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Meet our new cohort of Community Grant recipients

Meet our new cohort of Community Grant recipients

Introducing Ayo Duyile, Melissa Mendez, Anatoly Popel, Alberto Sadde, and Chisom Adanna Igwe — our new Community Grant recipients.

Meet our new cohort of Community Grant recipients

Introducing Ayo Duyile, Melissa Mendez, Anatoly Popel, Alberto Sadde, and Chisom Adanna Igwe — our new Community Grant recipients.

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Written by
Jara Montez
Jara Montez
Jara Montez
Jara Montez

When we announced our Community Grants program two years ago, our goal was to invest $10 million back into our community to amplify the reach of community-led events and resources.

Since then, we’ve been heartened to see what members of our community like Felix Lee, Ritesh Gupta, and Claudia Cafeo — among others —  have created and grown from this initiative.

And now, we’re excited to highlight the work of our new cohort of recipients Ayo Duyile, Melissa Mendez, Anatoly Popel, Alberto Sadde, and Chisom Adanna Igwe. 

Here’s their stories. 

Ayo Duyile

Co-Founder of Techsgiving

Washington, D.C. and Atlanta, Georgia

Describe your initiative.

The vision of Techsgiving is to become the largest community for diverse technologists of all ages through the vehicles of continuous skill development, global connectivity, and social good. Our corresponding mission is to provide the tools and resources for underrepresented professionals to excel in tech — while paying it forward for those who want to enter the tech world. 

How has the Webflow Community Grant assisted in supporting the goals for your initiative?

The Webflow Community Grant was strategically used for our flagship summit in December. It amassed 2,900 participants, 4,600 city wide participants, and a total economic impact of over $1.4 million on the local D.C. metropolitan area. On top of this, we were able to curate technical sessions on user experience and Webflow to provide more exposure to its tooling and teach people how they can leverage Webflow to grow their careers.

How can the community help your initiative?

Techsgiving is working on scaling its partnerships with municipalities like the City of Atlanta. The goal is to provide free residents with training for certifications to help them obtain Google certifications within 3 months and kickstart a path toward a successful career in a technical role. This rolled out in January,  and we plan to expand it across the country. 

Melissa Mendez

Founder of The Flow Party

Orlando, Florida

Describe your initiative. 

The Flow Party provides a secure, inclusive, and enjoyable environment for website developers and designers. We're an energetic community that thrives on hard work but maintains a perpetual party atmosphere. Whether we're immersed in coding marathons or taking a break to engage in lively conversations and share ideas, the fun never stops. 

Our weekly virtual events feature prominent creative guests, who generously share their expertise with our community. During these events, participants have the opportunity to ask questions, or simply hang out and network. 

Our overarching goal is to continue educating and supporting the community. This includes everything from organizing challenges and providing a platform for novices to enhance their skills, to providing seasoned professionals with an opportunity to showcase their work. 

How has the Webflow Community Grant assisted in supporting the goals of your initiative?

The Webflow Community Grant allows us to broaden our reach to individuals currently navigating their learning journey virtually. 

From the inception of The Flow Party, we’ve dedicated our personal time and resources to curate tutorials and support materials and to actively nurture our community. The grant empowers us to invest in our operational infrastructure, generate higher-quality content, diversify our offerings, and cultivate a more robust and interconnected community.

What are some new projects you're building, or looking forward to building, with your initiative?

In 2024, we’re excited to introduce a premium offering tailored for individuals seeking more advanced learning opportunities. This initiative stems from the growth and progression of our initial members, who began their journey as beginners and have since evolved into professionals actively engaged with clients. This comprehensive plan is in response to their heightened needs for support, expanded knowledge, and mentorship from industry leaders. 

At the same time, we remain committed to delivering valuable content to the broader community through tutorials, live events, and ongoing support.

Anatoly Popel

CEO of CASES Media 

Kyiv, Ukraine

Describe your initiative.

Creative Practice is an online platform we created at CASES Media that’s dedicated to training professionals in creative industries. Our mission is to ensure that members of our community have the simplest and most effective path to their desired careers. Currently, we've brought together a community of over 115,000 participants and 1,750 organizations from Ukraine.

Thanks to us, tens of thousands of individuals have mastered relevant skills and are actively applying them in practice. Our collaboration with Webflow is incredibly valuable for us because of Webflow’s ability to enable professionals and teams to streamline the creation of web projects while delivering a high-quality and visually-appealing product. It’s a great fit for our community — by empowering folks to learn a new, incredibly beneficial skill, they can offer new and more robust services to their clients. 

How has the Webflow Community Grant assisted in supporting the goals for your initiative?

Before seeking grant support from the Webflow community, we were already engaged in training web designers and had developed our own course covering the basics of working with Webflow. We've always considered Webflow one of the leading tools for web designers. By mastering Webflow alongside fundamental web design skills, individuals can create basic web projects — landing pages and small websites.

However, we're aware that a significant portion of designers within our community might not be fully aware of all the capabilities of Webflow. We wanted to show them that by harnessing the platform's potential, they could tackle more complex and ambitious projects, and better leverage their knowledge and skills. The grant allowed us to expand our course offerings to three — one focusing on the platform's basics, another on animations, and a third on the CMS.

What are some new projects you're building, or looking forward to building, with your initiative?

In December 2023, our team launched our jobs platform. This was one of our key objectives — to make the transition from learning to a career as clear and straightforward as possible. 

For 2024, we’re planning on launching a freelance marketplace. This will empower our users to not only get job offers from employers but be able to take on freelance roles, as well. Beyond new functional capabilities, we’re also looking to release an English version in the second quarter of 2024. This will allow us to bring our initiative to users outside of Ukraine.

Alberto Sadde

CTO of Meaningful

Miami, Florida

Describe your initiative. 

Meaningful is a growth and Webflow agency that I founded with Orlando Osorio. It’s  become the go-to for big and custom Webflow projects in Latin America. Because of our work, over 40 top companies in the region use Webflow for all their website needs.

We wanted to find more Webflow talent in Latin America because of its potential. So we decided to take the matter into our own hands and teach Webflow to Spanish speakers  with the launch of Meaningful School. 

Meaningful School is an online community where Spanish-speakers across Latin America can learn, connect with Webflow devs, and find jobs at tech companies. We host different online and offline classes about Webflow, from how to build your first landing page to SEO, analytics, low-coding, conversion rate optimization, and more.

Last year, we introduced free introductory Webflow courses and events in Spanish. Since then, it’s reached over 500 people and introduced Webflow to more than 500,000 people across the region. 

How has the Webflow Community Grant assisted in supporting the goals for your initiative?

The Webflow Community Grant has played a crucial role in supporting our initiative at Meaningful School in several tangible and impactful ways:

  • Increased dedication: The grant has enabled us to allocate more hours to the project, significantly enhancing our capacity to deliver high-quality education and support.
  • Investment in marketing: We've invested part of the grant in marketing strategies, focusing on SEO and creating YouTube videos. This has been instrumental in growing our school's reach and attracting more students.
  • Boosting confidence and credibility: Receiving this grant has bolstered our confidence and credibility, allowing us to engage in more events and form valuable partnerships.
  • Audiovisual equipment: As planned, we've invested in audiovisual equipment, improving the quality of our online content and the overall learning experience for our students.

How can the community help your initiative?

It’s easy to help us with our initiative at Meaningful School:

  • Spread the word: Let people know about our Spanish Webflow courses! A quick shout-out on your social media or among your networks can help us reach more Spanish-speakers eager to learn Webflow.
  • Join our community: Check out our online community. Your participation, insights, and experiences would be a valuable addition, enriching the learning journey for everyone.
  • Mentor in Spanish: If you're fluent in Spanish and have Webflow expertise, consider becoming a mentor. Your guidance can be a game-changer for our students, helping them master Webflow in a language they're comfortable with.

To stay connected follow us on LinkedIn and be sure to contact us if you’d like to join our team or get involved with the school. 

What are some new projects you're building, or looking forward to building, with your initiative?

Meaningful School is on a roll with our regular Webflow intro courses, new advanced offerings, increased Spanish YouTube content, and an upcoming job board to connect our growing community with real-world opportunities.

Our plan is to keep the momentum going by offering our Webflow intro course every three months. This course in particular has been a hit, and we're committed to ensuring everyone gets a chance to dive into Webflow with us. We're also developing more advanced Webflow courses to take our students deeper into the platform, unlocking new skills and creative possibilities.

Alongside this, we're ramping up our YouTube content production in Spanish, focusing on Webflow-related materials to enrich our learning resources. This is crucial in helping our community level up their Webflow game.

Plus, we're super focused on nurturing our online community. It's not just about learning Webflow; it's about creating connections, sharing experiences, and supporting each other.

Chisom Adanna Igwe

Founder and CEO of Sites for Creators, by Creators

Lisbon, Portugal 

Describe your initiative 

Sites for Creators, by Creators aims to integrate the vast creator economy with Webflow through the "Ultimate Webflow Creator Template." This initiative addresses the needs of aspiring content creators and provides them with tailored tools and resources for Webflow. 

The template features various essential pages for creators, alongside a series of instructional YouTube tutorials. It’s designed to facilitate and enhance creators' online presence. 

Leveraging my software engineering background and experiences at Meta and Reddit, this initiative seeks to empower creators while expanding Webflow's reach in the digital content creation space.

How has the Webflow Community Grant assisted in supporting the goals for your initiative?

The Webflow Community Grant has been instrumental in supporting my initiative by providing the necessary funding to bring the "Ultimate Webflow Creator Template" to life. 

This grant has enabled me to dedicate time and resources towards developing a comprehensive and user-friendly template specifically designed for content creators. In addition, it has also allowed me to hire a skilled editor, ensuring the production of high-quality, informative YouTube tutorials to effectively guide creators to use the template.

Moreover, the grant has given my project credibility and visibility within the Webflow community and beyond. It serves as a validation of the initiative's potential impact, and has helped attract further interest and support. 

What are some new projects you're building, or looking forward to building with your initiative?

In my initiative's next phase, I plan to develop advanced versions of the Webflow template with more customization options, create an online community platform for collaboration and feedback among creators, and organize educational workshops and webinars on digital content creation — allowing creators to leverage Webflow's capabilities to its fullest.

Get involved with Webflow Community Grants

If you’re interested in applying for a Webflow Community Grant, or nominating a well-deserving initiative — be sure to check out the Webflow Community Grants page for more information. 

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Last Updated
March 1, 2024