Becky Pierson Davidson Builds Better Memberships From the Inside Out

For more than five years, Becky Pierson Davidson worked as a UX designer and product strategist at a consulting firm, where she touched more than 100 products across healthcare, fintech, aviation, media, and beyond. From early-stage startups to Fortune 500 companies, each product sharpened her ability to think in systems, move quickly across industries, and build digital experiences that actually work for the people using them.

Along the way, Becky developed a growing fascination with education-driven memberships. She began teaching at General Assembly, joined Section School and Creator Science’s The Lab, and immersed herself in the world of community-led learning. The more she studied the space, the more clearly she saw what was possible when community products were designed with real intention.

That curiosity eventually led Becky to leave tech and step into a new role as Head of Product at Bossbabe, overseeing memberships and programs for a media brand with four million followers. But as she got closer to the members themselves, she noticed a major gap in the industry: many brands were overinvesting in marketing while underinvesting in the actual member experience, pouring energy into growing their audiences without bringing the same level of rigor to the products, programs, and communities those audiences were joining.

After a year at Bossbabe, Becky decided to bring the product strategy discipline she’d built in tech to the membership space she had fallen in love with. Today, Affinity Collective is the digital product partner behind some of the fastest-growing memberships and community businesses. As the company’s founder, Becky designs, builds, and scales the kinds of community products that don’t just attract members, but create the kind of belonging, momentum, and transformation that keep them coming back.

She shares more about her journey and passion in this Q&A. 

In what ways have your upbringing or past experiences contributed to how you operate as an entrepreneur?

I have delusional levels of self-belief—and I mean that as a compliment to my parents. They raised me to believe I could do anything I set my mind to, but they were equally clear that belief without work is just wishful thinking. If, for example, I wanted to be a great piano player, I had to practice between lessons. That combination of audacity and follow-through is something I try to bring to every client engagement, partnership, and marketing strategy.

Growing up as the youngest of six also shaped me in ways I'm still unpacking. Watching all five of my older siblings build successful careers and businesses gave me a living library of what it looks like to bet on yourself. It normalized asking for what you want and going after what feels impossible. That was just what people in my family did.

What were the most difficult and most impactful lessons you’ve learned since starting and running a company?

They say entrepreneurship is the most intense personal development journey you can go on. I didn't fully understand it until a year into running my business, when I barely recognized myself. The stress of building something from scratch layered with personal loss left me inflamed, dealing with chronic bronchitis, gaining weight, and running on empty.

I had to make a choice to treat my health with the same strategic intention I bring to my work. What came out of that 18-month journey was a conviction I now carry into everything: you cannot build sustainably from a depleted state. Health and nervous system regulation aren't soft topics. They are directly tied to your capacity for revenue, growth, and longevity. The most ambitious thing I did for my business was decide to take care of myself first.

What have you learned about building a team and a support network around yourself?

There's a reason I decided to focus my work on community building. I genuinely believe there is nothing more important in life. But I've also had to live that belief internally, not just professionally.

My business has grown because I've been honest about what I'm good at and what I'm not. I stay in my zone of genius: strategy, research, and vision. My team owns execution and follow-through, and they are exceptional at it. Building a business means building around your gaps, not pretending they don't exist. Beyond the team, it's the wider community that has carried me through the hard seasons. You can have all the audacity in the world—and I do—but none of it compounds without the right people around you.

What is your approach to incorporating social or environmental impact as part of your company’s culture and mission? How has this contributed to innovation, your team, and bottom line?

I could have kept building any kind of tech, but I made a deliberate choice to focus on human connection because I believe businesses built on community are the future. It’s not about a trend, but a fundamental shift in how the best brands will retain and serve the people they care about most. The businesses that put community at the center of what they do are genuinely making the world better. They're helping people with personal development journeys, with reaching their goals, and with living their most successful and fulfilling lives. That's the kind of impact I wanted my work to contribute to.

What we're doing at Affinity is bringing real product-strategy methodology into a space that has never had it: member journey design, success metric tracking, and community product innovation. The difference between us and the typical community consultant is that we treat your membership like a product because it is one. The result isn't just better retention numbers; it’s members who actually reach their goals and grow.

What would you tell your younger self if you were to start your entrepreneurial journey all over again?

For a long time, I felt lost. I studied architecture, hated working in the industry, and pivoted into tech, where I proceeded to try nearly every role inside a consulting firm before finding my footing. I moved all over the country. I just kept following the next interesting thing. What I know now is that every detour added something. None of it was random, even when it felt that way. 

Here’s what I’d tell my younger self: stop trying to find the right path and just follow your curiosity. The breadcrumbs always lead somewhere. It just rarely looks like what you imagined when you were 18 and making decisions that felt permanent.

What’s next for you and your career?

I'm expecting my first baby, which feels like the most exciting and humbling thing I've ever said out loud. I'm growing my podcast, Build With Becky, and I'm deep in research and observation for a keynote I'm building for next year. I think it will say something the community space really needs to hear.

At Affinity, we're stepping into work with bigger brands, and that expansion feels right on time. We're living through a bizarre and electric moment. Tech is evolving at lightning speed, and rather than feeling threatened by that, it's fueling my fire. The businesses that invest in genuine human connection right now are going to win. We're just getting started helping them do it.