I'm Anthony Lara, a chef and social psychologist from Colombia, now living in Barcelona. My expertise spans Mediterranean and Colombian cuisine. Beyond the culinary world, I have worked extensively in social psychology, aiding homeless individuals and underprivileged children in Medellin. Fluent in Spanish, English, French, and Catalan, I'm passionate about integrating my diverse skills to advance mental wellness.
Since March 2025, I’ve been working as Assistant Community Builder at Effective Altruism Barcelona. In this role, I support event planning, onboarding new members, and expanding our local impact through partnerships and outreach. I'm especially focused on increasing engagement among underrepresented communities, and on making EA more accessible in Spanish.
Thanks a lot Sam! I’m really glad you wrote that post as it was one of the things that made me feel less alone in thinking about this. And yes, the agency point is something I wanted CBs to actually feel. I do feel there are still some topics to explore furthere here, nevertheless
This resonates a lot, and it’s something I probably should’ve included in the post. The implicit promise of funding is real, and I experienced some version of that myself. Als, the LMIC point which especially feels important and underrepresented in these conversations. Thanks for adding it!
Thanks for this, Sofia. This really helps. The "valuable on the ground but hard to prove" tension has been the story of my (admittedly short) CB career. Eight months in and I was already feeling that friction constantly. How do you show that someone's entire trajectory shifted because of a conversation you had? Or that a community exists because you showed up every week?
I'm glad we wrote this openly. I hope more CBs write openly about this reality. The work matters, but the system around it needs rethinking.
Thanks Guillaume! Honestly, writing it was both hard and weirdly cathartic. The precarity aspect didn't hit me until I was in it... the yearly renewal anxiety, the lack of feedback, the feeling of building things on sand. Less than 50 people globally is crazy! Sometimes I wonder if that's by design or just how things turned out to be.
Really appreciate you taking the time. Means a lot from someone who's been going through this longer. We'll see how the volunteer model works as it's an experiment, really, and hopefully we can share learnings either way.
Wow Tristan, this is impressive! Thank you for taking the time and dedicaiton in organizing all of these resources and frameworks. As someone who's felt often overwhelmed by the sheer amount of info on EA careers, I think this post gives much clarity and saves newcomers (and veterans) a toooon of work. I really appreciate how you broke down the processes and even included some actionable advice. Great job (no pun intended) and thanks again!