A new year is always a good time to reflect on the state of your current relationships. As I considered which past guests could bring the most value to you as you kick off 2024, I immediately thought of Kat Vellos, who specializes in helping people develop meaningful friendships in adulthood. Sometimes it can feel like a dirty little secret in adulthood, “I don’t have many friends.” So, we keep it to ourselves. This Best Of conversation is an invitation to openly and proudly pursue the friendships you have long been craving in 2024. 

Kat Vellos is a trusted expert on the power of cultivating healthy teams and meaningful friendships in adulthood. Formerly a UX designer at Slack, Pandora, and multiple startups, her work today focuses on helping people design belonging into their lives and workplaces. She is the author of We Should Get Together: The Secret to Cultivating Better Friendships. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, TED Talks, Forbes, Real Simple, Communication Arts, SF Design Week, Lesbians Who Tech, and many more.

Listen in to hear Kat share:

• The difference between meeting people and actually making friends
• The 4 reasons it gets harder to make friends as we age
• The specific challenges for moms in making friends
• How our relationships evolve (for better or worse) as our various identities evolve
• The significance of reciprocity in healthy adult friendships
• The important role of curiosity in friendship
• How to maintain strong friendships even when you’re on separate life paths
• Steps to take to invest in a new friendship
• Specific steps we can take to invest in the relationships we want to grow and preserve

Links mentioned:

• Connect with Kat: weshouldgettogether.com
• Get Kat’s Book: We Should Get Together: The Secret to Cultivating Better Friendships
• Kat on IG
• Kat on Twitter

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