Disclosure: This post contains links. I was not paid nor compensated in any way for these links.
About a month ago, I got an email from someone I didn’t know about a website I had never heard of. Normally I wouldn’t even open those, but something told me to click the message anyway, and I’m so glad I did! It was an invitation from a lovely young lady named Jessica, on behalf of a website called the Experience Project, inviting me to a cocktail reception the night before BlogHer. After a quick check to make sure the website really existed (hey, you can’t be too careful before agreeing to meet strangers for drinks!), I accepted the invitation.
Experience Project is not like any website you have ever seen. It combines the Social Networking of Facebook with a safe, secure environment where you can tell your story to people who understand. I assume everyone has something that they can’t write about on their blog, but that they would really like to get off their chest, right? People on the Experience Project are there to listen to your story. If you aren’t sure where to start, you can click on someone else’s story to add your experience to it.
This is from their front page:
So, the cocktail reception-it was in the bar of the NBC building in Chicago. I met Jessica, and Dawn, Julio and Armen, creator of the site. I was glad that I took a few moments to ask him to tell me how he came up with the idea for the site. He has a friend with Multiple Sclerosis, and he created a site to raise awareness. So many people were commenting and sharing their own experiences with MS, he realized that there was a need for a site where people could share all of their stories, and that’s how the Experience Project came about. Here’s some photos from the party:
Armen, me, Robyn from MyBlogLog, and Jessica
Jessica and Julio. He was the guy to see for the coolest swag ever- a book called “The Four Hour Workweek”, and a HUGE duffle bag donated by Zappos. Oh, and it’s pronounced “Jewel-ee-oh”, not “Who-lee-oh”. He’s from Brazil. And very nice in addition to being so cute 
One thing that really impressed me as well is that they didn’t just show up, throw a cocktail party to try to get us to join their website and then leave. I saw Julio and Jessica all over the place at BlogHer, they came to the sessions and hung out in the Internet Cafe and at the cocktail parties.
Now you can join the Experience Project yourself, or you can let me email you an invitation, for which I will earn points. The points can be spent in the gift shop, to send cute little icon “gifts” to my EP friends. So if you would like one, leave your email in your comment! And check out the Experience Project, I know you will like it!
{ 8 comments }
Elizabeth, thank you so much for your kind words– it was truly a pleasure meeting you in person. We would be honored if your readership took a few minutes at Experience Project and shared their feedback. We’re always looking to provide a better community, and a place where people can truly be comfortable to be themselves.
Thanks again,
-armen berjikly
Founder, Experience Project
Just had to say Experiance project is brilliant.
It’s staff wonderful. The mix on the sirte is eclectic and fun as well as caring.
We all need a Rino in the corner to talk to on occasion. Loved the article it gave me a little better insight into The how and why of the project. A Home away from Home on the net!
i’m an EP’r and i have to share with you and your readers how this site has touched me.
i ran upon it accidentally. i opened it anyhow. the further i dug into the site the more i began to realize this was a place for those with something to say about the experiences they’ve been through – perhaps things you are unable to share with those around you or those on your blog, just as your review says. after all who doesn’t want to rid themselves of those skeletons clinking around in the closet?
after a couple short months of revealing myself, my true self, i ran upon a couple people whom of which i can honestly say will be friends for life. there was a connection that i’ve not found on any other cyber community nor in real life. it’s amamzing.
i can’t say enough about the EP staff and how wonderful they are, how active they are, how quick they are to respond, how helpful, etc.
not only are the people of EP fantastic as well as the staffers, i’m safe!!! SAFE!
since finding EP i’ve virtually discontinued all activity at other communities simply because i wish to be at EP.
FIVE STARS for the review and EP!
Hey Elizabeth!
Thanks for the nice post about our site! It really means a lot to us that you liked the site and are letting others know about it. And now everyone gets to enjoy the picture of Jess and I sweaty in the Chicago heat!
- Julio. (or “Jewel-ee-oh”
Misty– thank you! Made our day with your kind words
And thanks again, Elizabeth!
Armen-I’m happy to spread the word both about the site itself and the terrific people behind it! I’ll continue to spread the word when I get a chance! Just think where the website and it’s community could be a year from now. Thank you again for inviting me to your BlogHer event, it was truly a pleasure to meet you and your group
Misty- Thank you for sharing your Experience Project Experience! It wasn’t until the day after the cocktail reception with the group that it occurred to me how important the safety factor is with a site like that. You can choose to be anonymous, and write about anything, get things off of your chest that you can never write about on your blog. I imagine that for some people, that kind of safety is crucial.
I’m so glad to hear that you have made such important friends through EP. I haven’t had time to really use the site as much as I would like to, but I hope to get to know others using the site as well.
Thank you again for sharing your experience!
Julio- Well, my readers would be enjoying that photo of you and Jessica if I could embed the photo in the post! I switched to a new theme, and now I’m having all kinds of trouble embedding photos and links in to posts, and I can’t figure out why. I spent EIGHT HOURS working on it yesterday and still didn’t figure it out.
Anyway, I had to put in that pronounciation of your name because at BlogHer people kept reading your name tag and saying what they assumed it was, “Who-lee-oh”. It’s a much more common way to pronounce the name, especially for people who live in California and other states with a large Hispanic population. So, I just wanted to make sure they got the name right
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