Looking for A New Bestie? Swipe Right.
Remember college? Group study sessions, late night pizza runs with roommates, and endless opportunities to make and build friendships. Then comes graduation and everything changed.
Suddenly your friends’ lives are moving in different directions. Friends move to different cities, get married, start families, or focus on career building. With all this life happening you might start to feel alone and in need of companionship. Enter Hey! Vina an app specifically designed for women looking for other women to build friendships (FYI:Vina is Scottish for friend or beloved).
Founded by Olivia June Poole and Jen Aprahamian, who previously worked together at General Assembly. The founders started building the app Hey! VINA because they often moved and traveled for work and wanted a better way to meet new girlfriends in the area. Its mission is to build “global communities of women who make each other feel supported, inspired, free, and above all else, happy.”
Her Agenda was able to speak with Hey! Vina co-founder Olivia Poole. She shares with us how Vina can fill the void of understanding and support and can open your social life to a world of new experiences.
Hey! Vina Founders: Olivia Poole & Jen Aprahamian
Her Agenda: What areas is Vina currently available? Where are you hoping to expand?
Olivia Poole: We currently have a subset of users active in SF, NYC, and LA, and we’ll be expanding to other areas soon based on signup growth. So, if you spread the word in your area, we’ll get there sooner!
Her Agenda: Have there been any success stories for Vina thus far?
Olivia Poole: Yes! There was an article in The Guardian where a journalist chronicled her experience in meeting a new friend on Hey! VINA, and I received a few great emails about budding new besties! It makes me absolutely giddy to hear that we’re already improving people’s lives!
Her Agenda: Do you believe this app appeals to millennials?
Olivia Poole: We designed this app with millennials specifically in mind as we’re naturally open to meeting people using technology and are going through some of those first major life transitions that demand new friends– moving after college for the first (or second or third!) time, changing jobs more often, shifting relationships, getting married, and having kids.
Her Agenda: What would you say to women who may be hesitant to try Vina?
Olivia Poole: There literally isn’t a valid reason not to give it a try! We’re so far beyond the whole “meeting people online is weird” sentiment, it’s 2016 and it’s time to own your destiny and put yourself out there — and you know everyone on the platform is interested in making new friends, too! The worst that could happen is that you have a semi-awkward coffee date with a perfectly nice woman who you just don’t mesh with. The best of outcomes is that you meet your new bff/business partner/bridesmaid/traveling partner/etc. who could pass up that opportunity.
