When trying to understand Neo4j, the author was out of their skill set and couldn't find anyone willing to learn it. However, after four years of attending meetups and a career change, they met Jason Cox at a civic hackathon and together they started learning about Neo4j. The author then met Karin Wolok, Neo4j's Community Development Manager, who inspired them to start the first Philadelphia Neo4j and GraphDB Meetup. With Karin's guidance, the meetup group was formed and their first event was successful, with 30+ attendees. Since then, they've had 16 more meetups, refining their skills in communicating interests and building a community of graph database enthusiasts. They now host regular meetups with live demos using Neo4j's online sandbox or desktop app, aiming to make the technology accessible to everyone.