Hey! Welcome to the Creator Economy NYC newsletter — the premier place for all things creator economy in the Big Apple.

As if last week's earthquake wasn’t traumatizing enough for us New Yorkers, I spent $10 on an ice cream cone the other day. At least it was warm out 🤷🏽‍♂️

This week, I’m spotlighting Kaila Lim, a brilliant community builder and content creator in our community. With a passion for storytelling and a flair for engaging audiences, Kaila has an amazing background and plenty of useful insight into community building and IRL gatherings.

Let’s get into it.

Other stops along the way:

• Upcoming events - a few weeks away!

• Community callouts

• Community perks - discounted tix for a conference in June!

• News bits

• Personal picks

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CITY SPOTLIGHT

The foundation of community is in communication.

Every time I say that sentence, it always feels corny, but it is so true. 

What I mean by communication -

1. Showing what the community stands for, whether that’s in the Luma invite, on the social pages, or on the hosts’ online brands, you ideally want people to self-identify with the community’s core. Then, it’s up to you, as the host/community organizer, to curate and filter more in terms of who gets to belong.

2. Sharing expectations of what it means to be a part of the community is done in many ways, both in its principles/values and its tactics. A simple tactical example: when I eat Sunday Dinners at Fractal, the rule was “wash your dish and 1 more.” That way all the dishes definitely get washed. That expectation was communicated to me.

Tactically, 2 things -

1. I like all the events I host to have a greeter, sometimes that’s me as I check people in or it’s a volunteer helping with the elevator. Just having someone greet you is important because there’s just something about it that says, “I’m happy you are here” to the attendees. It makes people feel seen from the start. 

2. I work hard to design events that require the attendees to participate in them, whether it’s a game to loosen up, breakout group conversations, lightning talks, etc. The activity needs them to do something besides consume and clink glasses. I find that when you get them more involved and have them take part, it proves that this event could not have happened without them here.

The 200th guest should be treated and welcomed as equally as the 1st guest:

Often, the early arrivers get the best treatment and attention just because the room isn’t as full and it’s earlier in the event. Depending on the size of what you’re hosting, many hosts neglect the latecomers or begin to work the room as people are still coming in. I probably over index on fairness and warmth here. In NYC, you have no idea what it took for that person to arrive at your gathering. Of course, it’s not your business to care, but I do, and I can’t help it. I feel for the attendees who might’ve taken 2 trains and a Citi bike with their work bag and gym bag, and they got rained on on their way in, and they finally made it in, and yet no one even cares to greet them/have an empty seat for them anywhere.

You can’t do a good event with a bad host:

I’ve been burned by partnering with bad hosts. People then ask, “what’s a bad host?” In my book, I mean bad in terms of skill (event organization, thinking about email blasts, greeting, etc.) and bad in terms of the intentionality of hosting. I made the mistake of partnering with people who were pure opportunists, trying just to put their name on large events and not actually do anything or, worse, not actually care about the experience. I love co-hosting because almost all hosts are INCREDIBLE people to work with– they’re givers by nature, they’re warm, often people-lovers, and thoughtful. It’s a dream to collaborate.

Do it!!! We need more NYC creator meetup lightning talk style events where people share what’s working, what’s not, what they tried, and what’s got their creative block. 10 minutes with another creator and I walk away more energized and wanting to film.

I want to host a Creator Content Roast Night, where a few creators show us their most recent stuff, and the audience roasts it for three minutes straight. Mr. Beast got so good because he let his friends absolutely roast his videos.

Here’s a counter to some of the limiting beliefs I had when I was starting out:

• “No one will come.” <> Gather 2-3 definite yes’s before opening it to more people.

• “I have no place to host.” <> Use a park or restaurant cafe or anywhere with good lighting for creators preference, then you’ll eventually find a recurring home co-created with the attendees.

• “I don’t know what to do together.” <> If you were attending your dream meetup, what would you have to have happen? Sometimes, it’s as simple as a deep conversation.

Then, as you host your first, CAPTURE CONTENT and post, and I bet you’ll attract way more the next event around.

Love this question. I started doing these vlogs specifically because I feel like a lot of the “office management” part of my role doesn’t get seen. Also, I love watching founders and creatives bring us into their offices and studios and show us how things get made with their hands (and heart!) After I see the process, I want their products even more. 

It’s natural to walk into an office space and look on the counter and see fresh yellow bananas and open the refrigerator and see sparkling waters and hear the study lofi booming out of the speakers and feel the buzzing energy of the place. I film my day in the life to show that it was a human being who went to Trader Joe’s to buy bananas at 8:30am, restocked the refrigerator with her own 2 hands, unpackaged and installed the Sonos speakers, and everything you see was done by a person who cared to make things feel good. 

I also like to demystify what working in tech is. My role is a bit unconventional. I cover a breadth of things. If you’re a student or not in the industry, a lot of people have no idea what the office culture is or looks like at VC/tech companies today. I love getting to be the storyteller who “pulls back the curtain” for them.

Most rewarding part is making friends on the internet 100000% and my favorite part of creating content is when someone resonates and then you get to meet them irl and it’s pure vibes.

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