Welcome to The People Behind the Programs, a CMX blog series celebrating the people who bring communities to life around the world.

Today, we meet Catherine Hackney, Founder and Principal Consultant at Confident Communities Consulting, based in Denver, CO, USA. Catherine's journey into the world of community management began unexpectedly but led her to become a leading consultant for mission-driven membership organizations.

From her initial role in a professional association to founding her own consulting business, Catherine's story is a testament to the power of saying yes to new opportunities. Let's hear her story in her own words.

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How It Started

In 2014, I started a role in the Membership department of a professional association. At the time, community was not in my job description. Within three months, I was asked if I could also manage an existing online community platform for our 30,000 members—something I'd never done before, but neither had anyone else at the organization, so I said yes.

I dived deep into all the resources about the specific community platform we were using and community management in general that I could find and very quickly realized I loved the work. I started becoming more and more active in communities for online community managers and strategists and discovered that I was able to provide value to many organizations at once by sharing what I had learned, tested, and developed. That led me to start my own consulting business in 2017, geared toward building and improving member community strategies and programming. Since then, I’ve had the pleasure of consulting with dozens of associations.

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A Day in the Life

I am still running my own business as a consultant and fractional community manager for mission-driven membership organizations, like professional associations. Every day, I work on strategic initiatives for my clients' communities that increase the value their members receive from participating in the online community, thus helping to increase the membership renewal rate for my clients.

Networking and maintaining my professional relationships is another daily activity. Being well connected in the sector I serve is very important for the longevity of my business. I am also constantly working on learning new things, following other community professionals, and trying out new strategies.

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The Tools that Power My Work

I spend a lot of time on community platforms built for associations, such as Higher Logic, Tradewing, Forj, and Breezio. Google Analytics and other reporting tools help me tell a more comprehensive story of community engagement than just the available platform reports.

For my business, I have been using Claude more and more as a brainstorming assistant, and prefer Asana for project management.

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Advice for Newcomers

If you're just starting out, be sure to join at least a few communities for community professionals, like CMX. There are so many out there if you look for them. Also, if the community platform you use has a customer community, join that and actively participate! A thorough knowledge of the tools you use will make you more effective and more marketable for the next step of your career.

I find that being a member, not an admin, of a handful of communities also helps me to keep the member experience in perspective. This is very important not to lose sight of as you get deeper into the backend, organizational goals, and long-term strategy for the community you’re managing.

Community professionals are some of the best people—they're so willing to help out a new professional, so don't be afraid to ask for help whenever you need it.

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Resources I Suggest

Check out the In Before The Lock podcast with Erica Kuhl and Brian Oblinger, the book "Cultivating Communities of Practice" by Etienne Wenger, Richard Arnold McDermott, and William Snyder, and of course follow Carrie Melissa Jones and her blog. The resources you should focus on will depend on the specific type of community you are managing and the people it serves.

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💬 Let’s connect on LinkedIn — I’d love to hear from fellow community builders.

💡 The People Behind the Programs is a blog series that shines a light on the community professionals powering impactful programs around the world. Want to share your story or nominate someone doing incredible community work? Submit your spotlight here.

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Are you passionate about building communities?

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