Will Hutson recently joined us as our Director of Social Activation. Follow him on Twitter at @willhutson.
L-R: Will Hutson, Will Hutson.
It all started when I was living in LA. I had just left an incredible group of folks at DigiSynd, where I built out Disney’s editorial and partnership strategies and got the chance to bring some of the most incredible stories in the world to Facebook, Twitter and Youtube audiences. I’d gotten to witness things like a Facebook post from Finding Nemo‘s Dory getting thousands of Likes and comments within seconds and a Toy Story 3 tweet becoming the first Promoted Trend on Twitter.
It was more than I could have ever asked for. This experience wasn’t just full of warm and fuzzy moments. It also bore real results. The Facebook audience alone grew from 3 million fans to well over 160 million fans during my time there. At that point, I honestly didn’t think I’d ever find the right team and fit within this line of work.
So I spent the next four months traveling and figuring out what life had in store for me next.
Over the same four months, I’d gotten to know the partners at Carrot really well. When Jen introduced me to Mike, I knew I had found someone that saw eye to eye with me on the future of the space. His vision and passion were on point, but more important to me was the refusal to sell out at every benchmark of Carrot’s growth—instead, they reinvested in their team and culture.
From the first time we met, one thing was clear: we had a blast talking about business and life and really wanted to find a way to create a new way for companies to work within the social space.
Between now and then, things have changed dramatically. While driving around the US, I spent time with my favorite folks in business: start-up warriors, corporate titans, and mom-and-pop teams alike. What I realized was, first and foremost, people are what inspire me. From there, finding the right team became the key element to my growth in the immediate future.
That’s why moving to NYC and working for Carrot has created the most exciting opportunity I could have ever imagined. The team, the location, the great things they’ve done in the social media space… it’s all exactly what I wanted and more.
