Where Stories Come to Life: Scott Bakken

I've been looking forward to meeting Scott for a long time. I remember finding his work years and years ago on Instagram, and to me he was the guy. Getting the chance to talk to a creative that remapped the community in the city was super exciting.

We did this interview back in February, with no idea that House 831 would be coming so soon. Now we're working together everyday, making great things happening in the House. House 831's previous iteration was Socality House - pictured here.  House 831 continues the same vision of building a community for magical opportunities and ideas.

Socality is an online platform to connect creatives to one another. They work through dope events, masterclasses, a membership program, and much more all around the world.

Keep up with House 831 on Instagram, LinkedIn, and our website

Who is Scott Bakken?

My name is Scott Bakken. I am a father and husband. I’m a content creator out here in Calgary, Alberta. I have a social media platform, @scottcbakken, where I post my travel and lifestyle content. I started a creative community called Socality.

Why the camera? What does photography mean for you?

For me, it’s always been a connection point. I know for some people it’s about what they capture, but for me, it’s about who it connects me to. When I was taking photos of Alberta, I started to connect with other artists on Instagram. I saw really quickly that like was attracting like, and it was about connecting with other people in other communities. That’s what brought Socality came into my mind, which was about connecting people online, and bringing them face to face.

We launched in 2014, we were one of the first to market that brought people into a like-minded community on an app within an app.

What kind of reaction were y’all met with? Being some of the first, if not the first, to bring up a community in a new space.

We disrupted the space. Some people didn’t like it, but for the most part, we had a ton of positive feedback, people were so excited to connect with a community.

What is it about the Socality that has held the community together?

We’ve thought about that too since we just celebrated our 10 years. Community is hard dude, we’ve seen people fall out of the space. It’s not a huge ROI product. Now we have our membership product, but I think it endures because you believe in the vision, and the value of community, and that you’ll win over time through relationships and opportunity. The greatest thing we provide is connection. We’ve seen people come together through connection; we’ve seen the opportunity. And slowly over time, people who didn’t believe in us at first, now do.

One thing I’ve noticed about Calgary is as soon as you get plugged in with a good community, things seem to instantly take off. I spent a lot of time on my own, as a product of moving around a ton. Once I started talking to more people in the creative community, in school, and for work, my quality of work and life instantly improved.

It is who you know, in a good way. If you know the right people, they're gonna bring in the opportunities. One of the best ways to scale and grow a business is to just get connected with the right people. Socality has been a great way to meet people in a free and safe space. And I think being a safe space I think is important too because some of these places are intimidating, you know? Socality is a real safe space to find people.

Like attracts like. You walk on the street and see someone wearing a certain pair of jeans or hat you recognize, and you instantly know that you have five things in common with that person. The same thing is true with photography or art. You can identify at a human level when you can see the art.

How did y’all get here? To Calgary, to this space?

The idea was to be a website, events that brought people together, and a social media platform. When I launched it, it just had an electric response. We had 75 countries on the database and 10,000 followers on day one. We just grew, it was organic. It was getting out there, doing events. We went to LA, San Francisco, Oregon, New York. We were just posting creative stuff and people were coming out of the woodwork. Meeting people, shaking hands, and introducing ourselves. We did this for years and years all just on goodwill. Over time, people came to us. B&H Photo reached out; Canon reached out. Once this started happening, we started to get our wings and fly because we had some money behind it.

Then a friend came to me and said, “What would Socality look like if it was a space?”. We were decentralized at the time. We really thought about what a space look would like where you bring people together. Socality was the idea of creating a space where people can connect and create in a natural way with brick and mortar.

What have you seen come out of the power of this community?

We've seen businesses launched. One of our friends has a business called Sackcloth & Ashes, which he launched through Socality. Now it's a full-on blanket business, it’s a buy one give one model, for the homeless. He’s done really well. We’ve had filmmakers come through this. We've had people with no social following come and connect with the right creators and before you know it, they're blowing up. We've had small businesses be platformed. We've had couples fall in love and get married and have kids. You name it.

When people gather and connect and they start talking and dreaming, things happen, right? That's one of our core things, which is bringing people together and watching what happens.

You’re growing up, you’re figuring life out, what was it that made you feel like you could or should do this?

Out of high school, I always loved the creative things. I did a lot of music through the church for years. Then I met my wife, got married and we moved to Australia for 6 years. I was involved in a big church over there, and through that, I got to be part of the greater Australian community, which is really exciting. Hillsong, the church, is a big, robust, dynamic megachurch that runs top-tier events. I learned a lot about events through them.

When I came back to Canada, I had gotten my hands in some other things with a friend running some marketing events, and where I had just taken all my experience from events and bringing people together using social media and marketing experience that I learned honesty through osmosis. and then put it into Socality. I just took all that I learned through life and turned it into something. Just taking my own life experience, my passions, and my personal need for community connection.

What do you think the power of community is in its ability to help people out of their valleys, their mental health, and their struggles?

It helps, it’s not all the answers, but you get different perspectives. Sometimes when you get in your head, and you verbalize it to other people, they're able to shine a light on the truth’s or they can be affirming or help you to see things from a different perspective. When you’re verbalizing something, you realize you don't even mean everything you say, and sometimes after you think “Well actually that's not actually how I feel”, but it just helped process it.

Also, the community helps lift you out of those hard times. And I do think that if people put themselves around a good community, which means people who love you, accept you, and help push you to be better. Good community to me looks like your best interest, challenging mindsets, pushing you, suggesting good books to read or laughing with you, or even just giving you a space to verbally process. Communities stick together. I think it's easy to exit relationships when things get intense, but the more people stick together and work through issues the more it helps.

Do you think people growing up now are missing out on this community? Generally speaking.

We live in a world where our heads are down in our phones. Like the habit of just instantly choosing to distract yourself by hiding in your phone, with that there’s no engaging with humanity. And I think that we've missed out on some hanging out and laughing, telling stories, learning about each other.

I think trying to find a balance between the phone and real-life humanity has been more of a challenge nowadays. I remember my mom always having people over for coffee, that part of coffee was always on, and someone would come over and they talked for hours. Like when's the last time you some way over to someone's house to just drink coffee? Now it’s more like you meet someone at a coffee shop for 45 minutes then you leave.

You must’ve recognized this early on, as you used the phone and the apps to bring people back into the physical.

I wanted to turn it into a real community right away. As soon as I saw the engagement online, I was like “How do you take what's on the phone, celebrate it, but then turn it into a face-to-face encounter?” I remember thinking “You all want to be here where I am, so come here. Let's create this moment together.” The device is a connection tool but let's bring it to life

What are you proud of?

That's a good question. I’m proud of my family, I'm proud that we've been able to make a way for ourselves in an unconventional way. I’m proud that in the chaos, we’re working towards and achieving goals. And I'm proud to see young people find community and opportunity through what we've built in. Whenever I see someone access an opportunity to step into their dreams simply because of a plan that I said yes to, I feel like that's something to celebrate. Seeing people able to be present in real life and connect with people, building healthy relationships. People coming through Socality don’t have to have a following, they just have to have a passion.

What have you been reading?

I listen, cause I'm not a very good reader, so I listen to a lot of things. I downloaded this app called Headway which takes books and puts them into little 15-minute notes. A lot about business management, leadership, and challenge. There's a book I'm reading called The Pivot Year, which I really like. There's another book called The Mountain is You I really want to read. Another book, not business-related, but one I’d recommend is The Way Out. It’s a crazy book, but it’s really about the power of the brain and how it works with anxiety and physical pain. It was life-changing.

Is that how you start the day?

Oh no, no. First thing in the morning, kids get up, they cause a ruckus, then we get them ready for school. I have a cup of coffee and just engage with my phone a bit. Then I go to the gym, and that's where I really think. I think the gym is where I get most of my vision and my thoughts. Then I get ready for the day, and I come through Socality House, where I get into my work, usually a meeting or phone call or whatever else work includes. Editing photos, editing reels, working with clients. That’s how my days’ look when I’m in the city.

Do you still get out and take photos much?

Unfortunately, not as much as I’d like. I just don't have as much time. When I do need to go shooting, I’m super focused and it’s for a job which isn't always fun. At first, I was just always shooting and now it's like shooting is part of the whole thing.

What comes next?

We’re focusing 100% on Socality Membership. It's all about digital access to masterminds and community. But then in the execution of that online platform, we translate it into real life; as we grow the membership, we're going to be able to give back to young inspiring creators. It's kind of like a crowdfund you know, you give in, and you get everything the membership offers, but then you also build into other creators at the same time.

I'm also working on a podcast and sharing my work on social media.

What's the latest little knowledge bite that you've been thinking about?

I would say the biggest knowledge tip would be to try to tune in as hard as you can to your true voice and be confident in that. My biggest thing is that the most value that anybody can bring is when they bring their true self to the forefront of whatever their doing.

Thank you Scott.   

Writer and Photographer | Sam Doty