Check Out Victoria Cumberbatch’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Victoria Cumberbatch. 

Hi Victoria, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstories with our readers.
Being in the community development industry, no one typically knows what that means! So, it’s the capacity to design or build communities of people that are based upon interest, product, or practice. Essentially, I greatly enjoy bringing people together around commonalities. Graduating college early in the residual effects of the recession in 2011 propelled me into being creative with my time and zones of genius. I would long-term substitute teach followed by endless months of backpacking around the globe. I typically work exchanged at hostels and got very into the community aspect of travelers and what brings people together, as well as what repels them. 

Once I got my first big girl job in NY at a non-profit, I tended toward the bringing together of a subset of people in our professional network. From then on, this sort of work became focal in my career path where I went on to be a program leader at Remote Year, a community manager for a med tech organization, created my own web series with Jeffersonian-type dinners, followed by becoming a community consultant! 

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
What is smooth really? Most things are simple, not easy. For example, choosing to do van life during the pandemic was a simple decision yet nearly every aspect that followed was not easy, nor smooth. Struggles have been wide and varied, from the tangible to intangible. Battling imposter syndrome and abyssal self-doubt are the intangibles, where peers would look at me like I had ten heads when I shared these sort of feelings. The tangible include essentially not knowing how to do anything regarding having my own business and being completely overwhelmed by the amount of information available on the internet, in books, and on podcasts. Inevitably, I co-created a mastermind group of other community consultants where we are able to come together to practically give and take learnings from one another → it’s been a game changer in both confidence and attracting new clients. 

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I work with communities to ante up their connection factor! With development consulting, I can help you set off on the best foot through the discovery process, increase your engagement metrics through bespoke engagement strategy, improve your processes & systems through an overall audit, as well as mentorship of green CMGRs. I’m experienced in communities of interest & product that have ranged from pre-seed to later-stage startups. 

Designing engagement strategies within communities is a deeply creative process for me and it’s allowed me to view ‘creativity’ in a way that makes sense for me. It’s not painting, drawing, or glassblowing → it’s mentally creative which feels like a puzzle piece that fits. I’m proud of myself for discerning a place within the Creative World that I can fit in. 

I am also proud of the web series that I co-created, hosted, and co-produced in the years prior to the pandemic where we brought people of disparate opinions together to discuss contentious topics. True Jeffersonian dinner vibes that I LOVED curating. We were even finalists in two film festivals! 

I’m known for giving everything a shot. I may now know anything about something [creating a web series], and I know I have interest in doing this thing. So, how can I make that happen? I am queen of execution and when those in my circle have a dream that seems big hairy and shocking, they know they can call me and we simply make it happen. 

Any big plans?
Plans for the big future seem so amorphous to me, it’s difficult to wrap my mind around. The pandemic just threw such a wrench into the idea of future planning, that I’m aiming for big PRESENCE energy. With all that, I do have a few aspirations that would be delicious to accomplish in 2023. 

Create an in-person series of Jeffersonian Dinners 

Become a sis through the Big Brothers Big Sisters organization 

Speak at more events 

Offer digital products within the community space 

Collaborate on more fun projects! 

Pricing:

• $500 monthly for 1×1 community profession mentorship
• Free consultation
• $1000 for bespoke engagement strategies

Contact Info:

• Website: adventuresofcommunity.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/adventuresofv
• Twitter: twitter.com/adventuresof_v
• Bookings: https://badassery-hq.com/speakers

Image Credits
Colton Soref