The Best Thing I Did in My Career Was Send a DM

What’s wild is that none of this would have happened if I hadn’t sent a DM.

Ashley Elliott (at the time the smm for the Alliance Theatre in Georgia and now the smm for A.C.T. in California) and I first connected on TikTok—just two people running theatre accounts, following each other for a while, quietly clocking the work. Eventually, that turned into a Zoom to properly meet, swap notes, and talk shop. The kind of conversation where you immediately realize, “oh, you get it.”

We talked about everything—managing institutional accounts, finding a voice that feels human, and yes, how to survive the occasional “silence, brand!” comment. And somewhere in that conversation, we had a simple idea: what if this didn’t have to be so siloed?

So we opened it up.

What started as a conversation between two people is now a network of 50 social media managers representing 40-something theatres across the country. People who are doing this work every day—figuring it out in real time, building audiences, telling stories, and making theatre feel alive online.

That network became something bigger than just a group chat. It became a room—one that extended all the way to BroadwayCon.

Getting to be surrounded by some of the most thoughtful, creative people leading theatre social media right now was a reminder that this work is evolving quickly. Not just people who “run accounts,” but people who are actively shaping how audiences connect with theatre in real time. It’s fast, collaborative, and deeply human work.

I’m especially grateful to the teams who showed up and made that space what it was: Broadway San Diego, La Jolla Playhouse, Theatre Under The Stars, (formerly) 5th Avenue Theatre, And That’s Showbiz!, Marathon Digital, Studio Theatre, A.C.T. San Francisco, Paper Mill Playhouse, Roundabout Theatre, and the Alley Theatre. Getting to work alongside you all in this space meant everything.

And to everyone who came to listen, ask questions, and engage in conversations about where theatre and social media are headed—thank you. There’s something really special about being in a room where people care this much about the work, and about each other.

One thing I keep coming back to: Broadway may be the name on the marquee, but the heartbeat of theatre lives everywhere else. It lives in regional houses, in community spaces, in cities across the country where artists and marketers are building something meaningful with the audiences in front of them.

That’s the work I’m proud to be part of. And it’s the work I’m proud to represent.

All of this… from a DM.