Gillian Mutti

I think most of my success really comes from the larger community and taking the time to build those relationships, whether it's with sponsors, makers, or schools. Coming into the team years in this role, you're really just seeing the strength of collaborations and introductions that we've made, so that's been very rewarding. I can't emphasize the value of relationships enough, and understanding that those relationships take time. Even though business paths might not align at that time, just maintaining those relationships is important because you don't know when stuff might align, or when you can help make an introduction that's going to be very meaningful to somebody else. I think taking the time to really get to know people that are in your community, but are also on the fringe of your community, is a really powerful thing.

This sounds a little cliche, but the cost of things, everything's costing more. It's really important for us because we're not a trade show or conference where we're charging hundreds of dollars a ticket, up to thousands of dollars. We try to make it as affordable as possible, on average it's about $35 to come to this event, whereas we have a very large production and content budget. We really lean into creating some spectacle as well as some performances, so we really do try to have something for everyone at these events. Specifically coming out of this post-pandemic, which seems weird because we're years out of it to say, but there was a big shake-up in makerspaces and education and people moved out of cities, so there is a fair amount of rebuilding the network and creating awareness about this network, because it's a constant flux.

Family first is really important to us, and we know what we have to get done. It was a really great experience as my kids were young and about to be school age, being surrounded by this group of women who were working remotely but traveling to events. We were work-from-home moms before that was a thing with this flexible schedule. It's demanding, but that is one really great thing about our company. I also think it's really important that you embrace people and communities that you don't necessarily know how they interact, because that has been one of the most powerful things we've seen. There are some great ideas that come out of that. I believe in the tagline 'We Are All Makers' and being open to looking outside of your quote-unquote community or track and maintaining those relationships.