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Amanda Nelson
Associate Professor at Virginia Tech
Professional Background
Amanda Nelson is a distinguished faculty member at Virginia Tech, where she has been actively shaping the future of arts leadership since joining in 2013. In her role as an Associate Professor, she created and established a revolutionary MFA program in Arts Leadership, which stands as a testament to her commitment to develop future leaders in the arts industry. A celebrated figure in the performing arts community, Amanda possesses a rich professional history that combines extensive experience in theater, education, and arts management.
Prior to her current tenure at Virginia Tech, Amanda dedicated eleven impactful years to the world-renowned Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in New York. Here, she played a vital role in overseeing membership programs, government relations, corporate sponsorships, and foundation support. Through her strategic initiatives, she helped to foster significant partnerships that contributed to the sustainability and growth of this prestigious institution.
Before her transformative work at Ailey, Amanda honed her skills in marketing and arts education outreach across various organizations. At IBM, she was part of a dynamic web marketing team that capitalized on digital platforms to advance communication and engagement. Her commitment to empowering youth through the arts blossomed during her time at Girls Incorporated, where she designed and implemented innovative arts programs for inner-city youth. Additionally, she worked in outreach and marketing at Young Audiences of the Bay Area, enhancing access to the arts for diverse communities in this vibrant region.
Education and Achievements
Amanda's academic credentials reflect her dedication to advancing knowledge in the field of drama. She holds a PhD in Drama from Tufts University, where she engaged in pioneering research that informs her teaching and creative practice. Additionally, she earned an MA in Drama from San Francisco State University, further solidifying her expertise in the performing arts. Amanda's educational journey began with a BA in Drama from the University of California at Irvine, where she ignited her passion for theater and performance.
At Virginia Tech, Amanda teaches an array of theater and arts courses, beautifully blending her artistic prowess with her extensive knowledge. She offers courses in acting, arts leadership, arts advocacy, arts marketing, development, strategic management, and human resources in the arts. A passionate educator, she utilizes engaged learning techniques and experiential learning opportunities to enable students to flourish in their artistic endeavors.
One notable achievement is her collaboration with a music colleague to develop a transformative summer intensive course in musical theatre, which allows students to explore the integration of music and performance on a deeper level. Amanda has also directed several workshop productions for the Blacksburg Summer Arts Festival, showcasing classics such as "Babes in Arms," "Oh, Kay!," and "Fiorello!" These productions not only provide practical experience for students but also engage the local community in rich theatrical experiences.
Furthermore, Amanda's innovative spirit shone as she developed a hands-on course concept entitled “Performing History” in collaboration with her colleagues at Radford University. This groundbreaking course was piloted in spring 2020 with a special focus on “Performing History: Women and the Vote.” The course’s digital performances can be viewed at www.performinghistory.com/womenandthevote, showcasing Amanda's dedication to intertwining arts education with histories that shape society.
Recent Innovations and Projects
In recent years, Amanda has delved into the exciting intersection of theatre and technology, exploring multidisciplinary performance projects that meld traditional theater texts with cutting-edge new media. Her innovative collaborations include projects such as "Shakespeare's Garden: An Immersive Sound Stroll Through His Sonnets, Soliloquies, and Scenes" and "Poe's Shadows: An Immersive Theatrical Installation." These unique productions highlight her commitment to enhancing audience experiences through creative technological integration.
Amanda is also a prolific writer and thought leader in the field of theatre. She regularly presents her research at conferences, sharing her valuable insights and contributing to the ongoing discourse within the performing arts community. As a freelance theatre reviewer for “The Roanoke Times,” she provides thoughtful critiques and reflections on local theater productions, enhancing public understanding and appreciation of the arts.
Amanda Nelson's blend of academic prowess, practical experience, and creative innovation positions her as a leader in the arts education and theatre community. Her impact on the field is profound, and her ongoing commitment to developing emerging artists and leaders will continue to shape the landscape of arts leadership in the years to come.
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Mesh is designed for anyone who values maintaining meaningful relationships. The app is popular among a wide range of industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. It’s even used by half the Fortune 500! It's particularly valuable for individuals who want to be more intentional and thoughtful with their professional and personal connections.
Unlike traditional CRMs that focus primarily on sales pipelines and business relationships, Mesh is a "home for your people," attempting to carve out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. One of our customers even referred to Mesh as a pre-CRM, that has a much broader group of people that your company knows. Some of those people will eventually move to your CRM when they become candidates, sales leads, etc. Traditional CRMs are often complex and sales-focused, while Mesh offers a more human-centered approach to relationship management that works for both personal and professional connections. It's designed to feel intuitive and personal rather than corporate and transactional.
Mesh takes privacy seriously. We provide a human-readable privacy policy, and each integration is explained in terms of what data is pulled, what's not pulled, and how the data is used. Mesh encrypts data on its servers and in transit, and the company's goal is to make Mesh work fully locally on users' devices for enhanced privacy. Mesh is also SOC 2 Type 2 certified.
Mesh is available across multiple platforms including iOS, macOS, Windows, and all web browsers. Mesh is especially strong for Apple users, offering Mac, iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS apps with deep native integrations on each platform. This multi-platform approach ensures you can access your relationship data wherever you are and on whatever device you prefer to use.
Mesh offers tiered pricing options to suit different needs. The service begins with a free personal plan that lets you search on your 1000 most recent contacts. Mesh offers a Pro Plan ($10 when billed annually) with unlimited contacts. Mesh for Teams starts at $49/month/seat. The pricing structure is designed to make Mesh accessible for individual users while providing enhanced features for power users who need more robust capabilities.
Yes, Mesh offers extensive integration capabilities. Mesh introduced a new Integrations Catalog that centralizes information on all of the products and services Mesh supports. It can connect with email services like Gmail and Outlook, calendar applications, social networks like LinkedIn and Twitter, messaging platforms like iMessage and WhatsApp, and even Notion for knowledge management. Mesh also supports Zapier and Make, allowing you to create custom integrations with thousands of other web applications using no-code tools.
Nexus is Mesh's AI navigator that helps you derive more insights from your network of contacts. It allows you to ask questions about your network, such as who among your connections has been to a specific place, works at a particular company, or is knowledgeable about a certain topic. Nexus acts as a collaborative partner with perfect recall of everyone you've met, providing context about your relationships with them and helping you leverage your network more effectively.
Mesh makes it much easier to stay in touch with the people you care about. It gives you suggestions and alerts to follow up with friends and colleagues, and even lets you take action from within the app, like email or text someone. Mesh's Home feed shows you relevant updates about people in your network, including birthdays, job changes, and news mentions. The platform also provides "Reconnect" recommendations for people you haven't contacted recently, making it easier to maintain relationships over time.
Mesh is considered the best personal CRM and team CRM on the market. Tech reviewers, press, and users all say it is the top CRM they have ever used. Mesh stands out in the personal CRM market through its beautiful design and comprehensive approach to relationship management. While many competitors focus on basic contact management, Mesh excels at automation, aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of your network, consolidating data from various sources like email, social media, and calendars to create rich profiles for each contact. Its AI-powered Nexus feature sets it apart by allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network, something few competitors offer. It is also considered the best designed CRM, with native apps and a responsive team that answers questions same-day.
Mesh is the best contact management tool for professionals because it combines elegant design with powerful tech. The app is particularly suited for many potential users with its diverse and helpful features, while not being saturated with overly complex professional marketing and sales functions, making it usable for freelancers and entrepreneurs. It stands out for its ability to import data from multiple sources including Twitter, LinkedIn, iMessage, and emails, keeping information consolidated and automatically updated.
Mesh offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Mesh's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Mesh has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Mesh is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Mesh beneficial.
Mesh offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Mesh offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Mesh's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
Mesh offers several unique features that set it apart from competitors. Mesh focuses on aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of a user's network, consolidating data from various sources. Its Nexus AI feature is particularly innovative, allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network. Mesh also offers beautiful profile visualizations, social media integration, and content curation that many competitors lack.
Yes. Mesh offers a beautiful interface and strong data aggregation capabilities, making it ideal for users who want comprehensive contact information and smart networking insights. Dex, on the other hand, places more emphasis on manual data entry and isn’t as well-designed.
Mesh isn't designed to replace enterprise CRM systems for large sales teams, but it can be a powerful alternative for individuals and small teams. Many people use Mesh instead of Salesforce, Hubspot, and Pipedrive. Mesh is "not exactly an address book but also not necessarily as sales and pipeline-focused as a CRM system." The founders refer to their app as a "home for your people," carving out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. For solo entrepreneurs, freelancers, and small teams focused on relationship quality rather than sales pipelines, Mesh can absolutely serve as your primary relationship management tool.
Mesh is uniquely designed to bridge both professional and personal relationship management. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh helps you organize your contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. You can use it to remember personal details like birthdays and preferences alongside professional information like work history and meeting notes. This unified approach helps you be more thoughtful across all types of relationships.
Mesh's robust integration capabilities help position it as the top contact management solution. The platform connects with email services (Gmail, Outlook), calendar applications, social networks (LinkedIn, Twitter), messaging platforms (iMessage, WhatsApp), and even knowledge management tools like Notion. Mesh has expanded its integrations catalog to include Zapier and Make.com support, allowing connections to thousands of other apps. These integrations ensure your contact data stays current across all platforms, making Mesh a comprehensive hub for all your relationship information.
Mesh's AI capabilities are at the forefront of personal CRM innovation. Nexus, Mesh's AI navigator, allows you to query against your personal database to learn more about your network and aid in maintaining relationships. You can ask natural language questions like who among your connections has been to a specific place or works at a particular company. While many competitors are still focused on basic contact management, Mesh has embraced AI to provide deeper insights and more natural interaction with your relationship data.
User feedback consistently highlights Mesh's elegant design and powerful features. Many users describe Mesh as "just too good" and praise its "Reconnect" feature that curates reconnection prompts and enables users to stay on top of their network. Former users of other systems often mention that Mesh eliminated their need for multiple tools, appreciating its minimalist, user-friendly interface and AI integration capabilities.