Hi. I’m Jessica.
I used to be in a band and then had a professional career and then started my own company. I’m here to teach you how to become a millionaire. Just kidding! I’m here to show you how to build the life of your dreams.
Years ago I started working on a leadership book based on my professional experience. Due to a lot of boring reasons like a global pandemic and moving continents, I shelved the work and honestly abandoned the project.
When I picked it back up in late 2025, I realized what really felt more valuable in this moment was something with more immediacy. I wanted to write something people could actually use right now and not just aspirational theory for someday.
Here’s what pushed me to finally finish it – I kept having the same conversation over and over again. A friend would text: “I got laid off.” Another would DM: “I’m in the final round of interviews for the third time this year and nothing.” Someone I know with a successful production company or legacy boutique agency: “The things I was doing before aren’t working anymore.”
And every time, my answer was the same.
You need to stop applying to jobs and working on pitches and you need to start calling your friends and building opportunities together.
The pattern became impossible to ignore over the past year. Layoffs, AI disruption, career uncertainty — 2025 wasn't a blip, it was structural. I watched incredibly talented people leave the workforce, not because they wanted to, but because the systems they were taught to trust had failed them. Job boards were full of ghost postings. Hiring listings were false process. And meanwhile, every single job I got, every business I built, every opportunity that mattered — it all came to me through relationships.
So I decided to stop having the same conversation one person at a time and write down everything I know about how work actually works. Not how it's supposed to work or the fake version people share on LinkedIn. But the real system — the one that people with privilege access naturally, but the rest of us have to build intentionally.
Build Relationships. Build Business.
Most career and business advice starts with the same tired assumption: growth comes from pushing harder and working more. You know the drill — we need more leads! Send more emails! Buy more retargeting ads!
But if you’ve ever really built anything from scratch — a company, a community, a creative project — you already know that’s not how the best work actually happens.
The best work happens through people.
It happens when people work together through trust, proximity, shared experience, and timing. It happens because someone knows you, vouches for you, introduces you, or simply says, “They get it.”
Some people would call that luck. Others would call it privilege. But if you build it with purpose and intention, it turns into infrastructure for sustainable business growth.
This is the foundation of Work Friends.
Your relationships are not random or a side thought — they are your business strategy. And as such, they need to be cultivated and maintained not just when you need something from them, but with an ongoing cadence that’s meaningful.
People Hire Their Friends
We all know this to be true. People hire people they trust, respect, and want to work with.
In every leadership role I’ve held and every business I’ve built, the pattern was the same. If we didn’t have a personal relationship with the decision-maker, we almost never won the work or got the job. The deals that closed fastest, lasted longest, and created the most value all came through relationships, not pitches.
And yet while everyone knows this, when it comes to business we do the opposite. Most organizations treat relationships like a side thought or a nice-to-have. Or something that lives inside one person’s individual network instead of inside the business itself.
Relationships are core infrastructure for the future of work. Community is not a tactic — it’s your operating system.
How This Actually Works
Let me show you one example of what this looks like in practice.
I have predominantly been a freelancer for the past 20 years but I have also had a number of full-time roles as well within that time. The last full time role I had I got through a friend. I sent out a mass BCC email to a few hundred friends and former colleagues that I was looking for new projects. I got a call later that day from a friend of mine in Paris who was working on a project where they needed to hire someone in Madrid.
I met with the decision maker the next week and started the week after that. The project was working on an experiential marketing campaign for a well known travel brand and I was managing a team in Spain. That’s not really something I have expertise in by the way, but I was there and I had a friend.
Now this is where things get interesting. It could have easily just been that I worked on the one project and then I moved on at the end. Instead, I ended up becoming the Chief Growth Officer of the company.
See the way business works is people hire someone they know, then you demonstrate value and work on a small project together, then you deepen your working relationship and partnership over time. I didn’t apply for a job as Chief Growth Officer and then get it. I started on a smaller project and worked up to that.
I can tell you probably 3 other stories I have like that from across my career. You start on what you think will be a 2 week project and if it’s a good fit, it will turn into 2 years of work.
You Don’t Get Handed an Opportunity, You Create One
In my twenties, I was in a DIY band in New York. My brother and I started a duo called This Frontier Needs Heroes. We ran our own label, booked our own international tours, did our own press, and built a global following without industry gatekeepers.
This Frontier Needs Heroes in Brooklyn, NY, 2006.
None of the opportunities we got were through the traditional music industry. They came from building our own community — starting our own music series, inviting people to play shows, collaborating with other artists, supporting similar work over time.
We built our reputation by doing good work, treating people well, and contributing to the ecosystem we were part of.
When we weren’t allowed into the established system, we built our own.
When I moved into my professional career, I realized all the same rules applied. But no one was naming them, teaching them, or systematizing them.
This is what people who go to Ivy League schools acquire by association. But for the rest of us, we have to build it ourselves. I didn’t go to Harvard or get an MBA — I went to art school. Everything I know, I learned in DIY music scenes and independent creative communities. And I’ve applied it to multiple businesses across size, scope, and industry.
What a Time to Be Alive
2026 presents a very specific moment. Layoffs, AI disruption, and career uncertainty aren’t a blip — they’re structural. AI is likely going to do to white-collar work what globalization did to blue-collar jobs. Many of these jobs aren’t coming back.
We’re entering an era of mass first-time entrepreneurship, fractional careers, portfolio work, and people building their own lanes out of necessity, not aspiration.
In moments like this, the most valuable asset isn’t a resume, a funnel, or a job board — it’s your personal relationships.
Community becomes infrastructure. And your ability to build trust, reputation, and opportunity through people becomes the only real safety net.
It Takes a Village
I also want to name something that I see happening right now. I know so many incredibly talented and brilliant people who are out of work and who are embarrassed to say it or scared to ask for help. Why do we feel more comfortable asking strangers for jobs than asking our friends for support? Who is more likely to hire us — a stranger on the internet or someone who already knows you, trusts you, and values your work? Looking for work is not a personal failure and asking for help is not a reflection of you or your worth. Please don’t try to do this alone.
That’s what this system is for.
Welcome to Work Friends
Work Friends is a newsletter about building businesses through relationships.
Every two weeks, I’ll share:
The systems I’ve used for 20 years to grow brands, ventures, and institutions
Real stories from navigating work, startups, and career pivots
Frameworks you can use immediately
No fluff, no hustle culture, just what actually works
This system is designed as a marathon, not a sprint. It won’t change your life overnight — though it could! You won’t find growth hacking, but you will find deep brand building and sustainable growth through relationships.
Work Friends is about building businesses the way people have always built meaningful things. Together.
The full framework lives here: makeworkfriends.com But on Substack, I’m going deeper with more stories and strategy.
Let’s be friends!
— Jessica
As someone who felt awkward reaching out to friends and is getting over that, this is right on the money <3