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Yolanda Wisher
Curator of Spoken Word at Philadelphia Contemporary
Professional Background
Yolanda Wisher is a prominent figure in the realm of poetry and education, known for her remarkable contributions as a poet, educator, and curator. With an extensive career that reflects her passion for the arts and community engagement, Wisher has made a significant impact on the cultural landscape of Philadelphia and beyond. Her trajectory highlights her commitment to fostering creativity and supporting emerging voices through various initiatives and programs.
Wisher’s professional journey is marked by her esteemed role as the Poet Laureate of Philadelphia, where she served from 2016 to 2018. In this capacity, she championed poetry as a vibrant form of expression and played a pivotal role in connecting local artists with their communities, elevating the importance of literary art in public discourse. As the Curator of Spoken Word at Philadelphia Contemporary, Wisher continues to push the boundaries of artistic expression, showcasing innovative works and artists who inspire and provoke meaningful conversations.
Beyond her curatorial endeavors, Yolanda has worn many hats within the arts and education sectors. Her leadership as the Chief Rhapsodist with the U.S. Department of Arts and Culture exemplifies her commitment to integrating arts into community development and civic dialogue. Furthermore, as the Director of Art Education at the City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program, she played a crucial role in nurturing young artists and educators while fostering a deeper appreciation for public art.
Education and Achievements
Yolanda Wisher’s academic background is rooted in a deep understanding of English language and literature, culminating in a Master of Arts in English/Creative Writing from Temple University. Prior to this, she earned a Bachelor of Arts in English with a focus on Interdisciplinary Studies from Lafayette College. This solid educational foundation enables her to skillfully blend rigorous literary analysis with creative expression.
Throughout her career, Wisher has donned various roles that highlight her multifaceted talents. As a freelance writer, performer, and educator, she has dedicated herself to exploring the intersections of art and education, making her a widely respected figure in her field. Yolanda also founded and directed the Germantown Poetry Festival, demonstrating her commitment to community building through poetry and providing a platform for local voices to be heard. Her leadership in this festival speaks volumes about her passion for empowering artists and celebrating the richness of diverse narratives.
In addition to her festival work, Wisher served as an Upper School English Teacher at Germantown Friends School, where she not only imparted knowledge but inspired the next generation of writers and thinkers. Her teaching philosophy emphasizes the importance of creative expression and critical thinking, fostering an environment where students felt encouraged to explore their own voices.
Achievements
Yolanda Wisher’s dedication to the literary arts has garnered her numerous accolades and recognition throughout her career. As Poet Laureate, she helped raise the profile of poetry in Philadelphia, contributing to a renaissance of the art form in the city. Her curatorial projects at the Philadelphia Contemporary have allowed her to engage a wider audience with spoken word and performance art, nurturing a new generation of poets and artists.
Wisher’s contributions extend beyond her roles in poetry and education to her active involvement in civic engagement through art. Her tenure with the U.S. Department of Arts and Culture as Chief Rhapsodist allowed her to merge her passion for art with her commitment to social justice, promoting the role of the arts in addressing community issues.
Overall, Yolanda Wisher continues to leave an indelible mark on the cultural landscape, balancing her creative endeavors with a steadfast belief in the power of education and community engagement in the arts.
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Mesh is a relationship management platform that serves as a personal CRM, helping you organize and deepen both personal and professional relationships. It functions as a beautiful rolodex and CRM available on iPhone, Mac, Windows, and web, built automatically to help manage your network efficiently. Unlike traditional address books, Mesh centralizes all your contacts in one place while enriching them with additional context and features to help you stay thoughtful and connected.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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