Conversation with Ashley Buck about Community Building and Alpha Schools - May 17, 2025

Overview

This in-person meeting took place at Ashley Buck's studio space in downtown Manhattan. Ashley shared details about her community-focused app and podcast that connects people with local impact initiatives, while Gary discussed his work with Alpha Schools. Their conversation revealed significant philosophical alignment around the importance of real-world community building, practical action-oriented solutions, and education reform. The discussion evolved into exploring potential collaboration opportunities, including the possibility of Ashley becoming involved with Alpha Schools after her child is born in September.

Key Points

Ashley's Current Projects

Ashley described her app and podcast focused on connecting people with community impact initiatives:

"And with our app, it's like a first use case of here's an actual thing you can use to implement change. But then I think it can open up into other avenues."

She's producing a podcast that highlights practical community builders:

"The podcast is a lot of us, like, sort of highlighting the types of things that people do using the app and organizations that they can plug into."

She has already featured several community leaders:

"We just did, we've done three so far. The first one is, or two of them actually are community organizers that run nonprofits in Red Hook, Brooklyn. One works more with, like, public housing community, so they do a lot with, like, real estate development... And then the other woman runs an organization for youth after school."

"Another guy runs NYC 2030 or started it, which is, like, a citizen private governmental collaborative initiative to reduce emissions. And NYC 2030, it's named that because it's, like, we have to reduce a certain number of emissions for 2030."

Ashley emphasized her focus on practical implementation over theoretical discussions:

"I'm very, like, featuring people who are hands on the ground in some way. If it's on the ground, get your hands dirty. That kind of thing."

"And also actually implement the solutions. Because I've heard a lot of people discussing this stuff for 10 years. Like, the whole, like, hey, we're going to drive more impact to communities with technology. Right? Or it seems to be more of a narrative than it is about an actuality."

Gary's Work with Alpha Schools

Gary explained his role with Alpha Schools, an educational model focused on purpose-driven learning:

"These are schools where a common core curriculum is taught through a learning platform. Where the idea is that you can learn a lot... Like, we can teach you the basic stuff that has been taught a million times way faster. And then the whole rest of the day, let's say six hours of the day, you're just Montessori. You're just exploring your passions."

He described his evolving role in the organization:

"I got hired off a few conversations I had. Where the last one where I got hired was, I'm going to create a not evil Davos. And it was like a very short conversation. Oh, cool, we should do that. I was like, okay. But before doing that, and I still may do that, I'm not sure. But I just ended up just first talking to people. Just like, hey, what's the situation? What do you like about the school? What do you not like? What tech problems are there? How can I help?"

"I have generated a lot of demand for schools starting around the country. But my recent focus has shifted to tightening up a lot of internal organizational stuff, like creating standard operating processes for things."

Shared Perspectives on Community Building

Both discussed the importance of real community building over technological solutions:

Ashley noted:

"And I wasn't aware that you can't really get something new started without having significant buy-in... from real people that have real, often in-person trust circles."

"And that's what I felt also about a lot of the crypto ideas. I was like, these are good ideas, but where's your community? And if you haven't first built a community to try these ideas out, then it's not going to go anywhere."

Gary agreed:

"I think that's what our technology has intentionally or unintentionally done is basically put the Kim Kardashians on a pedestal. Where we think that is just like these parasocial networks, if you want to call it that. Parasocial broadcasting systems is what humanity is about. But really it's these almost like overlapping cliques of trust networks that allow for anything to really change on the ground."

Disillusionment with Crypto/Web3

Both expressed skepticism about much of the crypto/Web3 space:

Ashley remarked:

"I always saw a conflict between the types of communities that would be attracted to a lot of the technology that was being built. Because a lot of times it was just about making a lot of money quickly. And I was like, that's not really a community."

"It's not fundamentally useful enough."

Gary concurred:

"Crypto basically just created the worst, most efficient, pump-and-dump architecture and greed architecture. I think to your point, it's not like we already have that baked in already. We just kind of accelerated it."

Network Mapping Technology Needs

Gary identified a technological need for mapping trust networks:

"I think that we're not talking... Well, let me just tell you. I don't want to assume about the three line across, I guess. But one thing I've been thinking about is how the world changes through social networks. I'm not saying Twitter. I'm saying, like, trust networks. And I don't feel like we've really built technology that helps us understand who is trusted in the network."

"Like even just in mapping out our parent networks. Who trusts who? That's what I was talking about downstairs. Like we don't have that tech. And I think that would be useful in like many contexts. And I think that I'm realizing like schools is a great way to pilot a lot of kinds of technology."

Potential Collaboration Opportunities

Gary mentioned a guide position at the new Alpha School in Phi Di that might interest Ashley:

"So the school that's starting in Phi Di is looking for five guys... Like teachers, but they're just literally mentors. Five to one ratio... They're paying 120k."

"It's facilitating workshops and helping kids find their ikigai and getting connected with mentors that will support their ikigai, essentially."

Ashley expressed interest despite her pregnancy:

"I mean, I am pregnant... September 30th. So I probably wouldn't be a fall start... But maybe there's a way to just kind of start sort of like getting involved and just sort of learning more in this phase. Especially, it's going to get going this fall. So maybe even just meeting some folks and getting connected."

"I think education is the next big frontier... Because AI is going to take a lot of jobs, so people have to figure out what to do at home. And if we've been preparing people for a world that is now no longer there..."

Educational Philosophy Alignment

Both shared perspectives on education that emphasized purpose, emotional intelligence, and community:

Ashley reflected on her own education:

"School was not challenging enough for me and I was just bored the whole time but I could have been cultivating other aspects of myself, there just wasn't an infrastructure for that, so I was just really apathetic... what's the point of life, that's kind of my situation and I had to go out and find art and travel and experience and other cultures to fill my life up."

"The other thing I would say was missing was emotional and psychological and mindset training, I mean not even to mention mindfulness and yoga and stuff like that, but a lot of things I think were missed that I think have to do with kids where no one's really talking to them about their feelings or like teaching them how to develop emotional intelligence."

Gary discussed his educational vision:

"I think that everyone has their own unique gifts, unique place in the world, then the world feels a lot less competitive and more creative... I'm such a gap filler, even just having the faith that there's a U-shaped hole in the world for you if you just earnestly pursue your curiosities and passions and get the mentorship that you need."

"I think you get really excited to wake up in the morning and you have adults that are biologically and mainly not that are encouraging you to try to fill a gap that you notice in the world."

Observations

1. Ashley and Gary have strong philosophical alignment around the importance of real-world community building before technological solutions, making them potential natural collaborators.

2. Ashley is at a life transition point with pregnancy and upcoming motherhood, which could make the timing right for exploring new professional directions like education.

3. Both recognize significant problems with the current educational model and share a vision for purpose-driven learning that develops the whole person.

4. There's significant potential for connecting Ashley's community-focused app and podcast with Alpha Schools' need for parent and community networking.

5. Both expressed disillusionment with aspects of the crypto/Web3 world, particularly its focus on quick money over real community building and impact.

6. The conversation revealed a mutual interest in developing technologies that map and strengthen real-world trust networks rather than parasocial broadcasting.

7. Ashley's experiences with featuring practical community builders could provide valuable insights and connections for Alpha Schools' expansion in New York.