I remember a conversation I had with a co-worker vividly, even though I can’t remember her name or even where we were working. We were both salespeople, and we were at an event, staffing a table somewhere. It was slow, so we were talking. She was in her twenties, a few years younger than I was, and I liked her. She was personable, kind, intelligent.

But she told me that she didn’t have any women friends. She confided it with the same focused sadness with which a person might talk about infertility or a string of broken relationships; a real grief and regret that she wasn’t able to participate in something that seemed to come so easily to others. She was married, she had a good career. She just had no women friends. At all.

Listen for more

Get full access to The Consigliera Papers at consigliera.substack.com/subscribe