The freelance revolution has an identity problem, resulting from spectacular growth. Over the past decade or so, starting with pioneers like Elance and oDesk (merged to create Upwork), we’ve seen – and I’ve described in my book Agile Talent – the emergence of freelancing as an accepted alternative career path, supported by the proliferation of digital talent marketplaces or, freelance platforms. And they are growing, innovating, differentiating, and diversifying at a fast clip. Smart observers like John Healy of Kelly OGC and John Winsor of Open Assembly have estimated the number above several hundred.

We’re living in the gray right now. That’s not a good thing if you’re a business which has always relied on the black and white. We Are Rosie, a remote network of 4,000 marketing pros swooping in to power agencies and brands, thrives in the gray, and specializes in rainbow — enhancing a company’s spectrum for success with greater diversity of talent. Traditionalists scoffed at this fantastical freelance model when it was launched two years ago by Stephanie Nadi Olson. But now, as COVID-19’s inferno tears through adland, it’s become very apparent that We Are Rosie’s unfaltering formula stands like a fortress amid the flames. And there’s a line of wounded marketers knocking at the door to get in.

We Are Rosie’s Stephanie Nadi Olson built a business with diversity, inclusion, and life balance in mind. As COVID-19 has changed everything about work, hers is the model to follow.

Right now everyone feels ‘different,’ and in the era of COVID, we are all working in the context of neurodiversity.

A virtual summit for freelancers to learn wtf is going on in the advertising industry rn and in the future featuring Stephanie Nadi Olson as the Keynote Speaker. A palette group production.

Brian talks with Stephanie Nadi Olson, the founder of We Are Rosie which has grown from a start-up to over 4,OOO people in two years. They discuss flexible talent strategy, modern working arrangements, and treating people with dignity.

Over twenty two million Americans lost their jobs in a little less than a month due to COVID 19. It took the Great Depression more than four years to achieve an equivalent level of unemployment.

Creative tech platforms like Tongal, Communo, and Mofilm and networks like We Are Rosie that help freelancers get commercial work are booming as brands look to fill their need for new campaigns.

Welcome to the fourth report in my Forbes series: the freelance revolution during the pandemic. The big news: we’ve begun to see light at the end of the COVID 19 tunnel. China reported no new cases, a first! Cases in New York City, where I live, are slowly receding. Nations around the world are providing critical financial support to companies, employees and freelancers; this morning there were reports that the US Congress is supporting additional financial stimulus. The news optimistically reported progress in other countries as well: Austria and the Czech Republic will begin to allow some stores to reopen, and Denmark may soon reopen schools.