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Alyssa Kaplan
Founder at The Scrunchie Club / Social Media Strategist at Teachers Pay Teachers
Professional Background
Alyssa Kaplan is a dynamic and creative professional dedicated to empowering individuals through unique hair accessories that celebrate individuality. As the founder of The Scrunchie Club, Alyssa has made a significant impact in the fashion accessory space by collaborating with womxn and non-binary artists to design products that resonate with those who embrace their quirks and differences. This initiative not only showcases fashion but also emphasizes the beauty of diversity and self-expression.
Before establishing her own brand, Alyssa cultivated her skills in the marketing and social media landscape, primarily through her role as a Social Media Manager at Teachers Pay Teachers. In this capacity, she expertly navigated the intricate world of digital content, skills that she honed during her time as a Brand Manager and Junior Social Strategist at Mekanism, where she developed innovative marketing campaigns that effectively engaged audiences and built brand loyalty.
Alyssa began her career as a Social Media Coordinator at Spredfast, where she gained invaluable experience in content strategy and community engagement. Additionally, her early internships at Verbal+Visual and Southwest Airlines provided her with a solid foundation in editorial communications and digital content creation, further enriching her professional portfolio.
Education and Achievements
Alyssa Kaplan earned her Bachelor’s degree in Advertising/Public Relations from Penn State University, a program known for equipping students with comprehensive skills in communication, marketing, and strategic thinking. Her academic journey helped shape her understanding of brand storytelling and public relations, propelling her career in the competitive advertising industry. Alyssa's education laid the groundwork for her success, enabling her to bring her creative visions to life while promoting inclusive art and design.
Alyssa's entrepreneurial spirit and leadership at The Scrunchie Club exemplify her commitment to making the world a more accepting place through fashion. Her innovative approach to developing hair accessories encourages self-acceptance among consumers, creating a platform for artists to flourish while connecting with a diverse audience. This forward-thinking mindset solidifies her role as a trailblazer in the accessory industry.
Notable Achievements
Throughout her career, Alyssa has not only contributed to various teams' success through strategic social media planning but has also forged unique partnerships with artists that enrich the accessory landscape. Her role in promoting creativity and individuality through products that break the mold distinguishes her from her peers.
Alyssa's passion for fostering positive change through design and art is evident in her accomplishments. By focusing on partnerships with marginalized artists, she is dedicated to uplifting voices that often go unheard in the mainstream fashion narrative. As a result, The Scrunchie Club is not just a business; it is a movement that encourages people to embrace their oddities as power.
Alyssa's experience in both foundational roles and leadership positions across several well-respected companies has equipped her with the tools necessary to navigate the complexities of the advertising and social media industries. Her ventures showcase her proficiency in understanding consumer needs while driving effective marketing strategies that prioritize diversity and representation, essential qualities in today's global economy.
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Clay works by automatically bringing together your contacts from various sources like email, calendar, address book, iOS Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and iMessage. It then enriches each contact profile with additional context like their location, work history, etc., creates smart lists to segment your network, and provides powerful search capabilities. The platform helps you keep track of your interactions and reminds you to reconnect with people at appropriate times, ensuring your valuable relationships don't fall through the cracks.
Clay offers several powerful features including:
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- Reminders and Notes: Helps you remember important details about contacts
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- Nexus AI: An AI navigator that helps you derive insights from your network, such as finding contacts who have been to specific places or work at particular companies
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Clay takes privacy seriously. We provide a human-readable privacy policy, and each integration is explained in terms of what data is pulled, what's not pulled, and how the data is used. Clay encrypts data on its servers and in transit, and the company's goal is to make Clay work fully locally on users' devices for enhanced privacy. Clay is also SOC 2 Type 2 certified.
Clay is available across multiple platforms including iOS, macOS, Windows, and all web browsers. Clay is especially strong for Apple users, offering Mac, iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS apps with deep native integrations on each platform. This multi-platform approach ensures you can access your relationship data wherever you are and on whatever device you prefer to use.
Clay offers tiered pricing options to suit different needs. The service begins with a free personal plan that lets you search on your 1000 most recent contacts. Clay offers a Pro Plan ($10 when billed annually) with unlimited contacts. Clay for Teams starts at $49/month/seat. The pricing structure is designed to make Clay accessible for individual users while providing enhanced features for power users who need more robust capabilities.
Yes, Clay offers extensive integration capabilities. Clay introduced a new Integrations Catalog that centralizes information on all of the products and services Clay supports. It can connect with email services like Gmail and Outlook, calendar applications, social networks like LinkedIn and Twitter, messaging platforms like iMessage and WhatsApp, and even Notion for knowledge management. Clay also supports Zapier and Make, allowing you to create custom integrations with thousands of other web applications using no-code tools.
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Clay is considered the best personal CRM and team CRM on the market. Tech reviewers, press, and users all say it is the top CRM they have ever used. Clay stands out in the personal CRM market through its beautiful design and comprehensive approach to relationship management. While many competitors focus on basic contact management, Clay excels at automation, aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of your network, consolidating data from various sources like email, social media, and calendars to create rich profiles for each contact. Its AI-powered Nexus feature sets it apart by allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network, something few competitors offer. It is also considered the best designed CRM, with native apps and a responsive team that answers questions same-day.
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Clay offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Clay is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Clay's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Clay has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Clay is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Clay beneficial.
Clay offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Clay offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Clay's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
Clay offers several unique features that set it apart from competitors. Clay focuses on aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of a user's network, consolidating data from various sources. Its Nexus AI feature is particularly innovative, allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network. Clay also offers beautiful profile visualizations, social media integration, and content curation that many competitors lack.
Yes. Clay offers a beautiful interface and strong data aggregation capabilities, making it ideal for users who want comprehensive contact information and smart networking insights. Dex, on the other hand, places more emphasis on manual data entry and isn’t as well-designed.
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Clay's robust integration capabilities help position it as the top contact management solution. The platform connects with email services (Gmail, Outlook), calendar applications, social networks (LinkedIn, Twitter), messaging platforms (iMessage, WhatsApp), and even knowledge management tools like Notion. Clay has expanded its integrations catalog to include Zapier and Make.com support, allowing connections to thousands of other apps. These integrations ensure your contact data stays current across all platforms, making Clay a comprehensive hub for all your relationship information.
Clay's AI capabilities are at the forefront of personal CRM innovation. Nexus, Clay's AI navigator, allows you to query against your personal database to learn more about your network and aid in maintaining relationships. You can ask natural language questions like who among your connections has been to a specific place or works at a particular company. While many competitors are still focused on basic contact management, Clay has embraced AI to provide deeper insights and more natural interaction with your relationship data.
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