Big Friendship

From the hosts of hit podcast CALL YOUR GIRLFRIEND comes the bible on how to keep each other close.

You meet - and there's a spark. You want to know everything about each other. You spill your secrets, you spend all weekend together, you go on holiday. You fight, and it's gut-wrenching. You see each other through the worst times and the best. You know each other better than parents, siblings, lovers. You stay in touch when miles apart. You will always be there.

This is the most important relationship of your life. This is your Big Friendship.

A close, fulfilling friendship is the key to happiness - everyone from Greek philosophers to Instagram influencers will agree. But for all that, we don't talk enough about what it takes to nurture friendships for the long haul.

Telling the story of their own ten-year, complex, loving friendship, Aminatou and Ann share their hard-won wisdom with honesty, hilarity and compassion. They've weathered life-threatening health scares, long-distance living, racial tension, emergency counselling and one unfortunate Thanksgiving dinner eaten in a parking lot. And they know: the most important part of a Big Friendship is making the investment in each other.

This is a bible to treasure and a gift to bestow - an inspiring and entertaining testament to the power of society's most underappreciated relationship, showing how it can survive anything and become a life-affirming bond.

About the Authors

Aminatou Sow is a media personality and entrepreneur. Her work has won awards at the Cannes Lions and the Webbys. She's spoken at various industry events including SXSW and is the founder of Tech LadyMafia, a group that increases visibility and opportunities for women in Tech. She is also a member of the Sundance Institute Director's Advisory Group. Previously, she led Social Impact Marketing at Google, and prior to that, she was the Digital Engagement Director at Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, where she spearheaded powerful, innovative storytelling projects and raised so manydollars for veterans and their families. Forbes has named her one of the 30 under 30 in Tech. Aminatou also hosts On She Goes, a travel podcast for all women of color, and Color Full Lives, a podcast that empowers listeners with the knowledge, tools and motivation they need to increase their financial IQ. She writes for Shondaland & GQ and lives in Brooklyn.

Ann Friedman is a journalist and essayist. She is a contributor to New York magazine's The Cut, a columnist for the Los Angeles Times, and a contributing editor to The Gentlewoman. Her work has appeared in Bookforum, The Guardian, ELLE, The Washington Post, Marie Claire, Glamour, The New York Times Book Review, The Times of London, The New Republic, and more. Every Friday, she sends an email newsletter to 31,000 subscribers, who rely on her for links to the most interesting stuff on the internet. She also makes hand-drawn pie charts that are essentially funny little personal essays presented as data visualizations. Before she became the self-employed CEO of Ladyswagger, Inc., Ann was the executive editor of GOOD magazine and, before that, an editor at The American Prospect. She lives in Los Angeles.