WeDirectory CEO Viola Tavrovsky reflects on the platform’s first year and its mission to help creative work find the audience it deserves.
What has the last year been like at WeDirectory?
2025 was the year that WeDirectory was founded, so it’s been a big year! I’m smiling just thinking about it. Our official launch took place in November, it was a major achievement for the team. I should start off by thanking my co-founders; I am not a sole founder, and WeDirectory could not have come into existence without our group of female founders. We have been operating in the cultural and creative sectors since 2018. The very first event we organised was a group exhibition in Camden back in 2021. We then developed Behind.Art, a marketplace aimed at connecting freelancers with creatives. We have deliberately decided not to charge freelancers because supporting creative professionals has always been at the heart of our activities.
Is there a specific problem that you were trying to solve when you started WeDirectory?
Throughout the years, we came to realise just how fragmented the cultural and creative ecosystem had become. Since artists, designers, studios, galleries, brands, and institutions are spread out across various platforms, it becomes difficult for them to gain visibility, build credibility, and find new opportunities. That is why WeDirectory was created. Our goal is to provide the cultural sector with a digital home, a place where creativity can be discovered, connected and preserved for future generations.
What were the first actions you took in making the idea of WeDirectory a reality?
It began as an experiment in July last year. We were inspired by Netflix and the way it presents each film or series through a simple, visually engaging overview. You immediately see the trailer, description, cast, ratings and everything else you need to understand it. We thought, “Why can’t the creative industry operate in the same way?”
At the same time, we were not interested in creators, brands or institutions having to spend hours setting up their profiles or constantly producing content, as they do on conventional social media platforms. We developed an AI-powered onboarding process to make that easier. Members provide a website or another URL, after which the system examines publicly available data and produces a professional summary in a matter of seconds. The outcome is what we refer to as a W Card, that is, a profile card in the style of Netflix together with a separate page featuring the key information, social media links and other pertinent details.
The response exceeded our expectations. Thousands of people joined the waiting list within the first week, which proved to us that there was an appetite for a simpler way to navigate and showcase the creative industries.
What does the term curation actually signify in an age which is more and more influenced by algorithms?
Almost all online content nowadays is affected by algorithms, but in order for algorithms to function effectively human expertise is needed. This is the reason why each person who joins WeDirectory is still manually curated. Although we would like for AI to help with that process in the future, we do not want it to take the place of the current method.
Although it takes a lot of time, we believe that quality is more important than full automation. Curating is not just about deciding if something is good or bad; it also involves an understanding of the context, the originality, the cultural relevance and the intention behind it. These are judgments that are very human in nature and I consider them to be essential no matter how advanced AI becomes.
Is the internet now less a meritocracy than we tend to believe?
The internet is increasingly mediated by algorithms. Google, social media networks and AI assistants organise an enormous amount of information, but it is much harder for them to assess creativity, originality or cultural value. Algorithms are capable of detecting the technical signals upon which they have been trained to spot. While they can assess structure and optimisation, they are unable to genuinely understand the originality of an idea or its cultural importance. This is especially true of the cultural sector; a great many artists, designers, galleries, fashion brands and creative studios do not have their own marketing or technical teams. Although they may produce excellent work and set up attractive websites, they still tend to be hard to find since their websites have not been optimised for modern search engines and AI systems.
We think that this is unfair. Throughout history, there have been numerous artists who were not given proper recognition when they were alive. We do not want technology to lead to another generation of creators remaining unseen simply because they do not have the means to access technical resources. Well-known names will naturally take up a large portion of online visibility. Our function is to assist in creating more opportunities for up-and-coming creators, brands, and institutions to be found, no matter how small their marketing budgets are.
Do you think it is harder or easier to build a creative career today than it was ten years ago?
In many respects, it is more difficult, especially when you lack technical knowledge. Nine years ago, a basic understanding of SEO would have given you a good chance of being found online. At that time, there was considerably less content vying for attention. Nowadays, since search results are increasingly influenced by AI, the rules are changing once again.
I like to explain it through an analogy. Imagine you ask ChatGPT or Google, “Where can I buy unique, handmade Mexican jewellery in London?”
Think of AI as a hive of bees searching for flowers. The bees are drawn to flowers that are open and accessible. Those flowers represent websites with a structure and technical signals that AI can understand. A beautiful flower might be trapped under a glass dome, like the enchanted rose in Beauty and the Beast. The bees can see it, but they can’t reach it, so they move on to the next flower.
This is the situation facing a large number of creative businesses. Even if the quality of their work is outstanding, they end up being effectively hidden behind a glass wall because their websites are not accessible to current search engines and AI systems. The system then goes on to suggest someone else. Although this is a simplified illustration, it does demonstrate why technical infrastructure has become so important in the way creative work is encountered online.
Has AI changed what it means to stand out creatively?
We are particularly concentrating on the cultural and creative industries, so our approach to these questions is different from that of a global search engine which has to serve every possible sector. We never use AI to take away creativity; instead, we use it to get rid of routine tasks. In the ideal case, the technology should blend into the background so that creativity can then be more clearly seen. It is able to generate professional profiles, detect technical problems using website audits and automate those time-consuming administrative tasks. This in turn gives creators more time to concentrate on their real work. I don’t believe AI will replace culture. It can assist artists, musicians, writers and designers, but it can’t replace human imagination, emotion or intention. People don’t connect with art because it is technically perfect. They connect with its story and with the soul the creator puts into it. The purpose of the technology should be to support that relationship, not to supersede it.
What type of creative work excites you at the moment?
We discover exciting people and projects every day. Some have only a handful of followers, while others are almost completely invisible online. Finding work that has somehow been overlooked reminds us why we built WeDirectory. Every morning, we review submissions wondering, “Where has society missed something really impressive?” That remains the most exciting part of my day.
What criteria do you use for deciding which websites should be included on the platform? How is a really good creative website different from an excellent one?
For us, the concept comes first. Great ideas often arrive before perfect execution. We would much rather support an original project with an average website than a beautifully designed website without a meaningful idea behind it. Our curatorial team has experience in art, design, music, film, fashion and architecture. That range allows us to consider the creative value of a project rather than judging it solely by its presentation. Strong design is always a benefit, but it isn’t enough on its own. Equally, an imperfect website doesn’t mean that the work behind it isn’t exceptional.
Having worked with people ranging from independent creatives to larger cultural organisations, do they all face the same problems or are the difficulties quite different?
Even large brands can struggle to optimise their websites for the AI crawlers now being integrated into major platforms. The scale may be different, but the underlying concern is often the same: how to become more visible and reach the right audience. Creating exceptional work remains the most important thing, but that work also needs a route to discovery. We address this gap by combining technical infrastructure with curation and promotion.
What’s a misconception people still have about visibility?
I think people believe that having a beautiful website means the work will automatically be discovered. It doesn’t. Beautiful content is important, but it doesn’t necessarily conform to the technical systems that increasingly determine what appears in searches and recommendations. Discoverability now depends partly on whether search engines and AI systems can understand, interpret and recommend a person or business. The misconception is that great work will inevitably find its audience. Unfortunately, that isn’t always true.
Technology may shape how we discover culture, but culture will always shape who we are.
