Oakland host
Daniel Wolfe
@sadbumblebee
For anyone who wants to have dedicated, life-enriching friends, and who wants to be that kind of friend, too.
Author and introvert Kat Vellos tackles the challenge that many of us face: making (and maintaining) friends in adulthood. While our early friendships may have started with a clear beginning sounding something like, “do you want to be my best friend?”, we often do not have such clear markers in our platonic relationships in adulthood. Through her research and stories, Kat shares with us the ways that we can invite and build more dedicated, life-enriching connections into our lives. Even during a pandemic, even when you feel like you may not have time for yourself, Kat’s grounded and heartfelt approach to friendship as a promise deepens existing bonds and expands new ones. Bonus: this works even if you’re introverted! Her immersive experiences include “Connection Club” and “Better than Small Talk” and she’s written two books, We Should Get Together and Connected from Afar.
About the speaker
Kat Vellos is a user experience designer, author, speaker and facilitator whose passion is helping people connect authentically. She’s researched, designed, and advised on the user experience of countless flows in digital products serving millions of people at companies like Slack and Pandora, and created community for hundreds more as a facilitator.
With her debut book, We Should Get Together, she turned her expertise in research and experience design towards helping people cultivate more fulfilling friendships. Her second book, Connected from Afar gives readers six months of weekly activities they can use to feel closer to faraway friends via art projects, conversation starters, journaling prompts and more.
Kat is a prolific speaker who has graced the stages of TEDx, San Francisco Design Week, Design for America, the Transforming Loneliness Summit, Rosenfeld Media’s DesignOps Summit and many more. Her current work includes UX consulting for social wellness products, speaking, and facilitation.
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