Prolific journalist, author, speaker, and friendship expert, Anna Goldfarb approaches her favorite subject from a place of empathy and experience with rapid-fire, funny, curious, and heartfelt prose as read in numerous articles bearing her byline and, most clearly, in her book Modern Friendship: How to Nurture Our Most Valued Connections.

Anna can strike up and carry on a conversation about pretty much anything from literature and dating to classic emo bands, cultural trends, and video games, but she has become strong voice on the topic of friendship; “As much as I love writing, it isn’t about me; it’s really about my audience” she says. “I’ve reported on friendship and talked to hundreds of people. Now, I feel like I’m on to something. I want to share what I’ve learned and explain what friendship can be in this day and age.”

Growing up in the North Shore of Chicago, Anna obsessed over her favorite bands as a kid, even serving as the music director of a local radio station throughout high school. While attending Barnard College, she penned album reviews for the college paper and interned at record labels. She earned her first official byline in cult favorite zine Punk Planet, going on to land a gig at PAPER.

Moving to Philadelphia, she continued to write at an impressive pace and launched the viral humorous dating blog Shmitten Kitten. The latter paved the way for her literary debut, Clearly, I Didn’t Think This Through: The Story of One Tall Girl’s Impulsive, Ill-Conceived and Borderline Irresponsible Life Decisions—hailed by the likes of Forbes and Publishers Weekly who proclaimed Anna’s “winning ability to share her tales of bad judgment without a filter makes it easy to root for her.”

Anna’s deep friendship research and captivating storytelling are core to her fascinating step-by-step guide to understanding the fundamental mechanics of friendship. Her writing has appeared in The Atlantic, TIME, Vice, The Cut, Vox, The Washington Post, and The New York Times. She’s also been quoted as a friendship expert in The New York Times, The Atlantic, Goop, Real Simple, Oprah Daily, Refinery29 and more.