‘A Tale of Two Besties’ takes Manhattan

Last night, we made our way to the Tribeca Barnes & Noble for a solid HelloGiggles hang, New York-style. The crowd was an amazing mix of besties, contributors, readers, future contributors and future besties. It all started with a panel discussion between HelloGiggles co-founder Sophia Rivka Rossi, contributor Akilah Hughes and own her bestie. The three rad women took to the stage to talk about the unspoken friendship rules, making BFFs on social media and Sophia’s new book, A Tale of Two Besties, about two close friends growing up in Los Angeles.

All of the women agreed with Mindy Kaling’s sentiment that best friendship is “a tier, not [just] one person!” Akilah and her bestie, who started as coworkers and instantly bonded in the office, discussed how they used to g-chat each other from their desks—inches apart, while Sophia pointed out that the HelloGiggles staff are constantly messaging each other on Slack all the time. (It’s true, fellow HG team Blair and I are friends through that!) They also talked about social media besties, and it turns out most of Akilah’s New York friendships were first forged online. “How else do you meet anyone? On the street?” she joked. Good point.

Then Sophia signed books — A LOT OF BOOKS.

We also talked to the Gigglers at the event:

Samantha (@freakxgeek) loved that HelloGiggles was like “a big, positive campaign for women” and enjoyed the good vibes she got from everyone.

Gaby loved how HelloGiggles is “supportive of girls and respective of pop culture teenage fans.” She likes how you read the articles and think “Oh my God, I feel the same way too!” 

Jenipher (@jenipherlyn) really liked the website and wanted to learn how to contribute — and she will! Right, Jenipher?

Meanwhile, our contributors were in full force and man, do we love them. Here’s Carly Lane and Danielle Sepulveres just being their beautiful selves.

Anna (@aewalton) and Mia (@amelia_libman) came to the event because “We really like Sophia! We think she’s funny on Instagram and Twitter.” Mia had just moved to New York yesterday, having always wanted to live here with her bestie Anna.  They’ve wanted to live in New York together for ages and we’re so happy they decided to spend their first week hanging with us!