What makes communities work in real life with Raven O'Neal

(FYI - the last 10 minutes has more f bombs than usual if you’ve got kiddos with you).Who doesn’t want to fit in to their local entrepreneurial communities—but how many communities miss the mark, especially for solopreneurs and expert-led businesses? We’re joined by Raven O’Neal, co-founder of Startup Women NC and founder of Savvy Gal Media, to talk about what actually keeps a community alive once the initial excitement wears off.We talk about what Raven has learned building a local community: how most ecosystems are designed for scalable startups, not people selling expertise; why solopreneurs often don’t fit anywhere cleanly; and why “more members” often makes things worse, not better. What surprised Raven most wasn’t a lack of resources—it was how fragmented they are, how little they talk to each other, and how much invisible labor it takes to hold people together.This conversation also names the uncomfortable truth underneath community-building, both IRL and online: it’s real work, often unpaid, and frequently taken for granted. We talk about the politics of funding, the myth that collaboration is easy, and why intimacy, continuity, and clear leadership matter more than growth. * Why most “community” spaces collapse once they try to grow* How startup ecosystems quietly exclude solopreneurs and expert-led businesses* What Raven learned building Startup Women NC—and what surprised her most* The difference between social mixers and real, sustaining community* Why fragmentation (not scarcity) is the real problem in local ecosystems* The unpaid labor required to organize, host, and maintain community spaces* How Raven’s work on Hacking the Patriarchy informs her approach to power, labor, and voice* Raven’s word of the year and how that’s informing her building plans (PS - It contains a lot of cursing)We actually had a meeting where we asked what does growth look like for this group? And a lot of our members said, one thing I love is how small it is. Like how much smaller it is and how intimate our meetings are and how much attention they get and how they’ve gotten to know each other.About our GuestLinkedInSavvy Gal MediaHacking the Patriarchy PodcastFem Led NewsConnect with UsListen on SpotifyListen on Apple PodcastsMeg CaseboltJessica Lackey This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit aggressivelyhuman.substack.com