New Hires: Say Hi to Max and Isabelle

Tell us a little about yourself and where you’re from.

Max: I’m originally from the East Coast in Philadelphia. I moved out to California when I was in high school and just loved it, so I stayed out there. I went to school in San Francisco and I’ve been in San Diego for about two years. I’m really into running and creating a playlist on Spotify and SoundCloud.

Isabelle: I’m originally from Seattle. I came down here for school at USD and then decided to stay after I graduated. I graduated last May. I’m super into social impact companies and nonprofits—that’s one of my really big passions. I’m really into cycling as well. 

What made Community Boost stand out from other companies for you?

Max: This is probably the only company I heard of that was working exclusively with nonprofits. I come from agency and digital marketing experience, but working for for=profit eCommerce brands. So working with Community Boost and working with companies that create impact in the world was really cool and I wanted to join a team like that.

Isabelle: I came from an agency as well this past summer. I was interning with them and really wanted something that was smaller that was doing it for companies that really had a mission and an impact on the world. That was always super important to me. Then when I found Community Boost, it was kind of the perfect match of doing marketing work that I was really interested in, I’m really interested in data and the power behind marketing, but I really wanted to do it for impact companies, nonprofits that were actually making a difference.

What are you most looking forward to in your time here?

Max: Just being a part of a team that’s constantly growing and figuring things out, so I would say learning. There’s so much learning that is going on on a daily basis and things that are going on on a daily basis. Just being around that environment is something I’m looking forward to.

Isabelle: I really like being around people who are constantly learning and I think that’s really exciting. Knowing that the impact that we’re having these nonprofits is only going to get greater. That what we’re learning, we’re constantly bringing to new nonprofits and our new clients and being able to do that every single day and know that maybe a year from now we can be doing something a little bit different. It’s exciting that like every day brings a new challenge.

What is one thing you’ve learned so far?

Max: Not necessarily like something I learned but it reaffirms that nothing ever goes according to plan. You can have everything set up in terms of a campaign and then the day-of something gets broken with the tracking or links or copy or imagery gets cut off and just having to go in and fight the fire and figure it out. That’s been something that has been no matter where you work at, I feel like it’s a constant. It just happens but it’s been cool to have a team that backs you up on everything. 

Isabelle: Community Boost is a really great place to learn, but also a really great place where people are great teachers. When you don’t know something, there’s somebody on the team who knows something about it and knows how to teach it to you in a really in-depth way which I think is really special with marketing being ever-changing every single day.

What is one thing you’re passionate about?

Max: I would say an organization that I volunteer with. I’m actually wearing their shirt right now and didn’t mean to, that just kind of happened. It’s called NubAbility and it’s a sports camp. The main one takes place once a year, but there are satellite camps throughout the year and we work with kids who were born limb different, so they’re missing a hand or both hands or both hands and legs or have gone through a traumatic event and lost a limb. In the camps, they do regular sports like football, baseball, basketball, swimming, we’ll do water sports too. It’s just showing them that they can still live a normal life given their circumstances and being able to have them see someone that looks like them that’s older, that has done this. I’ve been with that organization for about six months and it’s been the coolest thing I’ve ever done.

Isabelle: Mine’s a little bit different, but I’m really interested in diversity and inclusion and thought leadership. That’s what I’m really involved in outside of work is a nonprofit to do that. The organization I’m really involved in is called StartingBloc and it’s all about thought leadership, creating more inclusive and diverse workspaces and doing really meaningful work in the world and how do we support and create a community around that? I’m really passionate about that.

What is your favorite core value of Community Boost?

Max: I would say transparency. A lot of the core values are awesome and resonate with me, but I would say transparency just because being able to be transparent with a client and letting them know when things aren’t going as planned or we need to pivot or things are going great, and then also being transparent as a team. Being able to communicate with a team member and be real and straight up with them instead of beating around the bush and not communicating the way that you asked them to communicate.

Isabelle: Mine is being relentless learner, very similar, but I think that it’s really important to like create a culture where you’re constantly trying to get better, but it’s even more important and special when you find a working environment that really practices that on an every single day basis and having people who can teach you, having people who are constantly learning about how to make things better, constantly learning from what we’re doing here and also learning from the industry, I think that’s really important.

What is one digital marketing tip you can give our viewers?  

Max: Share your story. A lot of orgs, brands and companies I’ve seen are very protective of who they are sometimes. They don’t really want to share exactly how they came to be, what their mission and goal is and I feel like that’s where we really connect with the user. So don’t be afraid to be vulnerable and share your whole mission and your story and show behind the scenes and. I feel like that content really connects and resonates with the user versus having everything be pretty and perfect. Be a little more vulnerable in your social media plan.

Isabelle: Mine would be to create content about what you’re learning on an every single day basis. I think what’s really fun about nonprofits is that they’re really in the cause knee-deep with the people who are actually experiencing whatever that is. And to be able to share what they’re learning or what is actually going on is really important and really invaluable. People want to know that, so if we can leverage that in a marketing way and bring more light to what’s actually going on, I think it’s really special and what’s really unique about nonprofits.

James Hall