What first pulled you toward building this?
I have spent the last 10 years across industries where you’re judged on raw capability, not credentials. From Ballet which saw me leaving school at 14 and living in New York until 2020, to hand-making and scaling a jewellery company and then most recently opening a graphic design studio. The initial inspiration for Ponnd stemmed not only from my path but the ones of those around me.
Multi-dimensional, brilliantly interesting individuals with so much value to offer.
If you had to describe what you're building in terms of a feeling rather than a category, what would it be?
That feeling would be empowerment.
What's a question you find yourself asking over and over in your work?
There's no single question, but it always circles back to the same thing: how do I provide the best solution?
If someone spent a week inside your world, what would they understand?
That your brain never quite switches off and you wouldn't have it any other way.
What's something small you do consistently that most people wouldn't see but that shapes everything?
There are constant tiny tweaks happening to Ponnd behind the scenes. I'm a self-proclaimed perfectionist, so whether that means iterating on our tone, social presence, messaging, or design, I'm always pushing toward better. We're currently in development. Watching everything we've been working on start to come together has been such a rewarding experience.
What's harder than you expected? What's easier?
When we first started sharing Ponnd, the conversation around portfolio careers and generalist / fractional workers wasn't nearly as widespread as it is now. Convincing more traditional-minded people that this might just be the future of work was (and continues to be) a challenge… What's easier? The people who get it absolutely get it.
How do you know when something is working—not in metrics, but in feel?
The inbound from complete strangers still catches me off guard every time. The fact that someone has taken time out of their own busy life to say something resonated—that to me is the biggest indicator to me that we're building something of real value.
When does it feel most alive?
Whenever we have a chance to bring our community together the energy is electric, whether over an intimate dinner or a larger scale event. As our community comes from all different walks of life there's never a shortage of perspective, interesting stories, and genuinely inspiring conversation.
What kind of relationships form around what you’ve created?
I hope more honest, grounded ones. Relationships that see each other as equals and carry a real sense of reciprocity.
What are you unwilling to compromise on, even if it would make things grow faster?
Who we're building for. From the very beginning, Ponnd was built in service of the individual, the professional. Other platforms were built for the institution, the advertiser. Ponnd exists in celebration of the professional: what they've built, where they're going, and everything that makes them interesting. That's something we'd never compromise on.
If you had to describe your work as a gift, who's it for?
Growing up, moving across the world, building things from scratch — there was never a platform that truly saw the professional I was becoming. For the longest time that led to confusion, self-doubt, and uncertainty. Ponnd is a gift to that person. To anyone who has carved their own path and deserves a place that reflects that back to them.
Remi and I have always said Ponnd is a love letter to the professional, regardless of form.
If this lasts a long time, what do you hope it stands for?
That it stood for the professional, unconditionally. And in doing so, replaced the institutional systems that were never really built for them in the first place.
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