After 7 big BFF breakups, now I know why it’s happening to you…

I probably hold the world record for the most female best friend breakups in my life: seven, to be exact. If you’ve ever gone through even one best friend breakup, you know it can be more heartbreaking than a romantic breakup. This pain stems from a deeper, more personal rejection. In romantic relationships, you choose one person, but friendships can include many. Being rejected as a friend, in a context where multiple friendships are possible, feels especially personal and hurtful.

I only ever saw two archetypes for women in media: the mean girl or the unwavering BFF, neither of which I resonated with. For years, I blamed myself, thinking I wasn’t deserving enough to have strong, loyal female friends. Since this kept happening to me, I believed I must be the problem. Yet, I never understood where I went wrong. As Jane Fonda says, “women friendships are very important to your health” and I was completely unwell without them.

After years of therapy, reflection, and talking to close people in my life, I reached a breakthrough and, honestly, a terrible realization about why I might never be good enough for the “dream girl best friend” that every main female character in TV shows seemed to have.

The truth is, I’ve always been very authentic to myself, confident in who I was and who I wanted to be. I credit my parents and the larger community I grew up in for always encouraging me to embrace my true self. But the reality is, most people aren't this lucky. Most are afraid of being seen and unclear about who they should be. And that's not their fault. The world is very unforgiving, and society has been built to discourage authenticity, especially towards women. So as these friends got to know me better and realized that my actions were a true reflection of my inner self, I began to become a constant reminder to them of their own inability to be themselves. They soon became more and more uncomfortable with this constant reminder, to the point where they could no longer be friends with me and people like me. (A TikTok I was recently sent summarizes it well.)

Once I realized this, I became so afraid of making others feel this way that I started to make myself smaller. Over time, I lost my voice, my drive, and felt lonelier than ever before.

If you’re reading this newsletter, you're probably an ambitious woman with big dreams who has often felt misunderstood and shunned. Trust me, I get it. On this International Women’s Day, amidst all the “female friendships are the best” posts, I want you to know that your journey is also seen and heard. It does get better. When I stopped allowing other women to enter my life and dim my light, I started attracting the right friends. Ones who were confident in themselves and didn’t need my light to dim for theirs to shine. And those were actually the friends I needed.

_{ENTREPRENEURSHIP & VENTURE CAPITAL}

🛠️ Build Gen She With Me

The next episode of Diary of a Delulu CEO is out, and it’s all about why my cold messages works and how yours can too!

And if you comment on Ep 5 with a 💌 emoji + who your role model is, you will be entered to receive $100 of beauty/wellness products!!! Good luck!

Missed episode 4? Check it out here 😊 

P.S. I just hit 50K followers on IG! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! I know it’s a small achievement in the broader media space but I am still so so grateful and couldn’t have done it without each and every one of you. 🥰

 💰️ Mom, I Am a Rich Man
_{An interview series uncovering the stories and strategies of badass women on a quest to find richness in health and wealth.}

Sophia Dodd (28)
Sophia is a venture capital investor at Touchdown Ventures. She focuses on investing in and working with startups in the consumer and built world segments, supporting their commercial strategy and strategic partnership functions. She is also an active angel investor, advisor, and freelance writer. Sophia graduated from Wake Forest University where she played Division I volleyball.

1. What was your first investment? My first angel investment was last year in Afterwork, a corporate events planning platform founded by Zoya Khan. She is incredible, and I am thrilled to be supporting her.

2. How do you budget your salary for self-development? I set aside about 18% of my monthly paycheck for personal and professional growth goals like angel investment activities, learning and development classes, and even sometimes golf lessons.

3. Best money advice you’ve ever received? “While making money was good, having meaningful work and meaningful relationships was far better. To me, meaningful work is being on a mission I become engrossed in, and meaningful relationships are those I have with people I care deeply about and who care deeply about me. Think about it: It’s senseless to have making money as your goal as money has no intrinsic value—its value comes from what it can buy, and it can’t buy everything. It’s smarter to start with what you really want, which are your real goals, and then work back to what you need to attain them. Money will be one of the things you need, but it’s not the only one and certainly not the most important one once you get past having the amount you need to get what you really want." Ray Dalio, Principles: Life and Work

4. What’s one non-negotiable for your mental health? Daily movement. Challenging my body physically allows me to build repeated confidence that I can withstand and overcome stress, setting me up for success in the face of future adversity.

🤝 Invest With Me
_{Turns out you don’t need to be crazy rich to own a piece of the trillions of dollars that flow through the tech industry every year! Wefunder is a platform that allows anyone to invest as little as $100 into startups, and each week, I’ll be sharing one company that I’m investing in with you!}

FYR is a live-fire culinary consumer brand.

✨ Founded by 18 mega-influencers in the culinary space with a combined reach of over 40M followers (such as Allie D'Andrea)

✨ Proven omni-channel sales & marketing strategy to spread the brand like wildfire (e.g., FYR Hot Sauce sold out in a few short days)

Podcast Rewinds ⏪️ 

“A rising tide lifts all boats.” John F Kennedy

@gen.she

Can anyone really disagree with this? We don't. 😊 @alexschudy joins The Gen She Podcast to decode the competitive nature of college and th... See more

Alex Schudy from “The Gen She Podcast: From Kansas to Silicon Valley”

Before becoming the successful product marketer she is today, Alex honed her skills and expertise through valuable experiences at Poshmark, DoorDash, and POPSUGAR. Today Alex helps her community of 112k thrive in their careers, uplifting women everywhere she goes.

Alex was my very first podcast episode on “The Gen She Podcast!”
Binge Season 1 today and get ready for new beginnings… 👀 🤭 

_{RESOURCES + JOBS}

Don’t miss these 👀

^CAREER

💵 Get up to 80% of your IronHack bootcamp tuition covered by Gen She and break into a career in tech in just weeks! Apply here before spots run out.

💰️ Victoria Secret is awarding 10 people $25,000 to fund their ideas that help strengthen the community or promote positive mental health. I’ll be applying, and you should, too!

🌀 Here’s why you HAVE to be delusional first before being successful.

📚️ I read a ton of books, many of which I discover through my friend Alex's newsletter. If you’re a reader (or want to build the habit), check it out here.

🤝 Looking to break into venture capital, build your network, and get equity in startups without spending your own money? Apply to be a Gen She VC Scout! Applications are rolling in, and decisions will be announced in March.

^WELLNESS

👩‍💻 According to HBR, we are misdiagnosing women with "imposter syndrome." Read more here.

🌟 How do you find your purpose? This might be the answer, and it’s not what you think…

🤸‍♀️ The core of mental health is flexibility. Are you adaptable? Listen to this podcast episode with Jay Shetty and Dr. Ramani for more.

What’s new on our job board 🔥

1️⃣ Principle Investor @ Studio Management

2️⃣ Chief People Officer @ Studio Management

3️⃣  Retail & Operations Internship @ BEHAVE

4️⃣  pHD, Machine Learning Engineering Intern @ Stripe

5️⃣ Social Listening Intern @ Chime

6️⃣   Director, Product Marketing @ DataGrail

… and more! 😉

❤️ Avni, Founder @ Gen She // Sponsor this newsletter