The long-time “Seattle Freeze” joke ends up hitting a little too close to home when you’re the new kid on the block. While there are more online groups and meet-up schedules than ever before, it simply seems like a waste of time when you’re engaging at a surface level over and over again.

For people looking for a deeper connection, while making their way through the tech and startup world, read Joey Stafford’s perspective, an infrastructure expert at Slalom, about his experience with CEEATTLE and why it's helped him break the ice.

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Katie Kutstkill: What is it like to make friends in Seattle?

Joey Stafford: It’s my third time living in Seattle. Having driven coast to coast nearly 4-5 times, this city has become a new home for me. But this hasn’t come without figuring out how to navigate the culture here. As we all know, with Seattle being a major tech hub, the city can literally be a churn, where people come and go. I felt it really discouraged me initially from developing long-term relationships because I never quite know when someone is going to leave. And the circles that already existed were incredibly difficult to integrate into – almost feeling superficial until a close relationship develops.

Katie: Do you relate with the maybe saturated joke of the “Seattle Freeze”?

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Joey: As a transplant, I know the feeling of being ambivalent or neutral towards making any meaningful connections. Why waste my time? And with the pervasive cloudiness and constant drizzle-like precipitation, it’s damn near impossible. But given all of that, Seattle has this incredible heartbeat, a culture maker side that attracts so many kinds of people. When I took the chance to connect and meet new people in the city through the r/Seattle server, it is in this group that I met Cee and realized there are some incredible people here. Seattleites aren’t just coming and going, we just need to find our way to each other.

Katie: What did you see in Cee that was different?‍

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‍Joey: Cee was incredibly expressive and just full of happiness. It was easy to connect with her. You always knew her true feelings about something, and she was out there wanting to make friends. It was refreshing to see someone so genuinely show up for themselves and the group. I remember the first time meeting Cee at a public gathering organized online. She was arriving later than some of the group and I offered to buy food from the place the group first gathered. She arrived soon after at the next place and she eagerly introduced herself to everyone and I gave her the take-away order. The pure joy on her face said it all. The little things count, and it is in those little things that we make meaningful connections.

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‍Katie: Why is CEEATTLE worth your time?‍

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‍Joey: Because when you meet people like Cee that speak your language and make you feel at home – you can’t help but want to share that with others. But Cee shared more than just her positive personality, she made us feel at home by including us in her sphere of influence and showing us how to effect real change with her wisdom. I like to think of it as the plumber that always has leaky pipes in his home. He never quite knows how to turn his magnificence and skill back unto himself. But Cee figured out how. She found a way to see her own magnificence, through building meaningful connections, growing her network, and investing in mentorship. She not only used this method to flip her magnificence onto herself, but she found a way for all of us to learn from her ways. This is why CEEATTLE is worth my time. Because Seattle, and our community, is worth my time.