Chris Messina and Tara Hunt not only co-founded social media agency Citizen Agency and helped start the coworking movement, they also shared a very public romantic relationship for more than two years, until they had an equally public break-up (Chris and Tara).
Berniece Yeung explores their relationship in San Fransisco Magazine — “So Open It Hurts” —
In a world not known for its epic romances, ChrisandTara used to be Web 2.0’s version of Brangelina. They lived together, worked at adjoining desks, finished each other’s sentences, guided each other’s dreams. Personality-wise, they were yin meets yang meets a whole lot of Venus and Mars. But in many other ways, they were two pieces of the same puzzle. Ultimately, the core tenet of open-source culture is that the sum is exponentially greater than the disparate parts—and the same could be said of Hunt and Messina’s union. In both work and love, they pushed each other to thrust the ideals of open source, including transparency and collaboration, into real life. In just two years, through the coworking movement and myriad other projects, the ripple effects of their partnership could be seen around the globe.