Hello Reader,

In her February newsletter, Priya Parker, author of The Art of Gathering, wrote:

In both my professional work and personal life, I have been gathering people a lot recently. It's how I make sense of the chaos and find my footing in it.

• I host a monthly non-profit hot seat for my local community.
• ​CreativeMornings Shenandoah Valley convenes our local creative community on the fourth Friday of each month.
• I'm exploring ways to gather ecosystem storytellers to establish and inform our field.
• I'm hosting dinners with friends to hold space for conversations and friendship.

In today's newsletter I talk about how I intentionally gather and convene people to make us feel seen, learn from each other and give us a sense of belonging.

Ecosystem Essentials: Community of Practice

Last September, I met Chris Wink, CEO at Technical.ly, at an ecosystem builders conference. Turns out, we both feel strongly about ecosystem storytelling as a field and have discussed how to best get practitioners together to support each other.

Three weeks ago, Chris called me to ask whether I wanted to collaborate on a Community of Practice for ecosystem storytellers. Knowing a lot about ecosystem storytelling but next to nothing about facilitating a Community of Practice, I started researching.

Based on Communities of Practice within and across organizations (thank you Jacob Dolence for the recommendation!), I started studying

• what the key elements are (Domain, Community and Practice)
• what roles people play (community leader, Core group member, chapter leader, practice group leader, mentor, welcome wagon) and to what level different participants engage
• what questions to ask before launching a community of practice
  • How can we help each other? I
  • What keeps you up at night?
  • What could we do about our priorities? etc.

I gathered all of my cliff notes here if you want to explore Communities of Practice further:

What intrigues me about a Community of Practice is that - in an emerging field like ecosystem building - there are few opportunities for training and growth. There are no textbooks, no Masters Programs.

And even if there were, I doubt that I could absorb much from a "sage on the stage". Learning from my peers, on the other hand, is really intriguing:

• Practitioners who understand the day-to-day intricacies of ecosystem storytelling might just be the best teachers.
• There is so much expertise in what we all do - sharing it with other practitioners, and receiving their insights feels like a great exchange of intelligence.

It's too early to say whether we have enough passion, participants and capacity to launch a community of practice but it is a conversation I look forward to having at Technical.ly's Builder Conference in Philadelphia May 8-9. If you're an ecosystem storyteller who wants to be part of this conversation in person, join us:

Bookish

All things books and independent bookshops

• I finished Liquid by Mariam Rahmani: A present-day coming of age story with an Indian-Iranian main character who explores dating in both L.A. and Iran. Both cultures are entirely foreign to me; as such, a little more context would have gone a long way for me. Generally worth reading.
• ​Nightbitch, Rachel Yoder: Holy smokes, how did I miss this book in 2022? I bought it on my recent visit to Parentheses after a friend recommended it. I was going to read it... eventually. Then I accidentally saw the movie trailer and moved it to the top of my to-read pile. Super intriguing for all the moms out there. I felt seen.

I'm on a mission to visit, shop at and tell the stories of 40 Independent Bookshops by the time I turn 40 in December. Here is my latest bookshop adventure:

Parentheses, Harrisonburg, VA Meet the woman who crowdfunded her own bookshop and is curating intriguing bookshelves in a Shenandoah Valley college town. (Parentheses)

On my desk

This is my tenth year in business. Social Venturers has gone through many iterations and along the way, I created what I needed from scratch.

My logo? Canva.

My website? Self-taught.

Any templates? Cobbled together over the years.

I finally worked up the commitment to invest in a little brand overhaul and am so excited what Vika at Visualite Creative Studio came up with!

Shen-Anika-ns

In the January issue of the Atlantic, Ellen Cushing wrote

I love hosting people. As a family, we often throw together board nights, afternoons of grilling with friends or more intimate dinners with friends. Last year, I even hosted a back-to-school party for the kids we knew and their parents to celebrate a new school year and our children's hard work.

Here's how I think about meaningful gatherings with friends:

• The invitation: My husband typically invites EVERYONE while I think very carefully about who I am curious to learn more about. One night I might have only new acquaintances over, another night I invite the solopreneurs in my community. One night I might have all of my full-time creator friends over, the next time I host a classical girls night. There's no right or wrong, but who you invite will inform the energy of the group.
• The What-can-I-bring question: I used to cook for everyone spending days planning a menu and hours preparing the food. I didn't want to burden my guests with having to contribute. Then I realized that guests really enjoyed contributing to the night in their own unique way. Now I give people the option of bringing a side dish, beverage or dessert - less work for me and more joy in sharing what others prepared to make the dinner special.
• The food: I still provide the main meals and typically keep it vegetarian since I have found this meets most people's taste. I always make sure to have bread, antipasti and dips as soon as guests arrive in case they come straight from work and are hungry. For my last dinner, I made:
  • Mama's Fattoush Salad (Feel Good Foodie)
  • ​Bright Spring Salad, Love & Lemons
  • Baked feta pasta and a simple vegan pasta (Feel Good Foodie)
• The conversation: One reason I prefer more intimate dinners is that I truly want to get to know the people around the table. I value meaningful conversations and will often bring a set of conversation questions. By the time we sit down to eat, I don't want to have small talk. I want to know what you think the best love song of all times is, who took you to your first concert and which of your regrets has turned out to be a blessing.
• The space: Some friends have told me they don't host because their place isn't nice enough, or not "ready" for visitors. To that I say "Screw it! Nobody cares." If you're with people you like, nobody minds sitting on the floor or an old sofa or on mismatched chairs.

If you feel lonely or a group of people - however small - that you can turn to.

I will be back in your inbox in two weeks!

In camaraderie,

Anika

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