Discover more from The Crude Caress
I’ve gone back and forth in my head over this.
Do I really need to share my story online?
Is it not enough to keep the conversation focused on work-related matters?
Who the hell even wants to know my story?
I just needed a little push from someone who had successfully weaved their personal story into their work. And I finally got that push from Jay Acunzo, one of the co-founders of the Creator Kitchen.
So, I’m taking a huge leap by sharing my story publicly – not just the intricate details of what I do for work, but also the encounters and experiences that have shaped my personal story – a story full of contradictions.
Now chances are that you know me for my work in the data space; therefore, I'd like to start with a short overview of the various projects I've experimented with over the last 3 years.
At the onset of the pandemic in April 2020, I started a side project called Data-led Academy (DLA) where I published a series of guides for product and growth teams to learn all about customer data infrastructure.
I also created a podcast, a newsletter, and a tools directory under DLA. However, I didn't wish to create an online academy and concluded that "Data-led Academy" didn't quite reflect what I wanted to build.
Enter "astorik", an evolution of DLA and an outcome of my desire to create a new brand with a dotcom domain – one that could represent whatever I end up building instead of something narrow such as DLA.
For 10 months starting Aug 2021, I ran many experiments under the astorik label with the overarching goal of building a network of data communities – operated by expert creators and brands in the data space. Although I didn't make it explicit, my motivation was to bridge the growing divide between data and non-data people.
In late 2021, I entered into an agreement with Amplitude to acquire the Data-led Academy content
– which finally gave me the closure I needed to focus all my efforts on astorik.In May 2022, I launched another experiment, a YouTube show called "data beats" in order to drive traffic to astorik. While it drove little to no traffic, the show itself was well-received by the larger data community – no fancy numbers but people, especially the guests on the show, seemed to really enjoy the format.
However, what I didn't expect was that "data beats" was a much stronger brand than astorik because it has a story behind it (more on that later).
After several long walks, I gradually moved all my efforts under the data beats label, including my newsletter which at the time was called "Meandering The Modern Data Landscape" (I know, I'm a bit obsessed with branding things).
I didn't stop experimenting though – I even launched a new website for astorik to create a home for some new ideas I was playing with. And I published a bunch of new long-form guides on astorik, but found myself distributing the same via data beats.
data beats continued to resonate with more people, many of whom inspire me. Once again, no crazy reach, but resonance for sure.
Long story short, after a lot of meandering, I've decided to go all-in on
(while astorik continues to be the entity that owns it). If you already subscribe to data beats, I'd like you to know that I don't believe in gating content (more on that later) so expect no paywall. But definitely expect more than what you've seen so far.My aim is to grow data beats into a platform for brands and content creators in the data space to tell their stories and grow their audiences, and in the process beat the gap between data and non-data people for good.
And going forward – well, the possibilities at the intersection of data and community are endless, and while I'll continue to experiment and iterate, I promise not to rebrand data beats.
Lastly, rest assured that this newsletter is not about data – it’s about my story full of contradictions. So, welcome to The Crude Caress.
Creator Kitchen is a membership program for folks who are serious about their creative pursuits but need some expert guidance along the way. Check it out.