How one Minneapolis resident turned her desire for friendship into a social media community 

On a fresh evening in downtown Minneapolis colorfully clothed women donning pearl headbands and flowery claw clips sat alongside colorful umbrellas in an alleyway near Target Center It was a DIY charm-making event at Tropico Sweets and Bar hosted by the women s social public She s Invited Music was playing but it could barely be heard over the endless chatter of women either maintaining connections or hoping to make new ones Despite struggling to make friends She s Invited founder Frida Torres Macal understood the importance of having them and craved a group of girlfriends for memorable hangouts Her background as founder of social media marketing company That Social Invite meant that she was primed to make it happen She attended paint and sips and clothing swaps feeling like these events were lacking something consistency So she created She s Invited a population of women in their s and early s that connect monthly at events planned by Macal She s Invited celebrated its one-year anniversary in March of A investigation cited by the U S Surgeon General in says that only of adults in the U S reported that they felt very connected to others Often people s first longtime friends are a product of forced proximity that they have to maintain as they get older Maintaining this proximity gets harder as options for hangouts and engagements seem to shrink with age If you don t go clubbing every weekend it s gonna be harder to meet people and you know it s not like high school where you see a ton of different people every day event attendee Madison Moeller explained Macal took almost six years to overcome the intricacies of making connections in a new city It s an issue she s heard about from other women as well I have heard from other girls where they just moved here for a job or they re out of college and they don t have the same friends anymore And they re looking for friendships Macal disclosed Sisters Michayla Thielen left and Hanna Thielen middle make bag charms at a She s Invited event near Tropico Sweets and Bar in downtown Minneapolis on July Credit MinnPost photo by Kabedi Mutamba Eight percent of Americans say they have no close friends according to a Pew Research Assessment distributed in That may seem small but that is approximately million Americans who don t have non-family members in their encouragement groups Robustness organizations including the Mayo Clinic and the American Psychological Association have stated that a lack of friendship can have an impact on one s mental and physical wellbeing Although She s Invited events are majority commonly attended by a narrow demographic of women in their s and s the events foster a diverse surroundings for both newcomers to Minneapolis and long-time residents For Fathima Mohamed who s been to five She s Invited events it s a celebration of girlhood that exposes her to a range of people I think like especially as an adult it s harder to make friendships and things like this help you tap into that and just explore different personalities and cultures and there s beauty in that Mohamed reported The variety of women attending She s Invited events could be attributed to the region s social media where Macal uses her expertise to craft a plethora of posts All of the attendees interviewed for this article stated that they revealed She s Invited through social media and most of commonly through Instagram which is She s Invited s majority of followed account The first She s Invited event was inspired by Macal s mother who has an interior design business and creates different types of home decor Macal needed to start with an activity that she was reassured with and decided on a candle painting event in the society room of her apartment with about girls Now She s Invited events often sell out and Macal has businesses reaching out to host these sought after events with a focus on women-owned or co-owned businesses Last Thursday s partnership was a collaboration between her and a friend who does social media for Tropico So it s like a win-win commented Diana Angulo Tropico s social media person Frida gets more society on the spot and I m gonna make content for them for Frida and for Tropico In addition to its business benefits She s Invited offers a safe space geared toward women looking to make friends and fits into general trends in American friendships Pew Research also mentioned in their friendship examination that of U S Adult women say that all or most of of their close friends are the same gender as them A scant event attendees mentioned how She s Invited provides a sense of prevention Dozens of women gather for a She s Invited charm-making event near Tropico Sweets and Bar in downtown Minneapolis on July Credit MinnPost photo by Kabedi Mutamba Having a women-only event it feels a lot more calm to put yourself out there and be vulnerable event attendee Michayla Thielen stated I don t know if it was I think men and women I would hesitate a little more or I d want to go with a friend The idea of creating communities and clubs centered around socialization is centuries old but what these communities and clubs look like is evolving and they now exist for nearly everyone including elites college graduates fitness enthusiasts and any young woman looking to make close connections in a big city There s a lot of social clubs in Minneapolis but I m trying to scope out the best one and this one is a really fun one Thielen explained Kabedi Mutamba is a reporting intern with MinnPost The post How one Minneapolis resident turned her desire for friendship into a social media area appeared first on MinnPost