Marketing Strategist & Community Builder
Community-Led Growth & Marketing Specialist — I help brands build engaged communities, run high-converting campaigns, and grow through Reddit & AI-powered marketing.
About Me
I'm a Community-Led Growth & Marketing Specialist with 3+ years of experience community building, influencer marketing, AI-Driven marketing, Reddit marketing, content strategy, PR, and events.
I've worked with startups, SaaS companies, and NGOs across India and the US — across industries including D2C, EdTech, Wellness, and HR Tech — through full-time roles, freelance projects, and strategic consulting assignments. I've scaled niche communities from 0 to 1,000+ members, managed 100+ influencer partnerships across the US, UK, and India, and used Reddit as an organic growth and GTM channel before it became mainstream.
What makes my approach different: I combine community strategy, influencer marketing, and AI-powered execution into one integrated system — building brands that grow through genuine human connection, not just ad spend.
Currently exploring how I can automate marketing operations with AI tools without losing authenticity — because the future of marketing is human strategy, powered by intelligent systems.
My Philosophy: Connecting People, Driving Results
Passion for Impact
Transforming casual users into loyal advocates and customers through meaningful engagement.
Data-Driven Approach
Utilizing insights to understand audience needs and optimize strategies for maximum engagement.
Fostering Interactions
Expertise in cultivating genuine connections across diverse digital platforms.
Community as a Core
Believing that a strong, engaged community is the most powerful marketing channel for lasting impact.
My Expertise
Community Building & Management
Scaled niche communities from 0 to 1,000+ members across WhatsApp, Telegram, Reddit, and Discord — designing engagement programs, events, and growth strategies for D2C, EdTech, SaaS, and Wellness brands.
Influencer & Growth Marketing
Led impactful influencer marketing campaigns with over 100+ creators across the US, UK, India, and Western markets, acquiring new users through authentic creator-led storytelling.
Social Media Strategy
Managed and optimized social media presence, driving visibility and trust across target educator audiences. Check out FastIEP's Instagram:
Reddit Marketing
Used Reddit as an organic growth, GTM, and lead generation channel — driving brand awareness, event promotions, and product launches across high-intent subreddits. Most brands still haven't figured this out.
Content Strategy & PR
Created purpose-led content strategies across social media, communities, and brand campaigns — driving PR outreach and brand visibility across niche digital communities.
Engagement & Retention
Conducted interactive events like AMAs, webinars, and meetups, increasing community engagement by 30%.
My Work Experience & Impact
Project A: FastIEP Marketing & Scaling
Challenge: To market and scale FastIEP, a consumer SaaS product for special education teachers in the U.S.
My Role: Led influencer marketing efforts and social media strategy for this mission-driven project, helping teachers save time.
Results:
- Scaled & market a consumer SAAS edtech product targeted at special education teachers in the U.S, U.K, and West.
- Led campaigns with 50+ creators across the U.S., U.K., and Western markets.
- Built strong, long-term relationships with micro, macro & mega influencers.
- Acquired new users through impactful storytelling and creator-led campaigns.
- Managed social media presence and drove visibility across educator audiences.
Project B: Anubava Community Building & Marketing
Challenge: To address urban loneliness by building interest-based communities.
My Role: Built and nurtured communities around solo travel, career transitions, finance, networking, wellness, and other interest groups.
Results:
- Delivered hyper-engaged communities with high participation rates.
- Designed and led full-funnel marketing strategies for events, tools, and community growth.
- Identified a gap and built the Community Finder Tool (MVP) to help people find quality communities.
- Boosted community engagement by 30% through tailored strategies and interactive events such as AMAs, webinars, & meetups.
- Built effective engagement strategies for diverse communities.
My Projects
Project 1: WebVeda Community Strategy
Challenge: WebVeda had 400,000+ students — but no community. Students finished courses & disappeared. Lost retention, & no word-of-mouth growth. No peer-to-peer interaction, & no engagement.
My Role: Design a scalable community strategy that turns 400K students into a self-sustaining ecosystem — where they help each other succeed and stay connected to WebVeda for life.
📊 What I Built & Delivered:
- Platform Strategy & Recommendation: Evaluated 4 platforms — Skool, Circle, Mighty Networks, and Discord — across 8 criteria and recommended a phased approach. 1.
- Phased 12-Month Rollout Plan: 2.
- Phase 1 (Months 1–3): Pilot with 5K–10K engaged students.
- Phase 2 (Months 4–6): Scale to 50K–100K students with sub-communities and an ambassador program (20–30 leaders)
- Phase 3 (Months 7–12): Full 400K rollout targeting 80K+ weekly active members and community as a core product differentiator
3. Engagement & Event strategy
4. Reddit Distribution Strategy
5. Success Metrics: Framework Defined KPIs across all 3 phases tied to business outcomes — including 15% retention lift.
Project 2: Built HRIN Community Strategy
Challenge: HRIN needed to build and manage a high-trust community for HR professionals — CHROs, founders, and people leaders, who are time-poor, and unwilling to engage in communities that feel like broadcast channels.
My Role: Design a community strategy that keeps senior HR professionals genuinely engaged, facilitates peer learning, and positions HRIN as the go-to platform for real HR conversations.
📊 What I Built & Delivered:
- Trust-Led Community Philosophy: Built the entire strategy around the 3 T's framework — Timely (content aligned with HR cycles), Tight-knit (small cohort conversations over mass broadcasts), and Two-way (members as contributors, not consumers). 1.
- Four Core Engagement Initiatives: 2.
- Monthly 90-min live AMA with CHROs and industry leaders tackling real, anonymous member challenges.
- Peer Circles — AI-powered matchmaking placing 6–8 members into intimate monthly cohort calls.
- The Offsite Series — Quarterly in-person roundtables (15–20 people) — for sensitive conversations that can't happen publicly
- Weekly LinkedIn micro-polls driving low-barrier engagement and real-time community intelligence
3. Monthly Community Calendar
Project 3: TimBuckDo Community Strategy
Challenge: Scaling a Campus Ambassador Network From 180 to 600. TimBuckDo had 180 Campus Ambassadors across 30 colleges — but 50% were inactive, underperforming, or disengaged.
My Role: Build a scalable, high-performance ambassador program without losing culture, quality, or human connection.
📊 What I Built & Delivered:
- 30-Day Revival & Restructuring Plan 1.
Designed a framework to audit all 180 CAs — promoting top performers to Campus Leads, reviving high-potential inactive members, and gracefully exiting those with no engagement.
2. Ambassador Growth Engine (180 → 600 in 90 Days)
Built a phased recruitment strategy across 3 channels — a referral program, campus event activations, and digital outreach (Instagram, LinkedIn, Reddit, Discord).
3. Offline Campus Activation — SuperYou Campaign Designed a full campus takeover blueprint across 10 colleges in Mumbai, Delhi, and Bangalore — covering awareness, screening, onboarding, and a weekly UGC delivery engine with a clear incentive structure.
4. Relationship Architecture & Performance Tracking
Built a Notion-based CRM to track every ambassador's activity score, career goals, burnout risk, and recognition moments — paired with an automated Google Sheets dashboard.
Project 4: Mackly Community Strategy
Challenge: The challenge was engaging two very different audiences simultaneously, parents who needed practical value, & kids who needed to feel celebrated. The goal was to grow an active community of 150 members in 60 days while keeping engagement genuine and spam-free.
My Role: Build & design PlayTribe community — A Movement-Led Community for parents of young athletes (ages 5–16).
📊 What I Built & Delivered:
- WhatsApp Community Design: Designed a structured community charter, posting guidelines, and moderation framework. 1.
- 2-Week Engagement Plan: Built a themed weekly content rhythm — daily prompts, parent tips, kids' challenges, & win spotlights. 2.
- 30-Day Content Calendar: Created a structured posting system across 5 recurring formats — Ask the Coach, Mindset Prompts, Recovery Reminders, and Open Discussions — with ready-to-use post templates. 3.
- Designed Monthly Community Challenges: — a 28-Day Movement Streak and a Family Fitness Challenge. 4.
- 60-Day Community Growth Plan (0 → 150 Members): Built a phased acquisition strategy across Reddit, FB, creator partnerships, Instagram, and a member referral program — with weekly tracking targets and success metrics focused on quality over quantity. 5.
Project 5: Built Community Finder Tool (MVP)
The Challenge: People were struggling to find the right communities for their interests — the ones that actually matched their niche, location, and goals. There was no centralized, curated directory that solved this. Existing solutions were scattered, outdated, or too generic. Urban loneliness was real, and the discovery problem was making it worse.
My Role: Building the Product From Scratch — Community Finder Tool (MVP), from market research, validation, to product building.
What I Built & Delivered:
- Market Research & Validation: Conducted end-to-end market research — identifying the pain point through real community conversations, gathering raw user feedback, and performing competitor analysis to validate the gap before building anything. 1.
- Product Strategy & Design: Defined the product vision, mapped user needs, and designed the full information architecture — organizing communities by niche, region, and interest for easy discovery. 2.
- MVP Build on Notion: Built the entire Community Finder Tool MVP from scratch on Notion — a curated, searchable directory that helps users find quality communities based on their specific interests and location. 3.
Skills Demonstrated: Product Thinking · Market Research · Competitor Analysis · Community Strategy · No-Code Product Development
Outcome: Successfully launched as a live MVP — built entirely from community feedback and real user pain points.
Skills & Technical Proficiency
Core Competencies
Marketing Strategy, Community Strategy & Management, Digital Engagement, Growth Marketing, Influencer Marketing, Reddit Marketing, Digital Campaigns, Content Strategy, Events, & Brand Storytelling.
Tools & Platforms I use
Notion, Canva, Google Suite, WhatsApp, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, Reddit, Discord, Telegram
AI Tools
ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, NoteBookLM, PixVerse, Kling, Veed.io, In Video, Gamma
Leveraging AI for enhanced productivity and creative solutions.
Let's Connect
I am excited to discuss how I can help your brand achieve ambitious marketing goals and build powerful communities. Let’s build something meaningful — together.
Online Presence:
LinkedIn: Monalisa Pandey
Availability: Open to full-time roles, freelance, and project-based work in Marketing, Community Management, Growth Marketing, Influencer Marketing, PR, Events, and Brand Partnerships.
Monalisa Pandey