I am thrilled to share the news that I am joining Mastodon's leadership team as Community Director.

Today’s societal structures—including our social media platforms—increasingly prioritize profit over people. Most social media platforms are algorithmic echo chambers that reward sensationalism, discord, or outright lies. They play on the worst of humanity’s impulses to get rich at best, or manipulate people at worst. But our digital social spaces don't have to be that way. We can have digital social networks that help bring people together and organize into communities. We can build tools that empower people to feel safe and in control of their experience. I’m joining Mastodon to build that future.

This role is personal to me and I’m eager to get started. I’ve spent my career working to support open causes, community health, and individual empowerment. There has never been a more critical time to create spaces where everyone can safely feel valued and heard. I am proud to be able to support and grow our community as we collaborate towards a shared vision built on community governance and putting people first.

In my role as Mastodon’s Community Director, I will oversee Trust & Safety, as well as the operation of Mastodon’s flagship instances, Mastodon.social and Mastodon.online. My top priority is to ensure that Mastodon’s plans for these areas reflect the needs of Mastodon’s many different communities. My vision is for Mastodon to do more to support, empower, and celebrate the server operators, instance admins, and content moderators who make Mastodon a wonderful place to be in community with people. If you have thoughts about how Mastodon should evolve with respect to Trust & Safety or our flagship instances, I’d love to hear from you.

The path before us is fraught with challenges, but I believe deeply in our collective power to build a new and better way of being online together. I can’t wait to get started with you.