Welcome our new podcast correspondent, Maggie Zhang!
Meet & greet Maggie, our newest correspondent and the founder of Commonplays
This week's story on the Get Together podcast comes to you from our new correspondent, Maggie Zhang.
Maggie and I (Bailey) met through a shared friend at IDEO, a design studio that we both worked at in the past. (Yes, you Scott Shigeoka!)
When we were first connected, Maggie had just spent a year traveling to 25 countries to research and write about fascinating communities—everything from human tower teams in Spain to cultural cafés in Morocco. She documents these stories and values that are most important to her—community, play, and places—on her blog called Commonplays.
Today, Maggie’s a freelance writer, and recently completed a creative residency with Montreal-based design studio Daily tous les jours, which builds public art installations (like musical swings and giant singalongs) to bring people together.
Have a question for Maggie? Want to meet her? Got ideas for who she should interview? Join us for an AMA style chat with popcorn!🍿
🗓Mark Your Calendar - POSTPONED to June 25
To honor the Juneteenth holiday, we will be postponing our conversation with Maggie to next Thursday, June 25 at 9:30 am PT / 12:30 pm ET. 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 giving circle experts, LiJia Gong and Joelle Berman.
✊🏽BONUS: Allyship & Action Summit
This Thursday our very own Kevin Huynh is running workshop at the Allyship & Action Summit. Organized by our friends at Palette Group and the Avail List, the summit will facilitate unfiltered conversation information on allyship and provide tangible next steps on anti-racism.
Topics include:
How tf do we turn white leaders into allies?
A Black Agency Founder: Stories of Good and Bad Allyship
Unpacking beliefs about race
The free event focuses on bringing together folks across the advertising world (e.g. freelancers, agencies, creative services) but will be valuable (and is open) to anyone eager to take action towards dismantling white supremacy in their industry.
⭐️ Backstage with Maggie
How did Commonplays come to be?
Maggie: I was working at IDEO and felt inspired by the studio’s focus on analogous research: learning from environments and industries completely different from the topic or challenge that you’re focused on. With that mindset, I left to travel for a year. I was excited about communities and public spaces, and wanted to “design” my own education: visiting 25 countries, living with host families, observing and photographing how cultural values influence communities and spaces. Along the way, I created Commonplays so I could document what I was learning and share that with others, and encourage readers to think more about how places shape and inspire us.
What inspired the name Commonplays?
Maggie: I consider the blog as a modern-day commonplace book. Commonplace books were used by artists, writers, and thinkers to record their inspirations, and each book was a reflection of the person behind it. Virginia Woolf, Marcus Aurelius, and Leonardo Da Vinci kept them—and so did fictional characters, like Sherlock Holmes. The word itself is also a mash-up of other words that I love: community, play, places.
A drawing from Henry Tiffin’s Commonplace Book (1760)
Source: Peabody Essex Museum
How do you see design influencing how people gather in community?
Maggie: I’m fascinated by how design cues in our environment can shape human interactions. I recently spent time working with an interactive design studio called Daily tous les jours, and it was fascinating how there installations prompt people to behave differently. For example, they set up musical swings, so that people of all ages will swing on them and make music together. They put microphones outside so that people would karaoke together. Oftentimes, people in a community are open to gathering in new ways, collaborating on something fun—but they just need some sort of prompt or push to get them to do it.
Another example is around park benches. If you see a fixed bench facing nature, like trees or a pond, you’ll likely sit down with a reflective, solitary mindset. But if you see a circular bench, or seating that can be moved, then you’ll likely sit down with a social mindset, wanting to talk to and face other people. There’s so much room to be intentional about how we design our spaces, because they can really contribute to bringing together or pushing apart a community.
Why did you choose Real Food Real Stories as your first interview?
Maggie: After living in the Bay Area for three years, I fell in love with the food scene and wanted to learn more about the stories behind the food I was eating. Real Food Real Stories is awesome because they bring together the people who make the food with the people who eat the food. I went to one of their annual storyslams and it was inspiring to hear from my favorite cookbook authors and chefs from local restaurants—it made me feel more connected to what I ate, and the stories I heard still stick with me to this day. In general, I also love their values around generous listening and using food and story to connect us.
What stood out to you about your conversation with Real Food Real Stories?
Maggie: Pei-Ru, the founder, beautifully talked about hosts. Her belief is that to create a safe space, you need to make people feel welcomed from their first step into the space. For every RFRS event, there are multiple hosts there to greet each guest, making them feel like they're part of the community from the moment they walk in. I was inspired by how much Pei-Ru thought about that first interaction, and how she had so much empathy for her guests’ comfort.
You can listen to the full episode here.
Do you know someone building an extraordinary community who Maggie should interview? Let us know!
We are so excited. See you on Friday!
Onwards 🔥
Bailey, Kevin and Kai
More on all things People & Company and Get Together here.