I’m a founder who loves bringing interesting people together around a shared goal. Looking back, I’ve been doing some version of this for 15+ years: building a community of virtual assistants at Zirtual, working on global co-living at Roam, helping Calm during its early days, and building collaborative recruiting teams at Avra Talent.
I’ve started thinking of these as Collaborative Communities: groups of people brought together around something they care about, with the right structure and support to do more together than they could alone.
Today I’m building Zozy, a shopping assistant for the real world, and exploring what Collaborative Communities could look like for founders, brands and investors shaping the future of commerce.
What I’m curious about
👥 People + connection
What brings people together, what makes collaboration actually work, and what technology can’t replace.
🛍️ The future of commerce
AI-assisted shopping, marketplaces, re-commerce, pricing, product data and how people decide what something is worth.
💰 Helping people buy better
Helping people make better buying decisions without ads, affiliate incentives or brands influencing the answer.
“Maren and I … connected because of our mutual instinct to approach businesses from the lens of community, first. That’s why I was the first investor in Zirtual, and continue to be impressed by her ability to build cultures and systems, in tandem.” ~ Tony Hsieh, Former CEO of Zappos.com
Work
Role | Company | Years |
Founder | 2026 — | |
Head of Talent | 2022 - 2024 | |
Head of Talent | 2021 - 2023 | |
Founder | Avra Talent (now Carrara) | 2017 - 2022 (acquired) |
Interim COO | 2016 | |
Cofounder | 2011 - 2015 (acquired) |
Say hi 👋
“If I were to wish for anything, I should not wish for wealth and power, but for the passionate sense of the potential, for the eye which, ever young and ardent, sees the possible. Pleasure disappoints, possibility never. And what wine is so sparkling, what so fragrant, what so intoxicating, as possibility!” ~ Søren Kierkegaard
(C) 2026 | Last updated @Today