Community is What You Make It

Working at SiteCrafting for the last four years has really meant working with and for Tacoma in a lot of ways. When I drive to the office, I see our partners along I-5. While working in the office, I meet clients coming and going from meetings. And as a marketing gal, I often get the pleasure of attending fundraising events. It’s really hard not to feel a part of a community when your job involves actively taking part in it.

But at the start of the year I got the opportunity to live with a friend in Manhattan for a few months; that meant my physical presence would change—it meant sleeping in a bunk bed and paying more rent than I had in my entire life. Still, I would get to be in the city.

Leaving Tacoma and embarking on a journey to the largest city in the U.S., I figured I was saying goodbye to a community and hello to a mysterious, loner life. For one, I didn’t know anyone but my top-bunk neighbor. For two, I didn’t think two months was long enough to be more than a fly on the wall in a city this big.

That was… until I got my first New York compliment: “Wow. You are MAD jolly!”

Thank you, xoxo.

Maybe I wouldn’t feel invisible here.

Fashion In NYC

The historical snowfall occurred almost upon my arrival accompanied by the sub-zero weather. When planning my trip, I knew it would be cold, but not -14 wind chill cold. This meant I had the pleasure of wearing the same outfit every day. I packed nine pairs of pants and only wore about two of them. Normally, I would feel insecure about wearing the same thing every day.

Surely, at some point, a local resident would notice that these pants couldn’t possibly be clean.

But no. I was in the city.

Who would lay eyes on me and ever see me again in a sea of 1.6 million people?

It wasn’t until I noticed a man wearing a 2024 Olympics jacket and I thought, hm, now that’s a cool jacket.

Then I saw him again.

And again.

And again.

This may have been the city, but people live here. They walk the same routes every day. Community exists in these patterns.

I was not as invisible as I thought in my colorful outfit.

In fact, I was so visible that I got interviewed.

I should probably wash my pants. And zip up my jacket.

Work in NYC

Despite the new locale, my work days maintained a similar rhythm. I ate an apple with peanut butter and walked to a cafe to get started. One perk of being on the East Coast with a West Coast job was that I became a time-traveling overachiever. My coworkers wouldn’t be up for hours and I’d already have 3 reports done and a new measurement system developed.

This was the life. Though, it also meant I’d have Slack notifications until 8 p.m.

Having zero in-person contact with my coworkers felt isolating at times. Collaboration with other humans, it turns out, is necessary for my joy. It wasn’t until I realized the cafes I went to were full of workers just like me that things shifted. Every day, I became a part of a micro-community. I knew where the bus bins were, water stations, the bathroom codes and outlets.

In this micro-community, I met a friend who had a similar job to mine. He became my makeshift coworker. It was nice to have someone to talk to and sit with.

It is freeing to feel invisible for a little while, but the isolation eventually gets to you. These moments began to change how I related to the city.

Gym Life in NYC

After work, I like to hit the gym. In New York I started going to the gym at TMPL because it was the only nightclub-themed gym I had ever seen, and they had a DJ on Mondays and Tuesdays.

Typically at the gym, I like to appear a little mysterious. But apparently, I still accidentally have a resting smiling face. A kind individual approached me and said, “Wow, you are always smiling!” My gut response was, Dang, that’s not very mysterious of me, but this person was an absolute sweetheart and I wanted them to be right.

So just like that, gone were my days of being mysterious to the naked eye.

Every time I walked into the gym, this person would yell my name and wave at me, even if we were 100 meters away from each other. It’s hard to feel invisible with that kind of greeting. Once more, I felt like I belonged here and had an impact on the people around me.

In such a large space, it is easy to feel like your presence doesn’t matter. These experiences quickly proved me wrong.

I’m grateful to the people who helped break me out of my shell and made me want to do good for the spaces and community around me. I learned a lot about what a community looks like at scale. And I learned that no matter how small my presence may feel, it does have an impact. How I show up for my community matters.

I’m happy to be back in Tacoma, collaborating with my coworkers. Spending time in such a large city makes my impact feel even larger than it did before. I’m proud to show up for them and I’m proud to show up for Tacoma.

Although I do miss being a time-traveling overachiever.

Thank you, NYC. xoxo.