From avocado toast to Aussie plush toys: Haley shares the excitement of blending online and in-person communities
2020 was a huge year for the growth of online communities, with the majority of personal and professional activities becoming completely virtual. Haley discusses how this opened up new opportunities for her, and her insightful take on what the future holds for hybrid communities.
Online communities are here to stay…
“The world we live in is really unique right now. We have so much offline community that exists in our lives: the people you see on campus, outside your door, coworkers at the office, friends and family… But we also have an unprecedented amount of online community. Looking back to the beginning of the pandemic, it was scary because it felt very isolating without those face-to-face connections. Unexpectedly, I found a lot of online communities of people who share my interests, who I could meet with virtually and feel connected to.
I joined a poetry class in 2020 that I still attend now! It’s a beautiful community for people to talk about poetry and share their writing. It’s a rotating group of people and it’s very flexible, you show up when you can. I think that’s important nowadays. The unique thing about right now when we’re in this elongated stage of re-opening is that a lot of those communities are blended together into a hybrid form.
At Fastmail, we held an event for Philly Tech Week a few months back. We had an avocado toast bar and speeches - it was a great event. A lot of those who came had heard about it on local Philly Slack channels, or social media sites like LinkedIn or Twitter, where they were connected with a member of our team. We got loads of wonderful attendees who had only known of us online, who then came into our offline world. It just shows how many opportunities the online world opens up!”
Sharing cultures…
“Fastmail is based in Melbourne, Australia; and Philly, Pennsylvania, USA, so even my direct teammates are part of a hybrid community. The company is really into cultural exchange, so the Philly office will randomly receive a box of Aussie snacks, plushies or other treats from their country. We send them things back, like Hershey’s chocolate bars. It gives us the ability to touch physical things from each other’s countries, even though we’re not there. Technology makes it easy to collaborate, and I feel as though I’m visiting their office! Fastmail encourages people to travel between offices when it’s safe, so I’m hoping I’ll get the opportunity to go to Australia in the future too. It’s on my bucket list!”
Networking is key!
“In one of the CampusConnect videos that I featured in, I talked about the importance of connecting with people who inspire you, maybe on Linkedin or elsewhere. I was really implementing my own advice at the time too! I went to a conference called B.PHL in Philadelphia, where the COO of Fastmail was giving a talk. I was so inspired by her speech that I sent her a request on LinkedIn. Shortly afterwards, she sent me a message to say that they were hiring interns if I’d be interested in applying. I quickly completed the application and got an interview, and secured a 3-month internship there. I was then offered a full-time role at the beginning of 2021. It was quite a leap of faith to send that connection request, but I’m so glad I did it. It’s always worth reaching out: I’ve never had a negative response from doing so - the worst that can happen is that people don’t respond, and that can be for all sorts of reasons.”
Interested in Haley’s journey? Keep up with her on social media:
Instagram: @haleyhnatuk
Twitter: @My_Own_Path_
Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/haleyhnatuk
