Building Internal Community Programs: Ambassadors, Advocates & Beyond

Building an ambassador program from scratch? Scaling one that's outgrown its original playbook? Join CMX NYC for a moderated panel featuring community professionals who've built and run ambassador and community programs inside some of the industry's leading companies. Learn about what makes these programs thrive, how to measure impact in a way leadership actually cares about, and the challenges of scaling and sustaining momentum over time. Whether you're launching your first ambassador program or leveling up an existing one, you'll leave with practical takeaways from people who've done this work firsthand. Grab a bite, connect with fellow community builders, and stay for open networking after the panel wraps. What to Expect 6:00-6:30 PM: Arrive, connect, and meet fellow community builders and attendees. Light bites and refreshments will be served 6:30-7:30 PM: Panel (45 minutes of facilitated discussion, 15 minutes of open Q&A) 7:30-8:00 PM: Closing reflections + open networking Meet the speakers: Dory Jackson (Moderator): Dory is an NYC-based entertainment journalist with experience at major publications such as Newseek and PEOPLE. Dory is currently building a community of film and television lovers on TikTok and a YouTube interview series with notable celebrities. Darragh Collins: Darragh leads Community and External Communications at Rillet, an AI-native ERP for high-growth tech companies. He’s built three B2B communities from the ground up, including Off the Ledger at Airbase, which grew to more than 7,000 finance professionals, the Zip community for procurement leaders, and Close Club at Rillet, a curated, application-only community of 1,200+ finance leaders. Mary Findley: Mary is a community builder based in Brooklyn, NY. She has 15+ years of experience across education, edtech, SaaS, and marketplaces — including Webflow, Miro, Depop, and Skillshare — launching advocacy programs, community challenges, and creator initiatives from the ground up. Currently, she's growing the community at Lovable, where she leads ambassador programming for people across industries, cities, and skill levels. She thrives at the intersection of community, product, and marketing. Paula Rosenberg: Paula Rosenberg has worked in Community for over a decade. She's worked at Quirky, VHX, and Vimeo. She spent the last five years at Stack Overflow, where she was Director of Communities. She's also a writer and a consultant. Outside of work, she's an active member and volunteer of multiple communities including The Old Girls Club, Eat Your Books, and Animal Care Centers in NYC. She is a Yelp Elite member and a Brand Ambassador for Sur La Table. Erica Hanson: Erica has spent 12+ years building communities at Google, FlutterFlow, and outside work. At Google, she led the Google Developer Student Clubs program, scaling it to 2,000 communities across university campuses in 110 countries and reaching 1.8M students annually. She recently joined 645 Ventures as a Fractional Developer Relations and Community Lead, and is the founder of Coffee & Career Transitions NYC, a community for people navigating layoffs and job searches. She spends a lot of time at the playground with her baby and toddler and is training for the NYC marathon. About CMX CMX is a global network of community professionals dedicated to advancing the community industry and empowering communities to thrive. With chapters around the world, CMX fosters local connection and shared learning. Meet the Chapter Leads: Lauren Indovino is a Community & Client Engagement Manager at an education technology startup, with a career dedicated to expanding access to education. Lauren enjoys hosting, running, dogs, live music, travel, and spontaneously exploring NYC! Erica Hanson is a Fractional Developer Relations & Community Lead at 645 Ventures. She has loved building communities for Google and FlutterFlow and outside of work for 12+ years. Erica lived in LA, San Francisco, London, and Singapore before moving to NYC. She enjoys traveling, running, and dancing with her toddler. Kayla Green is a Senior Community Manager at a research technology company with 5 years of building and growing customer communities. Her bread and butter is ambassador programs and helping companies scale their community from 0 to 1. Kayla loves dancing, all things woo woo, and reality TV. About Fabrik: Welcome to Fabrik! We are on a mission to uplift communities and foster serendipitous connections in real life. Fabrik is a home for communities where everyone has a place to belong. With spaces designed to feel more like your living room than your office, Fabrik's social spaces are vibrant hubs where people can come together in real life, explore interests, forge meaningful connections, and build a sense of community.