Five with the Hive: Meet Tiffany 👋 🌟
Welcome to Five with the Hive, a quick-fire interview series that shines a spotlight on the unique journeys of our diverse community managers. Through this series, we'll celebrate the personal stories and career paths that have led our clients to become the inspiring community leaders they are today.
This week we're meeting Tiffany Richards from Rethink Places! Tiffany is the Online Community Manager and developer behind Rethink Places, the community from Magna Housing based in Dorset in the south of England. She has spent over 14 years working in customer engagement, particularly in the social housing sector but over the last couple of years has become slightly obsessed with online communities and the role they play in bringing people together. Tiffany likes to think people would describe her as curious, collaborative and someone who's always asking, "Could we do this differently?" She loves connecting people, challenging assumptions and turning good conversations into meaningful action.
Rethink Places is an online collaboration space created and supported by Magna Housing, a place-based, not-for-profit housing association in the south west of England.
How has your role evolved since you first started in the community space?
When I first moved into online community management, I thought my job was to create a space where people could leave feedback. It didn't take long to realise communities are so much more than that.
Today, I spend far more time thinking about how we create belonging, encourage collaboration and help people learn from one another. Whether that's through Magna Voice, our customer research and insight platform to ensure tenants have meaning influence in our services, or Rethink Places, connecting cross sector collaboration to support creating better places for people, my focus has shifted from managing a platform to nurturing relationships and creating opportunities for people to connect around shared challenges.
What's one aspect of community management you wish more people understood?
That community management isn't about posting content or keeping a platform busy.
It's about creating an environment where people feel comfortable contributing, challenging ideas and learning from one another.
Technology enables communities, but it doesn't create them. The real value comes from trust, curiosity and making people feel like their voice genuinely matters.
How do you envision the future of digital communities?
I think we're moving away from communities being seen as "engagement tools" and towards them becoming strategic spaces where organisations learn, collaborate and solve problems together.
I'm also really excited by how communities can become more accessible and personalised, helping people engage in ways that work for them rather than expecting everyone to participate in the same way.
For me, the future is less about collecting feedback and more about building genuine relationships.
What's the most important lesson you've learned about fostering genuine engagement?
Stop focusing on getting people to engage and start focusing on giving them a reason to.
The best communities aren't built through constant activity. They're built through trust, consistency and making every interaction feel worthwhile.
If people feel listened to, they'll come back. If they feel part of something bigger than themselves, they'll invite others in too.
What was your first "a-ha!" moment with your community?
My biggest "a-ha!" moment wasn't about the platform at all—it was watching members start answering each other's questions before I needed to.
That was the moment I realised we'd moved beyond creating a place for conversations and started building a real community.
Seeing people connect, share experiences and support one another without being prompted is when you know something special is happening.
Thanks, Tiffany!
If you're a community manager eager to share your story and insights with our Hivebrite community, we would love to invite you to get involved. Reach out to Erin Pereira to participate and join the conversation.