Community is a strategy with Rachel Elnar

The modern workplace is awash with "communities of practice" and networking groups that amount to little more than monthly conference calls and perfunctory feedback surveys. Yet beneath this veneer of connection lies a more sophisticated discipline—one that Rachel Elnar, a former senior creative producer at Adobe, has spent decades refining. Her approach reveals that genuine community building requires the same rigorous methodology as any other business function, complete with psychological principles and iterative testing.

Elnar's journey began pragmatically enough in 2001, when she and her late husband launched a design studio in downtown Los Angeles. Faced with the eternal small-business challenge of attracting clients, they discovered that membership in the professional design community—specifically AIGA—generated referrals and kept their firm "top of mind." This observation led to a deeper understanding: communities vary dramatically in character, even within the same organization. AIGA Honolulu operated nothing like AIGA Las Vegas, each shaped by its local culture and member needs.

The psychology of engagement became Elnar's focus as she learned that sustaining attendance required more than promotional emails. Drawing inspiration from restaurant hospitality—she had managed several establishments—Elnar developed a front-of-house and back-of-house model for events. The registration form became the menu, promising specific value that the production team had to deliver consistently. "Because you took an hour of your time of your very busy day that you showed up here,” we want to serve you the best experience, she explains, emphasizing the service mentality that distinguishes genuine community building from mere content broadcasting.

This philosophy proved its worth during her tenure at Adobe, where changing market conditions and a portfolio of twenty-plus products demanded constant adaptation. The key insight was audience specificity: while large enterprises must juggle multiple constituencies, smaller organizations should focus intensely on understanding one core group. As Elnar discovered through mentoring Ana Monroe (now CEO of Ishmael Interactive), even simple gatherings like dinner parties can feel daunting to newcomers. Monroe postponed her first community event several times—a common pattern that Elnar attributes to natural discomfort with unfamiliar activities.

The acid test of community health, according to Elnar, comes when the founder steps away. True community can survive a week or two without active leadership, though it still requires facilitation and communication channels. The goal should be working oneself partially out of the role through delegation—allowing community members to organize smaller events while maintaining the larger vision. In an age where artificial intelligence threatens to commoditize many creative functions, this human-centered approach to relationship building offers a reassuring constant. As Elnar notes, events with physical components remain largely immune to digital disruption, suggesting that the fundamental human need for genuine connection will outlast technological trends.

What we’re looking at this week:

Jacques Tati’s 1967 film Playtime explores all the discombobulation of existing in the modern world. The problem? The core assumption is that everyone knows how the system works. If you don’t, well, get ready to get lost.

If you’re looking for a quick laugh, check out a scene at about 25:30, where, from above a cubical farm, we watch as one man in a cubical gets an urgent for the “April numbers” from another man in a different cubical. The man who got the call runs out of his cube to consult one of the dozens of files…that happen to be just outside the cubical from which he was originally called. Our messenger then rushes back into his own cubical to pick up the phone and deliver the number…back to the original cubical.

If that’s not good comedy, I’m not sure what is.

— Ana

Credits

Artwork: The Jolly Flatboatman. 1846. George Caleb Bingham. via the National Gallery of Art. Treatment by Ishmael Interactive.
Text: A. Adams
Production: Ana Monroe