When I was in elementary school, someone was smashing jack-o-lanterns on our street. So I did what any reasonable kid would do: I published a neighborhood newspaper, complete with a tip hotline, quotes from affected families, and homemade trap ideas.

The pumpkin smashers were never caught. But I learned something that stuck — that people want to feel connected, and sometimes you just have to be the one to make that happen.

Here With Friends started the same way: as a small, slightly-too-ambitious idea I made real for me and my girlfriends.

For my birthday, I decided to recreate a very specific feeling I was missing — the girlhood joy of receiving mail from a pen pal. I offered to 22 of my girlfriends who didn't necessarily know each other to anonymously paired them up as pen pals.

No algorithm. No fancy printer. Just real letters between strangers who had one thing in common: a shared ache for something slower, intentional, and intimate.

Some of those pairs are still writing. Some have become actual friends. None of them needed another thing to manage — but they all wanted the chance to share snippets of their inner world with another woman who gets it.

Real mail today is a small act of radical presence and rebellion. And for many of us, it's a portal back to one of the most magical parts of girlhood — pen pals.

I'm a mom of two, and I've spent years helping major brands like Real Simple, Clorox, and Disney figure out how to make people feel something through products and experiences.

Here With Friends isn't like the things I've made for big brands. It's the thing I made for myself that turned out to be exactly what a lot of other women wanted, too.

Welcome. We're glad you found us. You're always in the right place when you're Here With Friends.