What does community mean to you?

Community is such a big word because it can be so many different things. But for me, the main thing is that it’s something I can come back to – and something I also shape through how I show up and how I relate. At Village in particular, I stay with the trouble. Things don’t always align perfectly, but I’m willing to work through the difficulties that come up in the process. Community, to me, is always something we create together and that emerges in the moment. It’s an ongoing process, especially at Village, where it’s ever-evolving.

How do you find your community?

I just show up. I’m a very curious person – if something interests me, I go and check it out and see if I vibe with it. There will always be things that aren’t my cup of tea, but the real question for me is: how much is this about centring my own comfort, and how much is it about what we can create together? That’s how I find my communities – I show up, sometimes in very unexpected places, and I stay with it for a while to see if it actually works. Community building is a practice. It’s not just ‘everyone is nice to me, therefore this is my community.’ It’s also about how I can relate to the space itself.

How do you celebrate yourself and your community?

For me it’s the small acts of care – showing up for the things that often go unnoticed but are actually what maintains the community, the space, and the people in it. We can have a big party, and that’s great, but someone has to prepare it and someone has to clean up afterwards. Celebrating my community means acknowledging all of that care work and structural work that goes into it. Being grateful. That, to me, can be deeply celebratory.

What do you think makes we are village unique?

Something I mentioned before: I showed up, I bumped up against things, I raised them, and somehow they were integrated. It never works perfectly – nothing really does – but there’s a genuine sense of wanting to shape this together with the people who are part of it. There are also so many people I meet at Village or at Stretch who I then encounter in other parts of my life, and that feeling carries over. With some communities, when you leave the space, the connection disappears. Here it doesn’t. I think that’s something really special.

Can you share a moment at we are village or Stretch that felt meaningful or stayed with you?

It’s not one single moment – it’s more of an overall feeling. There’s this ability for people to open something in themselves because of the space that’s being created. At Stretch, that happens for me every time, especially at the closing heart circle, when people just show themselves. In a space specifically aimed at men and masculinity, I think that’s incredibly valuable – it creates something really healing for things that are often completely invisible. My first time at Stretch, knowing I’d be surrounded by a lot more cis men than I’m used to, and then seeing so many of them cry – sometimes about very small things, but really being in their emotions – that was deeply meaningful. We don’t see that often enough. There aren’t enough spaces where people feel safe enough to do that. So that overall feeling has stayed with me: we need this space for the softness and the vulnerability it allows.