Member Since: Apr 7, 2015
On March 27th, Ried and I hosted a Huddle for Upwork freelancers in the Detroit area. Both being from customer facing roles, Ried leads Marketing’s Customer Reference program, and I (Lena) manage Community and social media support. We were super excited to meet freelancers in the area!
We invited freelancers into our venue, a co-working space in downtown Plymouth (about 30mins from Detroit), for an intimate casual evening to connect. Freelancers were greeted by our glowing faces and the smell of shawarma, garlic and falafel from our Middle Eastern spread. Their first remark was, “Wow, I didn’t know there would be food!”
We all gathered around a large conference table and chatted as more freelancers continued to trickle in throughout the evening. The freelancers, many new, voiced their concerns about getting started on Upwork and were eager to hear of success from some of the more experienced users. Everyone shared their struggles, along with their high points, in an uplifting motivating conversation that spread optimism and hope. Although these freelancers were strangers from all areas and backgrounds, a commonality and camaraderie was felt. A meeting that was only to last 1.5 hours organically elongated to 3 hours.
Ried and I were no longer “hosting”, we were active listeners as these users engaged and appreciated the opportunity to connect with each other. Emails, numbers and business cards were exchanged. Along with requests for more events like these.
Huddles are can be hosted by Top Rated users or Upwork employees, if you're interested in hosting a Huddle in your area, check out our help article here for more info.
