IN THIS EDITION: EXPERT INTERVIEW | OPEN JOB ROLES | THINK PIECES | PRODUCT NEWS | SURPRISE!

Welcome to the first edition of the Uncommon community newsletter.

What's Uncommon?

We're the community-driven program for community-driven people powered by Common Room, and we're building the Uncommon hub dedicated to teaching and sharing community know-how. If you have colleagues, friends, or other folks who'd benefit from wisdom shared by community leaders (like Joshua Zerkel, Head of Engagement Marketing at Asana who we feature in this edition), pass it on.

May this be only the start to uncommonly useful collaborations.
— Your Uncommon team

Uncommon Conversations: An Interview with Joshua Zerkel at Asana

Joshua Zerkel

Head of Global Engagement Marketing

(Community + Lifecycle)

Asana

"'Why am I here?' is probably the number one question that I think most community leaders are afraid to ask, but really need to. What's the purpose of this program? If a company is hiring you...some stakeholder has decided that community is there for a reason. It's our job as community leaders to find out."

Emphatic about the power of community and pragmatic about the amount of work it takes to build and support it, Joshua talked with Uncommon about the importance of internal buy-in (internal roadshows, anyone?), external dialogues (when you talk to your community, be ready for them to talk back), and dedication to building your program incrementally while keeping the end goal in mind. Watch or 🎧 to the interview on the blog.

Uncommon Support

At Uncommon, we believe that communities are strongest when they uplift one another—so we started Uncommon Support. At the end of each conversation we have with a community expert like Joshua, we ask them to share a cause they're passionate about so we can donate in their honor. Joshua and Asana chose Hack the Hood, a nonprofit based in Oakland, CA, that focuses on empowering underserved communities with tech and data literacy skills.

Job Board: Uncommon Opportunities in Community

Creative Producer - Social Media

But wait, there's more! See all jobs →

JR;SR: Just Right; Should Read

Light: This Twitter thread by the illustrative Greg Isenberg.
Medium: Community is so impactful, a new category is coming and analysts best keep up. Corinne Riley sets context in this 8 - 9 minute read about Community-Led Growth.
Deep: The 7P's of Community. Classic David Spinks-ian wisdom for building community.

News from Common Room: The SaaS Behind Uncommon

SOC2 Compliant: Common Room earned its SOC2 Compliance, putting customer trust, security, and privacy first. Read the blog.
New Roomies: We recently welcomed Adil Hafeez, previously Staff Eng at Lyft's open-source project Envoy, Jacob Hurwitz, and Steven Yum to the team. Psst, we're still hiring.
For all you community-driven folks out there: Which community channel does your team want to invest in next? Take the bluebirdie poll.

Easter Egg in June

Each newsletter, we'll link to a mystery that offers a little insight into the conversations (hint: collective) happening in Common Room's #random channel. Just click balloon dog! Due credit: (Fun)ctionality inspired by @rachelcantor_ and her Sidekick newsletter for Morning Brew.

Picture of a Jeff Koons balloon dog. Link: What do you call a group of ferrets? A list of collective nouns

Tuneage: This newsletter was written to the tune of Goodie Bag by Still Woozy. MSFWFH (Mostly safe for working from home) but you should know, there is a little 'E' next to the song.

You, our community-minded compatriot, are at the end of Uncommon's first edition. Thanks for being here! Got ideas for what you want to read next? Or the next tune we should be spinning?

Questions? Compliments?

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