It’s a Thursday evening in London, and instead of heading to the usual after-work drinks or another generic networking event, a group of women have gathered for something more meaningful and instead opted for an intentionally designed space where the sole purpose is genuine connection.
Last week, Yes Gurl teamed up with Huckletree and VAMP UK to host a night dedicated to fun, friendship, and hands-on exploration of their new friendship app. Guests mingled, sipped drinks, explored the app, picked up branded goodies, and most importantly, connected with new faces in real life.
In a world increasingly focused on romantic connection and hustle culture, friendship, especially adult friendship between women, often gets left behind. We’re living in what many are calling a loneliness epidemic.
Feeling lonely? You're not alone.
For women navigating post-uni life, career shifts, moves to new cities, or simply the slow, natural drift of growing older, friendship is no longer the guaranteed support system it once was. Despite being hyper connected online, many women in their twenties quietly feel platonically disconnected. Especially after the pandemic, the weight of loneliness has become more apparent, even if it’s often unspoken.
As women move further into adulthood, friendship often falls through the cracks. While our culture offers plenty of infrastructure to support romantic and work related social needs, from dating apps to co working spaces, there is very little designed to help us maintain or build friendships. Platonic connection is often treated as something we should have already figured out. But adult friendship requires care, effort, and space to grow. This is exactly why Yes Gurl exists.
Born out of a magazine, co-founders Annette Christian and Francesca Mariama launched Yes Gurl but they quickly realised their audience wanted more. The pair recognised a need for community and spaces where women who wanted friends could meet in real life. Through events like speed friending and activity based gatherings such as Pilates and Mingle, they’ve built a space that does exactly that. What started as a publication has grown into a movement, a thriving community that’s reimagining what friendship between women can look like in adulthood, reminding us that we need spaces built intentionally for it. At the heart of it all is the Yes Gurl app, where a new kind of connection begins.
In a world saturated with dating apps, filtered DMs, and swiping fatigue, the idea of a “friendship app” might raise eyebrows. But Yes Gurl’s approach is refreshingly different.
The idea for the app was born from that same spirit of intentionality. Inspired by a personality test that revealed they were each other’s perfect match (enfj + infp) and destined to be friends, Annette and Francesca asked, What if their thirteen year friendship occurred by chance? What if an app could help women find their most compatible friends on purpose?
“Even when I wasn’t talking to anyone, I didn’t feel alone.”
Together, they’ve spent the last year building a friendship app that recommends the people for you intentionally. Based on the works developed by Katharine C. Briggs and Isabel Briggs Myers, they use the 16 personalities framework that can capture your personality quickly and pretty well, so you can find friends you're compatible with. The app uses this personality testing to match users, not based on appearances or superficial traits, but on compatibility. And more importantly, the app is not designed to keep people glued to their phones. As the founders noted, “The point is to move people off the app and into real life.” Yes Gurl’s offline first design is what truly sets it apart. The app encourages in person meetups, and their brand led events, like the one I attended, offer the kind of space where real connections happen.
At the Yes Gurl event, one of the standout elements was the intentional design. From the room layout to thoughtful conversation prompts, everything was created to make coming alone feel not just acceptable, but welcomed. At Yes Gurl they promote coming solo because, as Annette stated, “You shouldn’t have to rely on your friends to make new ones.” Icebreaker cards sparked honest conversations, and the absence of pressure made space for openness. For many, that small detail made all the difference. Attendees described it as a rare experience to be in a room where everyone was there for the same reason. There was a shared understanding that the sole purpose was simply connection.
In what feels like a world full of Carries, Charlottes and Mirandas, it can sometimes feel like you're the only Samantha.
For Yes Gurl, the app and community aren’t about keeping people glued to screens but about guiding women toward meaningful, real world connection. It’s about creating spaces where it feels normal, even empowering, to say, I’m looking for friends. Seeking friendship isn’t embarrassing; it’s human. It’s okay to want new friends. It’s okay to still be looking for your people. And that’s exactly what Yes Gurl is for.
In a world that often assumes adult women are already socially fulfilled, admitting loneliness can feel vulnerable, even shameful. Yes Gurl challenges that narrative, replacing it with one where reaching out is celebrated, not stigmatised.
With their upcoming app launch and thoughtful event programming, Yes Gurl is pointing to a future where friendship isn’t something we stumble into by chance but instead something we can seek with intention, care, and a little help from people who truly get it.
At the end of the night, I watched as women who had arrived solo left in twos and threes, making plans and exchanging numbers. Yes Gurl isn’t trying to “fix” loneliness with a quick fix or flashy feature. They’re building something slower and more sustainable, a new way of being in community, trying to end the loneliness epidemic one download at a time.
Because friendship isn’t just a nice to have; it’s essential. And we all deserve spaces and apps that treat it that way.
