How to Make a Friend

Friendship isn't something you have. It's something you practice.In a world engineered for speed, self-sufficiency, and screens, many of us feel lonelier than ever. We expect friendship to be easy, effortless, and automatic. But for most of human history, connection wasn't a luxury; it was the fabric of daily life. We didn't "make time" for one another in calendar blocks--we lived together inside shared rhythms, rituals, and responsibilities.In How to Make a Friend, bestselling author and community-builder Radha Agrawal reveals what modern culture has forgotten: friendship is gloriously inefficient--and that's exactly why it matters. Drawing on research and decades of building real-world communities, Radha exposes the myth of toxic individualism and offers a radical reframe. Friendship doesn't optimize for productivity or perfection; it optimizes for meaning. It asks us to show up when it's inconvenient, lean into awkwardness, repair instead of retreat, and choose presence over performance.Inside, you'll learn how to: Embrace awkwardness as the gateway to real intimacyBuild friendships through honest, human conversations--one moment at a timeProtect the "vibe" of a relationship or gathering before it fracturesUse simple scripts for invitation, repair, and enrollmentBecome a community architect and design environments where connection can thrivePart manifesto, part practical guide, this book reminds us that the moments that shape our lives aren't the ones we can measure or monetize. They're the unplanned conversations, the long subway rides for short hugs, the nights we stay because the truth finally surfaced. Friendship is a skill--and like any practice, it can be learned, strengthened, and reclaimed.

Radha Agrawal is a community architect, bestselling author, speaker, DJ, inventor, and investor in mostly women-owned businesses. She is the Co-Founder and CEO of Daybreaker, the global dance, music, and wellness movement in five continents with a community of people around the globe. Since Radha founded Daybreaker in 2013, it has grown to an 800,000+ strong community across 30 cities, in the midst of a 100-city tour in 2025. It has been featured in thousands of publications including the New York Times, The Washington Post, Good Morning America, GQ, and many more. In 2018, Radha published her first book, Belong, a practical guide to building community, which received praise from Esther Perel, Deepak Chopra, and Mark Hyman, and sold 50,000 copies.In 2023, Radha co-founded non-profit The Belong Center alongside prestigious board members including Dr. Mark Hyman and Kimbal Musk, with a mission to gather thought leaders, creatives, and founders to address the greatest epidemic of our time, loneliness. A partnership with UC-Berkeley, its cornerstone program, Belong Circles, has already expanded to 25 cities in just over a year.Before becoming a social entrepreneur, Radha co-founded, sold, and invested in multiple nine-figure businesses in the wellness space including reusable period underwear brand THINX. She was named by MTV as "one of 8 women who will change the world" and has won numerous entrepreneurship awards and accolades on disruptive innovation.