Meet

Yurii Lazaruk

Community Life Show Host

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My Story

Yurii Lazaruk

Community Life Show Host

Experience: 8 years

Colour: Yellow

Book: The Little Prince

Pets: Yes. Two dogs: shpitz and chihuahua.i

Community is where people take other peoples' problems as their own.

How did you start into community management? What was your career path across the years?

I used to have an internet shop in Ukraine and needed marketing help. So I hired someone to help me out with search engine optimization (SEO). I wasn’t happy with the job they were doing. I wanted to do it myself and the first step was to check SEO forums. Fast forward: I got the help I needed, I spoke to experts in the forums, then I gathered them in real life, then I started the SEO Club UA community. That was 7 years ago. When the war broke out in Ukraine I couldn’t continue my usual community tasks, because many of the experts within my community lost their jobs. I started a new community that consists of members from my other communities to help and support each other through this time. I am still trying to help my members find jobs outside of Ukraine. We have so many experts in SEO, paid advertising, marketing, etc. Here is a list of all of those experts. If you have work that needs to be done and want to support Ukrainians, please take a look! I found some opportunities for the members of our communities, but I still needed an income. I reached out to David Spinks and thanks to his and Steve Garguilo’s help, I found my position as a community consultant for the Cultivators and CMX communities. Running my own community for so long gave me knowledge that I can share with the rest of the community world. I’ve practically made all mistakes that a community manager can do. And I also learned how to fix those mistakes. My experience doesn’t come from books. It comes from doing the job.

What have been the main challenges of your career?

The main challenge was understanding who I am and what I am good at. And now, I definitely can tell that I’m good at talking to people, highlighting and showing the best of them, and building connections around values.

What has helped you develop yourself as a community professional?

Curiosity. I am always curious about people’s stories, challenges, and ways I can help them or connect them to help each other. Also, positivity because people in the community world make me happy 🙂

What's your favourite community platform?

So far Slack, even though it’s not a community platform 😅

What is “community” for you?

Community is where people take other peoples’ problems as their own.

What's one single strategy that you may suggest to increase value for the people in your community?

Being consistent and always there for your members.

What would you recommend to those just starting into community management?

Join CMX and Community Club communities, read every thread, ask questions, and be active!


Our notes: You can also join The Nation for Community Pros right here!