Our Story
How R3SET
How R3SET
Began.
From arts and creativity to a cooperative ecosystem — a journey driven by one belief: communities already have what they need to transform.
From arts and creativity to a cooperative ecosystem — a journey driven by one belief: communities already have what they need to transform.
Before there was an agency, a platform, or an ecosystem — there was this.
The Beginning
R3SET began with a simple idea: helping communities and artists collaborate. John and Devin saw that creative expression was a powerful — and underutilized — tool for community transformation.
EQUAROX
EQUAROX combined arts, community development, and celebration into a single event — proving that joy and purpose aren't opposites. They're allies. This became a core R3SET principle.
The R3SET
The team began exploring design thinking, crowdfunding, blockchain, and cooperative business structures — searching for better ways to organize community resources and power.
Holyoke
Working in Holyoke revealed something transformative: when communities share their stories, they shift their own beliefs about what's possible. This insight became the foundation for SP3AK EASY.
The Berkshires
In the Berkshires, all the pieces came together. R3SET combined everything they'd learned into their first true ID3A Jam — a facilitated design-thinking process that would become their signature method.
SP3AK EASY Studio
SP3AK EASY launched to help communities share their stories. The team piloted "That Berkshire Podcast" with 1Berkshire — proving that narrative tools could scale community engagement.
2019
R3SET helped launch the Berkshire Black Economic Council and built their first website — deepening the commitment to equity and community-directed economic development.
2019
The partnership with Blackshires Foundation became a cornerstone — launching the SUCC3SS Platform pilot, the Inclusive Leadership Cohort, and a model for cooperative nonprofit collaboration.
2020
When COVID hit, R3SET reorganized a 120+ person SUCC3SS ID3A Jam into 6 virtual sessions. They launched an online entrepreneur support group and partnered with EforAll to support 60+ local businesses. The method didn't just survive — it evolved.
2023
Same Sky ID3A Jam, Roots Rising Youth Farm, the W.E.B. Du Bois Sculpture Project, and the Inclusive Leadership Cohort — each engagement building on the last, expanding R3SET's reach and refining the method.
Today
What started with creativity and festivals is now a cooperatively owned ecosystem of technology, services, brands, media, and community — all connected by a shared mission to amplify people's power to transform.
Chief Executive Officer
John saw what communities needed before most institutions did — not more consultants parachuting in with solutions, but infrastructure for self-directed transformation. He leads R3SET with a vision for cooperative economics, community sovereignty, and celebration as strategy.
Chief Innovation Officer
Devin turns bold ideas into working systems. As the architect of R3SET's integrated technology ecosystem, he builds the platforms that connect every product, service, and community — turning the cooperative vision into infrastructure that actually works.
Here's what's on the horizon for R3SET.
R3SET is building something that doesn't exist yet. There are many ways to be part of it.