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COMMUNITY ALCHEMY

Designing Communities for Change

SCALING TRANSFORMATION
through engaged communities

Communities are at the heart of any movement or social transformation.

I believe that community building is a kind of alchemy, whereby great transformations arise when we put crucial pillars and elements together. Designing communities for change begins with understanding who we are serving, defining the change we want to see and exploring the different strategies for committing to this change.

How can we intentionally design transformative communities?

Community building requires a plethora of knowledge, skills and mindsets. To make the process easier for community managers / builders / founders, I designed the Community Alchemy Framework to walk you through the 5 Pillars of community building: People, Purpose, Practices, Processes and Partnerships.

The Community Alchemy Program is a 7 week intensive, personalized and hands-on group learning program with a small cohort of students, no more than 20 people.

Facilitated by Lana Jelenjev

Why Community Alchemist, you may ask

To easily share with people what I do, it’s best to start with my story.

I have gone through major pivots in life. Experiences where I had to uproot myself, start over, and redefine myself. In all of these experiences, what stood out for me the most was the importance of transformation. How even in the bleakest of experiences there was growth and change that allowed me to be the person that I am now.

Transformation for me is a constant reminder of life. That as long as I am breathing, I can own the energy I bring in the spaces that I occupy. That as long as I am present, I can stir in ripples with those that I connect with. That as long as I am living, I can intentionally live a legacy rather than leave a legacy.

This connection to transformation didn’t come easily. I had to go through periods of deep reflection and dissonance. Reconnecting with myself, with my core values and asking the tough questions moved me from a place of victimhood to a place of fully owning what my presence can bring. This helped me understand the essence of self-fullness. Self-fullness became the expression of my presence in the activities that I do – what I said yes to, where I dip my toes in, where I focus my time, energy and attention.

This re-invention didn’t happen in isolation, either. I am fortunate to enjoy and forge deep relationships in my life. In my exploration of what makes life worth living, I realized the immense value of social capital. I intentionally took the time to reflect – who do I connect with? Who are the people that I spend time, energy and attention on? And which relationships should I nurture, give space and tune in with?

I am privileged to be surrounded by people who have supported me through my mom’s early demise, people who cheered my career choices, people who served as mentors, people who we can call at 3am to take care of our kids as I was rushed to the emergency room as a side effect of chemotherapy, people who in our daily prayers are “those who we have us in our hearts and those who have us in theirs”.

All these transformations came about in, around and with community.

This program
is for you
if...

- You are a change maker, a leader in your field who wants to build better systems.

- You want to build authentic, connecting, and transformative spaces and experiences within your community.

- You want to be better at serving and engaging the members of your community.

- You are frustrated with the focus on social media, marketing and selling when it comes to community building.

- You are sick of the transactional approaches that are touted as "best practices" when it comes to community design and engagement.