How Covina Conjures People Magic with Mighty

“We're close to being a seven-figure network”

Cyndi Brannen

Founder

The Latin and Anglo-Norman origins of the word “coven” translate to “a gathering” or “coming together for a shared purpose.” When Cyndi Brannen took a one-year leave from her full-time job as a psychologist to start a new chapter, she knew whatever she did, it would stay true to the spirit of that word. As a side interest, she started a Facebook group that connected her background in women’s and community psychology with her interest in witchcraft and natural magic, and she met many others at what she calls “the crossroads between modern life and the deeper spiritual world.” But she also found her path forward.

“The way I practice and teach, it’s about personal inquiry, creativity, and connection,” Cyndi says. “Even in this day and age where witchcraft has become much more mainstreamed, people will still say, ‘Oh, the goddess Hecate and witchcraft, that’s so weird and scary.’ But for me, this is a way to understand ourselves better.”

Cyndi wanted to take her followers beyond Facebook, but eight years ago, there weren’t so many options. She tried teaching her courses with Google Classroom for a while, but it wasn’t built for what she wanted to create. Then, she stumbled onto a burgeoning, community-focused software company called Mighty Networks and decided to give it a try. That was six years ago, and she hasn’t looked back.

“Mighty Networks and Covina have grown up together,” Cyndi says. “When we first started, there weren’t even chats yet. But Mighty has done so many things over the years to facilitate community, which can be such a challenge in a digital space. Whether you come from Substack or Patreon, people are used to just receiving the content of the host. But we call ourselves a coven, and that sense of community is so important. I love Mighty’s new features for that.”

Since Cyndi has been with Mighty Networks for so long, she’s seen it all — especially how features have evolved to meet the needs of Hosts and their communities. She’s also loved how she can customize those tools in ways that make sense for her members. Recently, she’s seen huge success with the Values feature, which allows hosts to define five different values of their community, and, in turn, members can recognitize each other for embodying those qualities.

“They put a lot of thought into it,” Cyndi says. “When I saw that, I was like, ‘Oh, that's so cool. What can we do with that?’ Then, I came up with the idea that we could do different herbs for values every month so, for example, you get lavender for caring or mugwort if you’re magical.”

Since she introduced Convina’s herbal version of Values, Cyndi has seen the rate of private chat messages between members jump 265%. And with Mighty’s automation capabilities, that huge win has come with much less effort.

After supervising 30 people in her previous full-time job, the last thing Cyndi wanted to do was manage another large team to keep her business buzzing. It’s taken time, but she and her co-host have found a balance that keeps Covina small enough to host on their own while allowing them the financial growth they need to stay focused full-time on their members.

“I want to do this for the long haul,” Cyndi says. “We found over the years that, because we do live in a world where money has a lot of value, if people are paying for something, they will be more serious about participating. To create a safe and supportive experience in a community that's led in a professional, mature way, it costs money to have that available.”

When she first started, Covina’s membership cost $14 a month, but since then, Cyndi has cultivated an offering she can be even more confident in. Now she offers two different plans for Covina members: a basic plan at $69 a month and an advanced one for $99 (as well as sliding scale plans for those who qualify). And although she could accept many more, she caps the maximum number of members at 850. That surplus interest often comes from the occasional free events Covina hosts to give people a low-stakes way to experience being a part of the community.

“I think a lot of people would say don’t limit the number of members,” she says. “But Christen and I are having enriching experiences and a lot of fun with it ourselves as opposed to just being in an administrative role instead of this hands-on educator role.”

After six years of building Covina’s home on Mighty Networks, Cyndi says the biggest lesson she’s learned in creating people magic has been prioritizing quality over quantity. And it’s one she hopes will inspire other people to start their own community and share what they love, too.

“I learned that offering too many things at first is not a good idea,” she says. “People don't need more new content constantly thrown at them. Our mission is to bring people deeper into what we’re already offering them. Find your lane, own your lane, and make it rich.”