"Get Together" Podcast Roundup
Highlights from interviews with Silent Book Club & Letters for Black Lives + a Q&A with Ankit Shah of Tea With Strangers, Facebook, Airbnb
The Podcast Roundup is an introduction to ordinary people building extraordinary communities featured on the “Get Together” Podcast.
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Issue #5
You may have noticed that over the past few months, the cadence, look and feel of our podcast have changed.
Our new correspondents Mia and Maggie are expanding the stories we tell, and we’re actively seeking a new member of our podcasting team. Applications are due tomorrow! Inquire here.
We’ve been experimenting with Popcorn Q&As connecting listeners and interviewees.
Katie is helping us get the word out about the community leaders we’re interviewing here on Substack and in other internet hangouts.
Our goal with these changes is to supercharge our ability to find and tell the stories of extraordinary community leaders— the Laura Gluhanich, Ankit Shah, Hema Karunakaram and Adrienne Mahsa Varkianis of the world. We tell their stories because they inspire us, and we hope they’ll inspire others to get people together.
You, our listeners, will be crucial in helping us build a better team and tell better stories.
If you are willing to share a bit about yourself and what you think of our podcast, we’d love to hear more about you here to improve our work.
Bonus: we’ll follow up with an invite to join us in a private little digital space with other listers, guests of the podcast, and our team.
Thank you. We appreciate you!
🔊Podcast Roundup
Silent Book Club: A global “happy hour for introverts” 📚
Laura Gluhanich and Guinevere de la Mare started a book club for two in their San Francisco neighborhood, meeting at local bookstores, cafés or bars to read books in silence. We talked with Laura about how this “Silent Book Club” for two became 220 chapters and how they sustain this passion project on top of full-time jobs.
Editorial note from Mia:
Not only is [Silent Book Club] a place to dispense the small talk and read quietly, which is a huge relief to some people, but from day one Laura and her co-founder, Guinevere de la Mare, have set community guidelines to make the club as accessible and inclusive as possible. They have managed to instill this into an army of hosts that helped scale the goodness of Silent Book Club.
🎧Listen on your favorite podcast platform.
Ankit Shah on "social courage" the magic of a shared cup of tea 🍵
We talked with Ankit Shah about Tea with Strangers. The organization started during his last semester of college as a last-ditch effort to meet fellow students and has since brought over 50,000 strangers in 25 cities together for tea.
Editorial notes from Maggie:
Ankit reminded me that the success of a community isn’t always about scale—it’s about the meaning you can create for your members. Although Tea With Strangers did grow to be quite immense, creating tea times for over 50,000 communities, Ankit also emphasized the value of micro-communities, too. He talked about creating Silent Hike Society, less than a dozen people getting together for monthly hikes, as well as Sunday evening gatherings with just his apartment neighbors - and these meetups have just as much significance to his life as the larger communities he’s worked on with Tea With Strangers, Facebook, and Airbnb.
🎧Listen on your favorite podcast platform.
🍿Meet Ankit
We are hosting an AMA style conversation (with popcorn) on Frida, July 17 at 9:30 am PT / 12:30 pm ET. Join Ankit and other folks curious about community! You’ll receive an invitation to join us next Friday morning.
You can save the event to your calendar here.
Not able to join? Leave your questions in the comments or reply to this email and we will bring them to the conversation Thursday.
Curious about what 🍿Popcorn Q&A looks and feels like? Take a gander at our last Q&A with our correspondent Maggie Zhang.
Letters for Black Lives: Helping families talk about anti-Blackness 💌
Hema Karunakaram and Adrienne Mahsa Varkiani are two of the volunteers behind Letters for Black Lives. They joined hundreds of first-generation Americans and Canadians to draft templates for conversations with elders around anti-blackness and racism.
Editorial notes Kevin:
When we coach clients on how to start new communities, we push them to bring potential community members into the process. To build a community with people, not for people. My favorite moment during this episode was when Hema and Adrienne reflected on actually getting their parents help to translate the letter. They didn’t want to spring these letters on mom and dad. But rather brought them into the process, asked for their help and had an even richer discussion about the anti-Blackness. That was beautiful.
🎧Listen on your favorite podcast platform.
Quick recap:
Our podcast team wants to get to know you. Fill out this form and introduce yourself. We will follow up with an invite to a private little digital space after!
Come hangout with Ankit Shah, our team, and other folks curious about community this Friday.
Check out the latest episodes from the podcast and make sure you are subscribed on your favorite podcast platform.
More on all things People & Company and Get Together here.
We published a book, host a podcast, and coach organizations on how to make smarter bets with their community-building investments.