A beautiful thing I realized while finishing up the features for Volume 6 of nosey: both of the women you’re about to meet came into my orbit through networking events.

Emely and I technically didn’t meet until we sat down for our interview, but I first discovered SevenThirty a few months earlier at Cathy Cooper’s (from Volume 5!) annual Beyond Her Vision summit—isn’t it great how interconnected this community truly is. Emely had a brand activation there, and her 90-day planners were flying off the table. I was immediately fascinated by the concept. As a very type-A person who somehow still struggles with planning (yes, even type-A people struggle with the thing we love doing), I wanted to know more. Once I learned there was an entire philosophy behind the planners, I knew I wanted to hear Emely’s story and share it with all of you.

Lauren, on the other hand, I met at a Seventh House Coffee Club after-hours event. I wasn’t technically there as a guest—I was kind of working it. My day job is at Working From_, the coworking space inside The Hoxton in Fulton Market, where I manage membership sales and our team often helps support events happening in the space. So naturally, I was mingling.

And since we’re already here, a tiny plug: if you’re looking for a new place to cowork, shoot me a message. I’d love to have you in the space.

Okay, back to Lauren. She had created the florals for the event, and they were so cheerful, perfectly on-theme and thoughtful that they completely transformed our already-cozy space. We got to chatting, and Lauren casually mentioned that she had launched her floral business, nari studio, just a few months earlier. Obviously, my nosey senses started tingling. I knew we needed to reconnect after the event, and I’m so glad we did.

As I wrote both of their stories, I realized Emely and Lauren have something really special in common: they are incredibly thoughtful about what they put into the world.

Neither is interested in creating something just to create it. They research, test, revise, learn, try again and constantly look for ways to make the experience better. Emely spent more than a year testing and revising her planner before selling it. Lauren thinks through everything from the flowers themselves to how a client feels throughout the process down to the tools she uses. Different businesses, but a very similar mindset.

Both are constantly putting themselves in the shoes of the person on the other side and asking: What would I want this experience to feel like? And then they build from there.

I think there’s something really special about a founder who cares just as much about the person experiencing what they’ve created as the thing they’re creating. And after meeting both of these women through spaces designed to bring people together, it feels pretty fitting that people ended up being the thread connecting their stories, too.