Hello and Welcome!

Hello and welcome to the first edition of the Caffeinated Chronicles. I appreciate your being here!

When I first joined LinkedIn, it was 2008, which feels like a different lifetime. Like many of us, I used (or did not use) this platform in all the wrong ways.

I did not proactively connect with people. I never posted content. I never engaged with anyone else's content either. My profile was bare bones; work experience and perhaps a recommendation or two. For years, I never even had a profile picture.

2020 changed all of that. Living in NYC (the epicenter of the Covid19 pandemic in the US), having lost my job (and a huge part of my identity with it), dealing with the stress of barely being able to leave my apartment, my husband working from home, my daughter having remote school...I was desperate to find a way to connect with the outside world again.

LinkedIn proved to be that connection. I went from feeling nauseous making my first post to posting content nearly every day. I went from feeling lost and somewhat adrift to finding my voice and what inspires me. I went from a few hundred connections to nearly 11,000, and building a real community here.

The people that I have connected with here are important to me. Some of them have become clients. Many have become friends. Some I have met in person, some I have met over zoom. LinkedIn is a platform of infinite possibilities, and of infinite opportunity.

What spurred this newsletter is two things. One, a way to connect periodically in a different and more long form way. I plan to publish monthly so that it is not overwhelming, for me or for you. Two, we are at the one year anniversary of my #fourtofollow series on LinkedIn.

Every Sunday, for the past year, I have featured four people in my network whose content I find interesting and valuable, and encourage others to follow them as well. I also ask for my network's recommendations. What started out as a whim has become a popular weekly feature that brings me a lot of joy. In honor of that, I wanted to re-introduce the original Four To Follow -- the first four that I introduced. It was also fun to go back and see how their profiles and presence have changed in the past year:

April Y. is the National Business Development Manager for Damier Truck Financial Services USA, LLC. But what drew me to April from day one is her passion for people, her genuine kindness, and her in depth knowledge of cyber security and risk mitigation. She shares deep and knowledge packed insights on both topics regularly.

Ubaid Ur Rehman transforms LinkedIn profiles into high-converting landing pages. He specializes in designing banners that make you stand out. His Canva skills are next level, and I still fondly remember our virtual coffee that we had way back when. His passion for his work is inspiring.

Grace Gong is one of the hardest working women on LinkedIn and I learn so much from her. Being the founder and host of Smart Venture Podcast wasn't enough; this year she started a daily live podcast called Venture With Grace. Grace always has incredibly interesting and insightful guests, and her posts are mini masterclasses on topics such as Web3, Venture Capital, and Fintech. Fun fact, Grace's Smart Venture Podcast was my first time being a podcast guest -- I am forever grateful!

Karim Samani (Multi-Award Winning Chair-Man) is an expert on ergonomics and he has transformed companies, individual workstations, and people's lives with his knowledge and expertise. He truly cares about those that he works with, and the passion for what he does shines through. Add to that his killer sense of humor and impeccable fashion sense, and you can see why he was one of my original four!

Until next month, thank you for reading this first edition of The Caffeinated Chronicles. I hope you will be a subscriber-- it would mean the world to me! If you want to keep in touch, you can always reach me here: https://www.melissabethcohen.com/contact