It takes a village to build a brand.
Our Mission
We truly believe that to do well is to do good. We want to catalyze a business world fueled by empathy, connection, and authenticity. We are building a culture where brands who leverage their power to uplift humanity are celebrated for it.
When disconnection and loneliness are at an all time high, it’s never been more important to come together. Our solution to this problem: community. Brand leaders are positioned especially well to carry this out on a large scale. Research validates that consumers are hungry to vote with their dollars on the brands that support them when they need it most.
Our mission is to help purpose-driven brands like yours connect with your people, advance their transformative journeys, and grow a community that creates impact for both your brand’s success and the audiences you serve. Community isn’t just a buzzword or trending hashtag to us: it’s our life’s work. It’s real and raw and an antidote to the loneliness epidemic. Your company’s community can change lives.
We embrace how rare it is to come across a truly authentic, thriving community. Have you ever come across a community and immediately forgotten about it? Us too. It takes endless work and thoughtfulness do do this right and we are here for it. Don’t wait until real communities are mainstream. Be a pioneer. Build with us. Carry out your mission and change the world.
Our Principles
We put people 1st.
Our goal isn’t to help brands collect customers. We celebrate each audience’s humanity and a brand’s potential to act as a unifying representation of their identity. We want to bring out the personhood of each brand we work with and make them come alive. We care about numbers, but only because they help tell a story. We are humans helping humans to positively impact other humans.
We catalyze progress.
We are revolutionizing the culture of business. We care more about infusing the world with connection and empathy than landing contracts. We are selective with whom we work with, and we offer abundant resources to those we don’t. Knowledge isn't the competitive edge anymore with so much at our fingertips. So be scrappy. Dive into our guides. We want to empower you to build your own community. So why hire us? Our client work better resembles engineering than science: we will dive deep and problem solve with you. And for everyone else, we are your biggest cheerleaders as you catalyze your mission through community.
We give back.
We bravely and boldly reject the idea that business should be transactional. We frame each customer touchpoint as an opportunity to provide value. Our mantra: to do well is to do good. Let’s be creative in how much good we can do and the ways we do it. We aspire to embody a two-way definition of brand loyalty, where a business supports its customers as much as its customers support the business. We also implement give-back initiatives as an agency to support diverse founders and communities.
We follow through.
Integrity is our #1 value. If your mission statement talks the talk, your brand’s values walk the walk. A huge part of our work is identifying and executing concrete ways to help you walk your walk through big picture strategy all the way down to special touches. And for us, integrity also means we reflect the values of the communities we build in the values of our agency. We don’t throw around buzzwords and what-ifs: we create. We deliver. We walk the walk.
We’re fun.
We enjoy this meaningful work and we want to foster that experience for you too! Communities are fun to participate in and to build and design from the ground up. We come with heaps of infectious excitement. We are your nerdy friends cracking jokes while analyzing data. We are also your cool friends – introducing you to our other cool friends! (And we want your brand to be that cool friend for your audience.)
We fail forward.
We don’t believe in launches: we just build. Measure. Iterate. Our mantra is “always be testing.” And we are. We lean into all of our projects with curiosity and openness to pivots. It’s necessary in this field. Each community and culture is different, dynamic, and alive. No two are the same. We work tirelessly to find the solutions that are right for you and only you.
Our Principals
Sara Dahan is Catalyst’s founder and a respected thought leader in community strategy. She has given 3 TEDx talks about community and empathetic leadership, was named in OBO's 100 Most Innovative Leaders, and has been featured in Business Insider, Forbes, and Thrive Global. Sara uses her science background – armed with a bachelor's in neuroscience from MIT and an MPH in epidemiology from NYU – to integrate the analytical and human elements of community strategy when fearlessly addressing clients' complex challenges.
Dennis Sarkozy is a prolific experience designer, leading communities such as Personal Development Nerds, Map & Move, Balanced Meditation, and NYC Community Builders. He’s spearheaded special community initiatives for lululemon, Spotify, Ralph Lauren, and more. With an extensive background in education, corporate culture, employee development, and wellness coaching, Dennis leverages this knowledge to holistically design and uplift authentic, thriving communities – with his signature warmth and infectious excitement.