Meet FBB social media coordinator Claire Vinyard

 One of the most essential functions of Foundation Beyond Belief is connecting our humanist members to the work of the beneficiaries we support so they can see and feel the impact of their contributions.

The staff member most directly responsible for keeping this connection alive is our tireless social media coordinator Claire Vinyard.

Despite the fact that Claire says she “can’t abide snow,” the Chicagoan headed even further north to attend college in Madison, Wisconsin. Thanks to groups like the Freedom From Religion Foundation and the SSA group on campus, freethought is very strong in Madison, but “to my regret, I never connected with the atheist/humanist scene there,” she says. “Although never religious, I didn’t ‘come out’ until after I had graduated and moved back to Chicago – which also happened to be about the same time our economy collapsed.”

Unable to find work, Claire says she “was eager to at least spend my time doing something worthwhile, which is why I jumped at the opportunity to become the Social Media Coordinator for Foundation Beyond Belief. I could think of no better way to spend my time than supporting an organization dedicated to focusing, encouraging, and demonstrating humanist values.”

Since she began in November 2009, Claire has done brilliant work keeping our social media pipeline buzzing through the Foundation accounts on Twitter, Facebook, and Atheist Nexus.

Despite finding full-time employment and applying to law school, she hopes to continue her work with FBB for a while. “Every day I get to be inspired by stories and news about the amazing work our beneficiaries are doing – the perfect antidote to the often discouraging obstacles we humanists encounter while trying to make the world a better place.”