I’m kinda digging these introductions to the dopest people in my life episodes…like last week with my co-founder Heather and this week with my best friend Kendall Forward. When I moved to Austin during COVID (over 1.5 years ago now) I posted a podcast interview with Dr. Brooks about how hard making girlfriends is. Moving to Austin from LA was a culture shock for me, as everyone here is crazy nice and people in LA are definitely not as inviting/ kind. I’m from the East Coast originally, so I can go both ways. Though being kind is SO important, there’s definitely an edge I notice people from the East Coast have that people in places like Texas and California don’t. There’s a natural grit and resilience that comes from growing up on the East Coast, which I attribute to the lifestyle and the weather changes. Anyone I know who grew up in sun is happy more often than people who grew up in snow, rain and cold!

Kendall and I met through our mutual friend Craig, who I met through Be Fearless Summit because his company sponsors many Be Fearless Summit’s. When Kendall and I met, we went out a few times and then she left to go back home because she hadn’t fully moved to Austin yet. At this point I was in a relationship so naturally making new friends wasn’t my biggest priority, but when she moved to Austin in August we connected again instantly and became so close. I’ve always been someone whose incredibly independent and likes being alone, so I’ve never found myself feeling suffered with a guy I’m dating because I never date anyone whose not on that same level of independence as I am. I’ve seen many girls get in committed relationships and stop hanging out with their friends or making new friends – there’s a fine line between not going out at all anymore because you’re in a relationship and staying in touch with people but spending more quality time with your significant other.

Don’t be the person who gets in a relationship and forgets who you are. That’s never healthy and when you come up for a breath of air if the relationship goes south, your girlfriends may have moved on with their lives because you dropped out of them.

Excited for you to hear this episode with Kendall and if you’re based in Austin, please reach out to me as we’re working on hosting more networking/girl groups in this remarkable city!