Crafting Community through Events: Workshop by Umama Kibria, Lightning Talks, and Crafting with GoSadi

Umama Kibria is a Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree who's hosted 200+ events nationwide with brands like Nike, Adidas, Bumble, and Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Join her for a hands-on workshop on what separates a forgettable meetup from a cult brand community. Umama is sharing her playbook on her visit to NYC - we are lucky to catch her while she is in town!

You'll walk away knowing:

💡 You'll learn Umama's four-step framework for designing monetized events with connection at the center, from the first idea to the moment that guests walk in the door. Get this right, and everything else follows: stronger community, deeper brand partnerships, and yes, real ways to monetize what you build.

Next up, we will have ⚡ Lightning Talks from several veteran community builders & events hosts. Please welcome to the mic:

🎤 Lenny An, Founder, 5 Borough Games & Dumpling Dude

🎤 Erica Hanson, Founder, Coffee & Career Transitions NYC

🎤 Max Rivera, Global Agency Partnerships, Microsoft AI

🎤 Sabrina Romviel, NY Community Manager, Chief

Then, the event will conclude with by a craft & connect session, because everyone needs a moment to just make something with their hands :)

📣 Who this is for:

✅ You've hosted events before, or have an idea for one, and want to make them more intentional

✅ You want to build partnerships and collaborations with other hosts & brands

✅ You care about the quality of connection that your events create, and want that to translate into something sustainable

🗓️ Flow of our day:

9:00 - 9:20 am: arrivals, networking & breakfast treats

9:20 - 9:30 am: introductions

9:30 - 10:30 am: workshop with Umama Kibria

10:40 - 11:10 am: lightning talks

11:10 - 11:30 am: guided networking

11:30 - 12:00 pm: Craft & Connect time with Samantha Brunson

*** schedule subject to change

About GoSadi

This event is brought to you by GoSadi: a community platform designed by makers, for makers. Skip the AI-driven feeds and discover a space where fiber artists connect with designers, track their creative journey, and build their craft & community in one thoughtful, intentional place. Spend more time stitching and less time scrolling or searching!

About Umama

Umama Kibria is a Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree who's hosted 200+ events nationwide with brands like Nike, Adidas, Bumble, and Mercedes-Benz Stadium. She built her career turning one-off gatherings into communities people keep showing up for. Connect with Umama on Instagram and check out her company Play.

About Lenny

Lenny A channels his community building between two worlds: Chinese heritage and a love of local civic engagement. He is the founder of Dumpling Dude, showcasing Chinese culture through in-person dumpling making, mahjong teaching, and cultural events. He is also an avid local political junkie, having previously worked on Yuh-Line Niou's 2022 congressional campaign. Lenny serves as on his local community board, Brooklyn CB2, and found his political home with New Kings Democrats and CAAAV (Communities Against Asian American Violence). He hopes to help others impact their local neighborhoods and communities.

About Erica

Erica Hanson is the founder of Coffee & Career Transitions NYC, a community for people who have been laid off or are job searching. She also hosts events for fellow community builders as the co-lead of CMX NYC. Erica spent her career building developer communities at Google and FlutterFlow. She is training for the NYC marathon and spending a lot of time at the playground with her toddler, baby, and husband.

About Sabrina

Sabrina Romviel is the New York Community Manager at Chief, a leading professional network for women executives. She builds the playbook for IRL connection in New York, including weekly programming that enables members to meet the right people and expand their leadership. Prior to Chief, Sabrina was a strategy consultant at Vivaldi Group and a Programming Lead at Women In Innovation, a global nonprofit dedicated to increasing the impact and influence of women innovators.

PRESENTED BY:

Fidelity Private Shares is a trusted equity management platform for growing private companies. From early rounds to IPO, they bring clarity to complex ownership – connecting cap tables, 409A valuations, data room, and modeling tools for next-round and exit planning. Backed by Fidelity’s reputation for trust and long-term reliability, so you can scale confidently and focus on what’s next. Learn more.

Sapphire Labs is a technology execution firm that partners with venture capital and private equity sponsors and their portfolio companies to deliver the technical work that drives value creation. Whether the need is shipping product and scaling engineering for a growth-stage company, or modernizing platforms and integrating systems post-acquisition, Sapphire Labs operate as the execution arm teams bring in when an initiative needs senior engineering leadership. Their teams deliver on schedule, often taking initiatives from stalled to shipped in weeks, not quarters. From shipping net-new products to stabilizing and modernizing inherited systems with senior-only teams structured around outcomes rather than hours.

Yarnspirations is your place for endless inspiration to spark creativity and fuel your passion for your next crochet, knitting, crafting, sewing, quilting, or embroidery project. Find your favorite craft brands in the Yarnspirations store – Aunt Lydia’s, Bernat, Caron, Coats & Clark, Lily Sugar'n Cream, Patons, Phentex, Red Heart, and more – all under one roof. New and innovative craft products are added all the time – from classic wool yarn to novelty yarns, to even zippers and threads. You will always find what you need to craft something.

Heads up...

***This event will be photographed and GoSadi, Inc., and all partners reserve the right to use photos and video from the event for marketing and communications purposes. By attending the event, you consent to the use of your image for these purposes.

By registering, you agree that any contact or personal information may be shared with GoSadi and Joy Jing and Umama Kibria, their affiliates, event sponsors and other partners. You also consent to the event being recorded and your name, information, image, audio, and video being published and/or edited in any form. You will also be added to our mailing list to receive event updates, stories, and information about upcoming events. Unsubscribe anytime.