Suggestions
Eric Broker
Marketing and Communications Director at Minnesota Opera
Professional Background
Eric Broker is a distinguished arts producer, writer, and performer whose career is dedicated to the intersection of justice, art, and media. Currently, he holds the prominent position of Marketing and Communications Director at Minnesota Opera, where he is instrumental in crafting and executing comprehensive, strategic marketing and public relations plans. His innovative approach integrates marketing, fundraising, artistic endeavors, and institutional objectives, ensuring that the Minnesota Opera not only thrives artistically but also remains deeply connected to its community and the broader cultural landscape.
Beyond his directorial role, Eric is involved in various committees that reflect his commitment to sustainability and inclusion. He champions the cause of environmental awareness as chair of the Environmental Committee and plays a vital role in the Digital Engagement Committee. His co-leadership of the Evaluation and Impact Committee further illustrates his dedication to measuring and enhancing the impact of arts initiatives. Eric is also an active member of the Diversity Council, striving to foster a more inclusive environment within the arts sector.
Among his many accomplishments, Eric serves on the planning team of Picnic Operetta, a unique initiative that beautifully intertwines classical music, horticulture, food, and storytelling. This program celebrates urban ecosystems while engaging diverse audiences in enjoyable and meaningful ways. Eric's involvement in such initiatives demonstrates his passion for creating art that not only entertains but also educates and inspires.
Prior to his impactful role at Minnesota Opera, Eric honed his skills at prestigious organizations including the Walker Art Center and the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts. Throughout his career, he has also established himself as a talented arts and culture journalist and photographer. His work has been featured in prominent publications, including the Pioneer Press and Star Tribune, underscoring his versatility and ability to engage audiences through multiple mediums.
Education and Achievements
Eric’s academic journey began in St. Cloud, Minnesota, where he graduated as the valedictorian from Cathedral High School. His dedication to excellence continued at St. Olaf College, where he earned a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance, graduating summa cum laude with an impressive 3.9 GPA. This educational background not only highlights his musical talents but also his commitment to academic achievement.
During his studies, Eric was involved in various roles that contributed to his development as a musician and leader. He worked as an Academic Tutor, Music Theory/Aural Skills Teaching Assistant, and conducted research as a Collaborative Undergraduate Research and Inquiry (CURI) Research Assistant at St. Olaf. These experiences helped to solidify his foundation in music and provided him with critical skills that he brings to his professional endeavors today.
Eric’s musical talent has not gone unnoticed. He was praised by the Star Tribune for his “smooth, articulate baritone.” His rich vocal abilities earned him the lead role in Menotti’s "Amahl and the Night Visitors" and the opportunity to perform as a boy soprano in the world premiere of Stephen Paulus’ "The Star Gatherer." As an adult, he has participated in numerous prestigious engagements, showcasing his versatility across various platforms. Whether with Minnesota Opera, Mill City Summer Opera, or through recitals and concert appearances, his passion for performance is evident in every project he undertakes.
Eric's contributions to the arts community have been recognized with several prestigious awards, including accolades from the Minnesota National Association of Teachers of Singing and the Schubert Club Scholarship Competition. These honors reflect both his talent and commitment to continuously improving as an artist.
Achieve achievements and awards. As a testament to his leadership and progressive vision, Eric was selected as a Fellow with the Twin Cities chapter of the New Leaders Council in 2019, which is dedicated to fostering Millennial thought leadership in the progressive sphere. This role illustrates his commitment to shaping the future of the arts through innovative thinking and collaboration among peers.
Personal Insights and Future Aspirations
In his personal outreach, Eric Broker is driven by a vision of justice and equity in the arts. He believes that artistry is not only a form of expression but also a powerful tool for advocacy and raising awareness about social issues. His multifaceted career as an arts producer, performer, and journalist allows him to influence and inspire audiences while promoting positive change within the community.
Looking toward the future, Eric continues to seek out opportunities for collaboration with other artists and organizations. He believes in the transformative power of the arts, particularly in urban settings, and aims to create inclusive experiences that reflect diverse voices and stories. Whether through innovative marketing strategies at Minnesota Opera or engaging community initiatives such as Picnic Operetta, Eric is dedicated to redefining what art can achieve in society.
With a combination of his artistic talent, business acumen, and passion for social justice, Eric Broker is poised to continue making significant contributions to the arts world.
Achievements
- Star Tribune praise for vocal talent
- Lead role in Menotti’s "Amahl and the Night Visitors"
- Participation in the world premiere of Stephen Paulus’ "The Star Gatherer"
- Awards from Minnesota National Association of Teachers of Singing
- Scholarships from the Schubert Club Competition
- Fellow, Twin Cities chapter of the New Leaders Council (2019)
Location
People also viewed
R
Related People
Clay is a relationship management platform that serves as a personal CRM, helping you organize and deepen both personal and professional relationships. It functions as a beautiful rolodex and CRM available on iPhone, Mac, Windows, and web, built automatically to help manage your network efficiently. Unlike traditional address books, Clay centralizes all your contacts in one place while enriching them with additional context and features to help you stay thoughtful and connected.
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:
- Comprehensive Contact Management: Automatically collects contact data and enriches profiles to keep them up-to-date
- Network Strength: Visualizes the strength of your relationships relative to others in your network
- Timeline: Shows your relationship history with each contact
- Smart Search: Allows you to search using natural language like "People I know at the NYT" or "Designers I've met in London"
- Reminders and Notes: Helps you remember important details about contacts
- Home Feed: Displays updates about your network including job changes, news mentions, and birthdays
- Groups: Organizes contacts into meaningful categories
- 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
Clay is designed for anyone who values maintaining meaningful relationships. The app is popular among a wide range of 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. It’s even used by half the Fortune 500! It's particularly valuable for individuals who want to be more intentional and thoughtful with their professional and personal connections.
Unlike traditional CRMs that focus primarily on sales pipelines and business relationships, Clay is a "home for your people," attempting to carve out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. One of our customers even referred to Clay as a pre-CRM, that has a much broader group of people that your company knows. Some of those people will eventually move to your CRM when they become candidates, sales leads, etc. Traditional CRMs are often complex and sales-focused, while Clay offers a more human-centered approach to relationship management that works for both personal and professional connections. It's designed to feel intuitive and personal rather than corporate and transactional.
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.
Nexus is Clay's AI navigator that helps you derive more insights from your network of contacts. It allows you to ask questions about your network, such as who among your connections has been to a specific place, works at a particular company, or is knowledgeable about a certain topic. Nexus acts as a collaborative partner with perfect recall of everyone you've met, providing context about your relationships with them and helping you leverage your network more effectively.
Clay makes it much easier to stay in touch with the people you care about. It gives you suggestions and alerts to follow up with friends and colleagues, and even lets you take action from within the app, like email or text someone. Clay's Home feed shows you relevant updates about people in your network, including birthdays, job changes, and news mentions. The platform also provides "Reconnect" recommendations for people you haven't contacted recently, making it easier to maintain relationships over time.
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.
Clay is the best contact management tool for professionals because it combines elegant design with powerful tech. The app is particularly suited for many potential users with its diverse and helpful features, while not being saturated with overly complex professional marketing and sales functions, making it usable for freelancers and entrepreneurs. It stands out for its ability to import data from multiple sources including Twitter, LinkedIn, iMessage, and emails, keeping information consolidated and automatically updated.
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.
Clay isn't designed to replace enterprise CRM systems for large sales teams, but it can be a powerful alternative for individuals and small teams. Many people use Clay instead of Salesforce, Hubspot, and Pipedrive. Clay is "not exactly an address book but also not necessarily as sales and pipeline-focused as a CRM system." The founders refer to their app as a "home for your people," carving out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. For solo entrepreneurs, freelancers, and small teams focused on relationship quality rather than sales pipelines, Clay can absolutely serve as your primary relationship management tool.
Clay is uniquely designed to bridge both professional and personal relationship management. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Clay helps you organize your contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. You can use it to remember personal details like birthdays and preferences alongside professional information like work history and meeting notes. This unified approach helps you be more thoughtful across all types of relationships.
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.
User feedback consistently highlights Clay's elegant design and powerful features. Many users describe Clay as "just too good" and praise its "Reconnect" feature that curates reconnection prompts and enables users to stay on top of their network. Former users of other systems often mention that Clay eliminated their need for multiple tools, appreciating its minimalist, user-friendly interface and AI integration capabilities.