Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Moni Barrette. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Moni, appreciate you joining us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

Creators, Assemble! Inc. (CA!) was an idea forged from the passion of nerds: Our network of professionals-teachers, librarians, indie creators and the like-basically make their livings exploring their love of nerdy pop culture, comics, cosplay, gaming, etc. There are many barriers to making a living in these spaces, not only in finding the opportunities but also the stigma and bureaucracy that still exists when discussing the merit of popular arts in education.

When my husband (co-founder Joe Barrette) and I found ourselves out of work at the start of the pandemic, this idea about how we could help facilitate community connections in geek culture became a reality. There are some really great organizations with similar missions, but none that had quite the same angle we were approaching it from.

Moni, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I was a public librarian for 16 years, the last 5 of which I began specializing in the nuances of comics collecting and community events around comics and pop culture. I built a network of likeminded folks from many spaces including the TTRPG community, other librarians, teachers, comics retailers, creators, and publishers. As a collective, we have been able to achieve so much in getting comics into the hands of readers and comics/pop culture learning outcomes into schools and libraries. One thing that makes Creators, Assemble! Inc. unique, however, is our ability to find someone who is wonderful to work with, and pre-vetted, to fit almost any need in this space.

As a result, we’ve worked for organizations like Make-A-Wish San Diego, local schools and libraries, and other nonprofits for projects ranging from pairing artists with critically ill children to create custom superhero art, charity TTRPG livestreams to benefit women and children in the Ukraine, hosting comic book clubs across San Diego county, facilitating industry networking events and San Diego Comic Con and SD Comic Fest, providing educational classes and online panels, and so much more.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

Not only does Creators, Assemble! have a growing international network of super talented professionals in our field, each and every one of these folks is kind and easy to work with. We pride ourselves on being a welcoming community of individuals who want to put good into the world, and it shows through their work. Everyone involved also has a wealth of other connections and resources. In short, we’ve never had to turn anyone away who was looking for professionals for their projects or answers to their library or school questions.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

Public librarians are used to providing resources at no cost to the person inquiring. While that’s a necessary function for our society, it was tough for me (along with some of our other teacher and librarian volunteers) to ask for help sustaining the nonprofits initiatives. What helped us on that journey was our commitment to making sure that creators we recommend for projects are getting paid fairly, which is of course essential to their ability to make a living doing what they love. One piece of advice I heard from a trusted nonprofit founder friend was “charge something, even if it doesn’t cover the entire cost, because folks need to know what you’re doing has value.” I’ve definitely had to create boundaries around what we giveaway for free, which is still quite a bit, and the expertise we charge for!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.creatorsassemble.org/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/creatorsassemble/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/creatorsassemble/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/CreatorsAssemb
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/CreatorsAssemble
• Other: Discord: https://discord.gg/fu5B3Brh