Choosing Now

Hey, it’s Kelly here. I lead the marketing at Bitfreighter, marketing is really just the execution of everyone’s ideas, and I’m so dang proud to be the one that holds this brand in my hands. It’s not something I take lightly.

I like writing, I always have. It’s how I’ve processed a lot of my life. Words come a lot easier to me when I can write them out. I wish that wasn’t the case sometimes, I’d love to be on a podcast or a stage one day without wanting to shrink (yes, even shorter than I already am…).

Anyways, I’m not here to talk about me, I’m here to talk about Bitfreighter, and our community. So buckle up!

I started at Bitfreighter in early June, ten weeks later I’m standing in the middle of a room, finding the best photo ops of people in this industry who showed up. Walking in, it felt like worlds colliding. Like I was always meant to be here, in this very moment. Did you feel that way too when you walked in? I hope you did.

Bitfreighter was built as a connection platform. Connection is our core, it’s who we are as people. Standing in that room, I realized this event is a direct reflection of who Bitfreighter is. It’s the same thing we do on our platform, just happening in a room full of people, instead of a screen.

Partners and customers sponsored, but they also spoke. Sharing stories about their lives that otherwise, you would have never known. On the day of golf, some of our own like Jeff Boswell, played the National Anthem on his guitar. He's in a band, and most people probably don't know that until they see it. Matt Wright was on the bongo drums. Hannah, our Director of Customer Success, was the person quietly holding the entire weekend together, the planner and main point of contact for all of it. I had a camera in my hands most of the weekend, which meant I got to do something I love, looking for the moments other people don't stop to notice. Reactions. Faces. The small stuff.

One of those small moments is the one I keep coming back to. I caught a photo of Brandon, our CTO and co-founder and his rockstar wife Amy, watching Brad's speech. The pure joy and pride he had for Brad in that moment, it was so sweet to witness. These two built this company together, and you could see just how deeply they care about each other and about what they've built, all in one tiny moment.

The next day, Brandon got up and spoke about vulnerability, and about the word "try." He talked about how we get the opportunity to keep trying, and how our try, compared to what someone living with ALS has to try to do every single day, is the least that we can do. I don't know anyone personally with ALS. But I know Brad, and I know Allie, so now…this is personal.

I recently read a poem by The Fallen Poet, that's stuck with me ever since, one of those things where you read it once and it just sits in your chest. The whole idea is that we tell ourselves there's always a later. Later we'll have that conversation. Later we'll make the call. Later we'll slow down and actually be present. And most of the time, later just quietly turns into never. Time doesn't pause for later. It keeps moving, it keeps happening, it keeps diagnosing.

This idea of waiting for later, and realizing later may never come along with Brandon Joyce’s words at our event on Monday, August 24, 2026, are really saying the same thing. ALS takes later away from people. It doesn’t ask permission and it doesn’t wait for someone to feel ready. Waiting in a room full of people who mostly have no personal connection to this disease show up anyway, raise their paddles anyway, give anyway, TRY anyway, that’s what it looks like when people choose not to wait for later.

They choose now.

I think this is what I'll carry with me the most. Not just the gratitude, or the joy, or how humbled I felt watching Brandon look at Brad during his speech. It's the reminder that showing up, and trying, and connecting, and giving, none of that is promised to us in some future version of ourselves. It's available right now. This weekend was Bitfreighter choosing now, and I had the privilege to stand with them.

Vulnerability is the coolest community builder.

That’s all for now, if you made it this far, thank you <3

Cheers,

Kelly