The Community Manager

Get to Know Don Bourassa – July’s Community Manager Spotlight!

July 29, 2012
Jenn Pedde

Every month at TheCommunityManager.com we go through your nominations of your favorite community managers and select one special CM to spotlight here and to chat with on a Google+ Hangout.  We’d like to introduce you July’s #CMSpotlight:

Congratulations to Don Bourassa, the Community Manager at Yelp in Portland, OR, and TCM’s CM Spotlight for July 2012!


Don was nominated by a fellow coworker, who had some great things to say about him.  Here’s a small excerpt from that nomination:

“Don Bourassa does Community Management better than almost anyone I know. A former attorney, he now blazes the trail in Portland. He’s highly engaged with the city’s best and brightest, pilots awesome promos, plans huge events, runs the site with a blend of humor and iron fist and has created and fostered a community that is deeply dedicated to him and to Yelp.”

We’ll be doing a Google+ Hangout with him on Monday July 30th at 4pm EST on TCM’s Google+ account.

The hangout is open to everyone and there’s no attendance cap! TCM’s very own David Yarus will be interviewing Don, and we’ll talk more about his experience at Yelp.  Make sure to circle TCM to get notified when we start!

In the meantime, here’s a quick Q&A with Don to give you a taste of what you’ll hear about in the interview:

TCM: What is the name of your company?
Don: Yelp.com

TCM: What is your current title / community that you manage?
Don: I am the Yelp Community Director for Portland, OR. I manage and build community surrounding the Yelp website both online and offline here in the Portland/Vancouver metro area.

TCM: How long have you been a CM?
Don: I’ve been the Fearless Leader of PDXYelp for 3.5 years.

TCM: What are your favorite community manager resources?

Don: The best resources I have are the community members themselves. Community is collaboration, and so the best resource I have to grow and manage a community comes from within. I also rely heavily on my coworkers (why reinvent the wheel?), lots of espresso and fast wifi.

TCM: Where did you go to school / what was your major / year you graduated?
Don: I have a B.S. from the University of Oregon in Political Science and a J.D. from Lewis & Clark Law School. I was a lawyer/litigator in my former life. But honestly I learned most of the skills required for being a CM from side projects outside of my professional work. I used to be a club and concert promoter and a DJ/Performer. I did all my own design, marketing and event-coordination and have been heavily involved in multiple communities related to that passion. I also have a work history that includes people management, which intrinsically helps when managing a community.
See you on July 30th.
Have a CM you think is amazing?  Nominate them now! 
Jenn Pedde

Jenn is a Co-Founder of The Community Manager and the Editor-In-Chief. She's also an adjunct professor at the Syracuse University School of Information Studies. You can find her almost anywhere online, but specifically on #CmgrChat every Wednesday from 2-3pm ET.

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