina Phillips grew up in a family of introverts. When they went out to eat, everyone brought a book. As a kid, she was shy and had hearing problems. Making friends didn't come naturally. But if she made the thing happen, she had a role to play. She still calls herself your friendly neighborhood introvert. Gina won't be the life of the party, but she'll make sure it happens.That carried her from founding Seattle Startup Week to WeWork, where she led global member experience. Her training for community teams included a rule Chumstock fans will recognize: a line is an opportunity. If people are waiting in front of you, introduce them to each other.Now she's bringing all of it to Pickle at the Palms, a 20-court indoor pickleball center in Seattle's Interbay neighborhood. She's hiring for warmth. Gina's big goal for the decade isn't a full house. It's a wedding. She wants couples to meet at the Palms and she's gunning for the Best Matchmaker trophy!At the Chamber, Charlotte closes out the summer, making noises at her baby niece at the Colorado cabin. Aaron pitches a quick pickling station at Pickle at the Palms, brine, jars and all.00:00 Introduction00:29 Catching Up03:50 Meet Gina Phillips08:47 Scaling Beyond Events17:32 Gina's Origin Story21:39 Community Building at WeWork27:45 Inside Pickle at the Palms40:25 Matchmaking43:12 Reflection---The most creative artists in America right now aren’t in galleries. They’re in your neighborhood. How We Connected is a front-row seat to the social artists rebuilding human connection. Hear inspiring stories about roller skating crews, bad art clubs, jousting societies, city saunters, Georgian dinner parties, catch-playing challenges, midnight runners, and picnic societies. Hosted by Charlotte Massey and Aaron Hurst, co-founders of the US Chamber of Connection.Aaron Hurst is the co-founder of the US Chamber of Connection. He’s a longtime entrepreneur focused on purpose and community. He founded Imperative and the Taproot Foundation and wrote The Purpose Economy. Charlotte Massey is the co-founder of the US Chamber of Connection and leads community programs nationally. A Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree and former organizer and founder, she works at the intersection of civic life and entrepreneurship.Connect with Uswww.chamberofconnection.orgGina Phillips, Director of Operations, Pickle at the PalmsGina grew up in a family of introverts who brought their books to restaurants. She learned young that if she makes the thing happen, she has a role to play. She founded Seattle Startup Week in 2013. Then came WeWork, where she rose to Global Head of Member Experience. Now she's building Pickle at the Palms, a 20-court indoor pickleball center in Seattle's Interbay neighborhood, backed by the family that owns the Seattle Storm. She plays ultimate frisbee for a team called Jazz Picnic and has her eye on the Best Matchmaker trophy. Her motto: it matters less who you know than who knows you.Learn more: pickleatthepalms.comHeylohttps://www.heylo.comHeylo is a community-management platform built for real-world groups of every kind, giving leaders a clean, branded home base to run events, manage members, communicate clearly, and handle payments without friction. It brings scheduling, RSVPs, waivers, announcements, topic-based chats, and membership tools into one place so clubs, teams, and interest groups can stay organized and connected without the noise of traditional social platforms. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
- Sep 2, 202635 min
Vibe Curator: Emily Trageser, Co-Founder, Girls Who Walk Baltimore
An hour before the first-ever Girls Who Walk Baltimore, it was raining, and Emily Trageser had a choice to make. She pushed the walk back an hour and hoped. Women started messaging: I was there; I walked without you. 60 women showed up. Emily and Summer had cases of water, hair ties, band aids, and a paper sign-in sheet.Walks now draw up to 500 women, and Under Armour hosts a Women's History Month walk at its new campus. There’s a larger mission: rewrite the story people tell about Baltimore. City developers call it the last uncut gem of the East Coast.Her secret weapon is a team of vibe curators. When a new walker arrives, the vibe curator rings a cowbell and starts cheering. Walk leaders play matchmaker before anyone takes a step. There are smiley stickers for women who want to chat. Some come to zone out, which is fine too.Meanwhile, Aaron records from Baltimore at the end of a five-city week that included dropping his youngest at Michigan. Charlotte signs off to catch the final Duck Dodge sailboat race of the Seattle summer.00:00 Introduction01:07 Charlotte and Aaron's Week06:01 What Is a Vibe Curator?07:45 Meet Emily: Her Roots in Community Building11:59 First Walk: 60 Women in the Rain15:52 Scaling Up, Local Business Partners17:37 Emily's Favorite Walks21:26 Invitation, Welcoming and Who Shows Up27:48 Burnout, Balance and the Wellness Break30:55 Reflection---The most creative artists in America right now aren’t in galleries. They’re in your neighborhood. How We Connected is a front-row seat to the social artists rebuilding human connection. Hear inspiring stories about roller skating crews, bad art clubs, jousting societies, city saunters, Georgian dinner parties, catch-playing challenges, midnight runners, and picnic societies. Hosted by Charlotte Massey and Aaron Hurst, co-founders of the US Chamber of Connection.Aaron Hurst is the co-founder of the US Chamber of Connection. He’s a longtime entrepreneur focused on purpose and community. He founded Imperative and the Taproot Foundation and wrote The Purpose Economy. Charlotte Massey is the co-founder of the US Chamber of Connection and leads community programs nationally. A Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree and former organizer and founder, she works at the intersection of civic life and entrepreneurship.Connect with Uswww.chamberofconnection.orgEmily Trageser, Co-Founder, Girls Who Walk BaltimoreEmily has been gathering the troops her whole life. Before the walks, she organized wellness gatherings at a local yoga studio, from sound baths to cacao ceremonies. Then her friend Summer called with a vision for a walking club. They planned a route they knew, made a graphic on Canva, and invited every woman they could think of. It rained bu sixty women showed up anyway. That was March 2024. Today Girls Who Walk Baltimore draws up to 500 women per walk and a team of vibe curators making sure nobody walks alone. Emily is showing off the city she loves, one waterfront promenade at a time.Learn more: www.instagram.com/girlswhowalkbaltimoreHeylohttps://www.heylo.comHeylo is a community-management platform built for real-world groups of every kind, giving leaders a clean, branded home base to run events, manage members, communicate clearly, and handle payments without friction. It brings scheduling, RSVPs, waivers, announcements, topic-based chats, and membership tools into one place so clubs, teams, and interest groups can stay organized and connected without the noise of traditional social platforms. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
- Aug 25, 202646 min
You Can't Interrupt: Vlada Bortnik, Co-Founder, Marco Polo
Every day, a 90-year-old nana opens Marco Polo and records a weather report. She's sitting outside. It's sunny, and that's just about the whole message. Some of her grandkids reply and some don't. It's not the point. Her family gets to see her face and know she's alive and well.Our guest this week is Vlada Bortnik, who co-founded Marco Polo. In Soviet Ukraine, Vlada was a leader in her classroom. She was a kid who stood up for the bullied new girl. Aged 11, she landed in Kansas, and the roles reversed: she was in a new country, with wild curly hair and a name nobody could pronounce. What hurt most wasn't the teasing. It was that this time, nobody stood up for her. Vlada set out to build the thing she didn't have: a place where people feel seen.On Marco Polo, you can't interrupt. You talk, they watch when they can, and both of you feel heard in a way even video calls can't manage. Vlada's fully remote employees say they feel closer to each other than when they sat in neighboring cubicles. And when Vlada's team matched total strangers into groups, they became friends. Some even planned vacations together or flew to each other's weddings. Meanwhile, at the Chamber, Aaron savors a last family weekend before dropping his son at college, complete with birthday cake for his 15-year-old dog. Charlotte paddleboards her slowest crossing ever to a dock rock concert.00:00 Welcome and Weekend Recap05:33 Seattle's Play Problem12:26 Meet Vlada: Ukraine, Kansas, and Being Bullied17:04 Engineering, Art, Building Things Together21:03 Building Marco Polo30:37 Founder Burnout and Separating Self from Company40:33 ---The most creative artists in America right now aren’t in galleries. They’re in your neighborhood. How We Connected is a front-row seat to the social artists rebuilding human connection. Hear inspiring stories about roller skating crews, bad art clubs, jousting societies, city saunters, Georgian dinner parties, catch-playing challenges, midnight runners, and picnic societies. Hosted by Charlotte Massey and Aaron Hurst, co-founders of the US Chamber of Connection.Aaron Hurst is the co-founder of the US Chamber of Connection. He’s a longtime entrepreneur focused on purpose and community. He founded Imperative and the Taproot Foundation and wrote The Purpose Economy. Charlotte Massey is the co-founder of the US Chamber of Connection and leads community programs nationally. A Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree and former organizer and founder, she works at the intersection of civic life and entrepreneurship.Connect with Uswww.chamberofconnection.orgVlada Bortnik, Co-Founder and CEO, Marco PoloVlada was born in Ukraine and came to Kansas at age 11. She went from classroom leader to bullied new kid without an ally. It an experience that shaped everything she's built since. She double-majored in computer engineering and art at Northwestern. She was the first student her counselor had ever seen combine the two. Then she spent five years at Microsoft, where she met her husband Michał. Together they founded Joya Communications in 2012 and dug into happiness research. Then came Marco Polo, the video messaging app that helps millions of people feel close by letting them talk face to face without interruption. This year she launched Marco Polo Circles to help people make friends, not just keep them. Her rule for showing up, on the app and off: messy hair, we don't care.Learn more: www.marcopolo.meHeylohttps://www.heylo.comHeylo is a community-management platform built for real-world groups of every kind, giving leaders a clean, branded home base to run events, manage members, communicate clearly, and handle payments without friction. It brings scheduling, RSVPs, waivers, announcements, topic-based chats, and membership tools into one place so clubs, teams, and interest groups can stay organized and connected without the noise of traditional social platforms. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
- Aug 18, 202639 min
Float and Flow: Micky Wolf, Co-Founder, Seam
At a Seam retreat, even the meditation is a relay. Whoever's leading snaps their fingers three times and someone else takes over. Nobody holds the mic for long. That's the point. It's how a murder mystery game about birders became a campfire musical by the second night. It's also how another gathering produced a seven song musical about a fight over the center of a cinnamon roll.Micky Wolf co-founded Seam, a values based community rooted in Baltimore. It now has people all over the country. He's been rehearsing his whole life. In high school he was Prime Minister of Parliament at Winston Churchill High School and led an attempt to break the world record for the longest chain of shoes. The record was 24,962. They collected 17,000 and donated every pair.Micky's retreats run on something they call lended trust. You don't need to know everyone. Just one person who vouches for the rest. Aim for roughly half familiar faces then balance what Micky calls float and flow: enough of a plan for the weekend but enough drift to let a musical break out.Meanwhile, Charlotte reports back from her husband's rave on top of a mountain, where you could see a forest fire burning. Aaron returns from Provence ready to start a Friday night dinner tradition of his own.00:00 Intro01:42 Catching Up: Mountaintop Raves, Provence, and Chamber News07:54 Meet Micky Wolf: Origin Story11:05 Vulnerability, Adult Sleepovers, and Spirituality Exposed14:02 What Seam Is: Values-Based Community16:40 Inside a Retreat: Float and Flow22:28 The Money: Pricing, Access, and Who Says Yes27:12 How to Get Fiscal Sponsorship29:36 Micky's Vision for Baltimore31:20 Debrief: Sleepovers, Shabbat, and a Break from Tech---The most creative artists in America right now aren’t in galleries. They’re in your neighborhood. How We Connected is a front-row seat to the social artists rebuilding human connection. Hear inspiring stories about roller skating crews, bad art clubs, jousting societies, city saunters, Georgian dinner parties, catch-playing challenges, midnight runners, and picnic societies. Hosted by Charlotte Massey and Aaron Hurst, co-founders of the US Chamber of Connection.Aaron Hurst is the co-founder of the US Chamber of Connection. He’s a longtime entrepreneur focused on purpose and community. He founded Imperative and the Taproot Foundation and wrote The Purpose Economy. Charlotte Massey is the co-founder of the US Chamber of Connection and leads community programs nationally. A Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree and former organizer and founder, she works at the intersection of civic life and entrepreneurship.Connect with Uswww.chamberofconnection.orgMicky Wolf, Co-Founder, SeamMicky has been bringing people together since he was a ring bearer at age three. As Prime Minister of Parliament at Winston Churchill High School, he led an attempt on the world record for the longest chain of shoes, collecting 17,000 pairs and donating every one. He's the co-founder of Seam, a values based community rooted in Baltimore that hosts retreats and gatherings built on co-creation, from relay meditations to campfire musicals. His day job is CEO of Dent Education, a Baltimore nonprofit running paid innovation programs where young people launch ventures and careers. He also co-founded the Baltimore Youth Innovation Coalition. His rule for any gathering: enough flow to carry the weekend, enough float to let a musical break out.Learn more: https://www.denteducation.orgHeylowww.heylo.comHeylo is a community-management platform built for real-world groups of every kind, giving leaders a clean, branded home base to run events, manage members, communicate clearly, and handle payments without friction. It brings scheduling, RSVPs, waivers, announcements, topic-based chats, and membership tools into one place so clubs, teams, and interest groups can stay organized and connected without the noise of traditional social platforms. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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About How We Connected
The most creative artists in America right now aren’t in galleries. They’re in your neighborhood. How We Connected is a front-row seat to the social artists rebuilding human connection. Hear inspiring stories about roller skating crews, bad art clubs, jousting societies, city saunters, Georgian dinner parties, catch-playing challenges, midnight runners, and picnic societies. Hosted by Charlotte Massey and Aaron Hurst, co-founders of the US Chamber of Connection. Aaron Hurst is the Co-Founder and CEO of the US Chamber of Connection and a long-time leader in the movement to strengthen community through work. A serial entrepreneur and social innovator, he previously founded Imperative and the Taproot Foundation, two organizations that reshaped how companies think about purpose, service, and meaningful work. His book The Purpose Economy helped define a new era in which connection, meaning, and relationships stand at the center of business value. At the Chamber, Aaron focuses on reconnecting America by mobilizing community builders in every town and city. Known for turning big ideas into practical action, he works at the intersection of business, civic life, and community leadership. Aaron co-hosts How We Connected, bringing thoughtful perspective, personal stories, and a clear belief that human connection is a skill every organization can cultivate. Charlotte Massey is the Co-Founder of the US Chamber of Connection and Executive Director of the Seattle Chamber of Connection, where she leads strategy, programs, and partnerships dedicated to strengthening the connective tissue of communities in Seattle and nationwide. Her background spans political organizing, digital marketing for large-scale nonprofits, and venture-backed entrepreneurship. She is a Forbes 30 under 30 awardee, a Thomas J Watson Fellow, and a Tory Burch Fellow. Charlotte creates environments where collaboration is natural and accessible. Charlotte started her career in political and civic organizing, later serving as a digital marketer for major nonprofits and advocacy organizations, helping them mobilize supporters and scale their impact. She co-founded Gnara, a venture-backed outdoor apparel company that developed patented zipper technology to make clothing more functional and accessible for women, earning national recognition and viral reach. A lifelong community builder, Charlotte also founded the Seattle Picnic Society, a 2,000-plus-person open-invite community that gathers for creative, joyful events across the city. As co-host of How We Connected, Charlotte brings grounded, practical insight and a keen sense for the moments that reveal how connection actually happens – in workplaces, neighborhoods, and local ecosystems.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is Podzilla's How We Connected daily summary?
It's a free AI-powered email that summarizes new episodes of How We Connected as soon as they're published. You get the key takeaways, notable quotes, and links & mentions — all in a quick read.
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When a new episode drops, our AI transcribes and analyzes it, then generates a personalized summary tailored to your interests and profession. It's delivered to your inbox every morning.
Is this an official How We Connected product?
No. Podzilla is an independent service that summarizes publicly available podcast content. We're not affiliated with or endorsed by US Chamber of Connection.
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How often does How We Connected release new episodes?
How We Connected publishes weekly. Our AI generates a summary within hours of each new episode.
What topics does How We Connected cover?
How We Connected covers topics including Science, Business, Culture, Society & Culture, Social Sciences, Non-Profit. Our AI identifies the specific themes in each episode and highlights what matters most to you.
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