Create Your First Project
Start adding your projects to your portfolio. Click on "Manage Projects" to get started
Community-Led Growth Without Paid Acquisition
Challenge
I had to build a truly global, cross-disciplinary fashion-tech community from zero — without a marketing budget — in one of the most saturated and hype-driven markets in the world. The goal was to:
🔹Create a recognizable, mission-driven brand
🔹Drive consistent engagement and retention
🔹Establish credibility with high-caliber industry players and media
🔹Turn members into active contributors and advocates
Approach
✔️ Brand Positioning with Instant Clarity: Named it The Fashion DAO, making its purpose immediately clear while optimizing for SEO and recall. Crafted a mission narrative that spoke to creators, technologists, and brand leaders alike.
✔️ Platform & Ecosystem Design: Built Discord as the community’s interactive hub, layering in structured channels, onboarding flows, and gamified roles to foster collaboration.
✔️ Gamified Engagement Loops: Designed recurring competitions (e.g., design bounties, virtual showroom showcases) that doubled as user-generated marketing content and member portfolio builders.
✔️ Thought Leadership & Events: Hosted regular Twitter Spaces and hybrid IRL/virtual activations alongside New York Fashion Week and NFT.NYC, securing grant funding and sponsorships.
✔️ Strategic Media & PR: Drove earned media coverage in Vogue Business and industry outlets to build credibility and expand reach organically.
Impact
🎯 Scaled from 0 to 200+ global members within the first year, representing every continent.
🎯 Attracted high-caliber members from Harper’s Bazaar, Jing Daily, and leading digital fashion startups.
🎯 Secured multiple grants and sponsorships to fund cross-brand collaborations and hybrid events.
🎯 Created sustained engagement, with members contributing designs, events, and partnerships that continued beyond my direct involvement.
Takeaways
This experience proved that a well-positioned, mission-driven brand can turn strangers into a thriving ecosystem without paid acquisition. For growth-stage companies, the same principles apply:
🚀Clarify the value proposition so the right people self-select in
🚀Build systems and rituals that make participation rewarding
🚀Leverage high-credibility partners and media to accelerate trust and adoption
In 2021, the digital fashion and Web3 space was exploding with innovation — but it was also noisy, siloed, and fragmented. Talented fashion designers, technologists, and brands interested in digital fashion and Web3 had no central hub to connect, collaborate, and co-create. I saw an opportunity to position a community as the gravity center for this emerging category, giving it both credibility and momentum from day one.
