Danielle Maveal

When Lauren first met Danielle Maveal, she was leading Etsy’s seller community and education efforts, and was at the hub of a bustling, global community of makers who were building businesses and side hustles on Etsy’s platform. A jewelry designer and former gallery owner, she’d joined Etsy as employee #12, when the marketplace had just a few thousand sellers; by the time she moved on, it boasted several million, thanks in no small part to the efforts the seller education team put into helping sellers succeed.

Danielle often says that community is built one conversation at a time — and she’s put that belief into practice through customer and community roles at Barkbox, Lyft, AirBnB, and as a consultant on all things community-oriented.

Three things we turn to Danielle to geek out about: rescue dogs, all things handmade, debating whether and how care and human relationships can scale.

🤓 I geek out about…

• I love digging into research done on belonging, connection, group dynamics.
• I’m constantly learning new crafts.
• I also geek out over the data behind the animal ‘homelessness’ problem.

🎒 I collect…

I collect concert tees, and absolutely nothing else! My favorite concert tees are a Sonic Youth Dirty tee, a classic Nirvana tee (can’t help myself), and an original Lollapalooza tee. Besides that, I live a pretty minimalist life. (Oh, I suppose I should say art and craft supplies!)

💬 My friends ask my advice about…

My friends call me for career and work advice. My specialty is negotiating salaries and raises! They do not call me for relationship advice. 😅

🧰 How my weird obsessions show up in my work…

I’m always pushing for creative and crafty solutions. Why not play while coming up with solutions? I also once convinced a company I worked for to let me develop a Tinder-like app that showed you rescue dogs near you. 🐶

🌱 What form(s) of growth is/are most important for your company?

I’m continually playing with the idea of a ‘Sense of Community’ index, tied to these survey questions. I also look at transformation by monitoring the percentage of members that move through the community member journey.

💛 How can companies and industries take better care of people?

True communities care for each other. How do the web of people that impact and are impacted by this company’s mission, work to become one true community? I always say community happens one conversation at a time. To take better care, it starts with creating opportunities for all members of the community to deeply listen to each other. This includes leadership, team members, users, community members.

❓ A question I love:

What can we do together that we couldn’t do alone?

🚶 I would walk/drive/travel 500 miles to…

…help a friend (or a rescue dog).

Danielle’s newsletter, Community Feelings, is an invaluable resource for anyone who wants to build stronger, more connected communities. You can also find her on Twitter.