#18 Elisa Camahort Page: Community, capital, and clarity: Lessons from a startup pioneer

We sit down with Elisa Camahort Page, co-founder of BlogHer and Optionality, to explore her journey from a theater major to a tech entrepreneur. Elisa shares insights on scaling BlogHer from a bootstrap startup to a $30 million VC-backed media company, the lessons learned from navigating the 2008 financial crash, and the importance of fostering diverse, inclusive teams. She also discusses her current venture, Optionality, which champions a portfolio career approach, encouraging professionals to diversify their income streams and embrace flexibility in today’s dynamic work environment.About Elisa:Elisa Camahort Page is a serial entrepreneur, trusted advisor, and strategic consultant who launches and scales businesses, products, and authentic user communities and initiatives, harnessing the power of people -- community members, employees, and partners. Elisa is currently the principal of ElisaCP Consulting and the co-founder of Optionality, a community of practice sharing wisdom, community, and connections with and between independent workers. Elisa was previously the co-founder and COO of BlogHer, Inc. In that role, she represented the face of the company to the user community and drove the transformation of a movement into a market. BlogHer bootstrapped to drive momentum, raised venture capital to scale, reached tens of millions of users, and ultimately exited via acquisition. Since that time, Elisa has worked with founders, executives, and organizational leaders to define and deliver on compelling products, content and messaging, foster passionate community, craft achievable resource plans, and bring constituencies together in alignment with brand values. A frequent public speaker, course instructor, and freelance writer, Elisa also writes the This Week-ish newsletter and is the co-author of Road Map for Revolutionaries: Resistance, Activism, and Advocacy for All (Ten Speed Press, 2018).Elisa's links:Optionalityhttps://elisacp.comhttps://bio.site/elisacpAbout Federico Ramallo:Software Engineering Manager | Founder of DensityLabs.io & PreVetted.ai | Connecting U.S. teams with top nearshore LATAM engineers.- 💼 https://www.linkedin.com/in/framallo/- 🌐 https://densitylabs.io- ✅ https://prevetted.aiPreVetted Podcast:- 🎙 https://prevetted.ai/podcastCHAPTERS00:00:00 - Introduction00:00:46 - Elisa's background00:02:20 - The BlogHer Origin Story00:04:00 - Theater skills in business00:09:48 - Scaling BlogHer: Lessons learned00:16:30 - The VC funding dilemma00:24:08 - Optionality and the job stability landscape00:33:24 - Challenges managing people00:35:20 - Generational Shifts and Worker Empowerment00:40:45 - On Resilience and Redefining Value00:45:00 - Advice for Founders, Consultants, and Creators01:00:10 - Optionality and community building