Community Building & Events Episodes

Hosting an event is easy. Building a community that people return to month after month is much harder. In this episode of Workfluencer, Rhona sits down with Chaselle Gazelle, founder of Jacksonville Bestie, to explore what separates unforgettable in-person events from forgettable networking mixers. Chaselle shares how she turned casual brunches with friends into one of Jacksonville's most recognizable community brands, why relationships matter more than transactions, and how busin...

Most people spend months preparing for a single DisruptHR presentation. Ashlynne Valdez delivered two different talks in 30 days, won Best Speaker at one event, and helps select speakers for DisruptHR Las Vegas. In this episode, we go behind the scenes of DisruptHR to explore what separates a good talk from a great one. Ashlynne shares how she develops topics, finds a disruptive angle, prepares for the fast-paced five-minute format, and what organizers are really looking for when reviewing sp...

Most conferences focus on information. Anna Morgan focused on belonging. In this episode of Workfluencer, Anna takes us behind the scenes of building Evolve — a fast-growing HR and recruiting conference brand built around trust, community, and real human connection. From hosting LinkedIn audio rooms and recruiter communities to executive dinners and a full-scale conference ecosystem, Anna shares how she turned years of relationship-building into one of the most community-driven experiences...

What if you could build real industry authority, grow your network, and create long-term leverage — without a team, a budget, or paid promotion? In this episode, Benjamin Mena breaks down how he built a 600+ person virtual summit completely solo, while still running a full recruiting desk. You’ll hear how he designed summits that actually attract the right people, why keeping live access free increases trust and engagement, and how curating other experts helped him build influence without ...

Most people think building a community is about finding a niche and hoping people show up. Jeremy Lyons knows better—he’s the man behind the RecOps community. From launching the first RecOps conference to building the widely read RecOps Roundup newsletter, Jeremy has turned a behind-the-scenes role into a movement. In this episode, we dig into: The four (sometimes five) pillars of Recruiting Operations—and why employer branding belongs in the mix. How Jeremy built the RecOps commun...

Taylor Desseyn shares his unconventional approach to tech recruiting, focusing on building a community rather than relying on traditional outreach strategies.