Introducing In Tandem
A cheeky soft launch Q&A about our friendship postal service
Hey there, it’s Sondra and Veronica 👋
We wanted to briefly introduce ourselves before we officially launched the “In Tandem” substack. We asked each other 3 questions below to set the scene, enjoy 💛
What were your first impressions of one another?
💛 S about V1: Sweet, down-to-earth, and easy-going. I remember noticing Veronica out of a group of strangers in a Portuguese university dorm hallway. She was so warm and at ease with everyone. After watching V twirl down cobblestone streets effortlessly while exploring Lisbon, I quickly learned that she’s a dancer. Which explained how she carried herself with grace.
🩵 V about S: High energy, a ball of sunshine, and incredibly determined. We were running around Portugal together, and all she could ever think about was pastries and sangria (both fantastic pursuits). She was sassy and incredibly smart, and not afraid to be a little weird in public. I knew in those moments I was going to like her.
How did you two become friends?
💛 S: We met in Portugal for a global startup accelerator and summer abroad program. The combination of creating a startup and living in a foreign country was the breeding ground for forever friendship. Aka stress trauma bonding. It started off with exploring Lisbon together on weekends, ranting about the uncertainty of life over sangria pitchers and Somersby cider while watching sunsets. Our friendship seemed to click instantaneously, there was no metamorphosis. It was easy to be silly and childlike together, cackling until we were crying and making weird animal noises. We became travel buddies after Portugal: from our adventures in Vancouver to San Diego, it didn’t matter where we were as long as we were together.
🩵 V: It sort of all just happened. Like one day we were best friends and neither of us could remember that it was ever any different. Sondra and I met, in true college fashion, while we were studying abroad in Portugal in 2018. A few weeks in, there was no looking back. We both just sort of knew we were stuck with each other for life. Like being in Kindergarten and turning to the girl next to you, complimenting her bracelet, and asking if she’d be your best friend. So here we are, many years later, still attached at the hip.
Why are we writing this substack?
💛 S: After 2020, I witnessed my friendship with V start to stretch thin due to several reasons: long distance (1734 miles to be exact), work, and modern life. I was starting to get updates on V’s life through Instagram first. And I could not stand just being social media friends with V. I realized that after moving back to Tejas and losing the convenience of college’s built-in social landscape, V and I would need intentional touchpoints to nurture our friendship. So I brainstormed some ideas, one of which was writing a substack together.
The more I flirted with the substack idea, the more attractive it became.
Launching the creative writing project would be logistically feasible. I have been writing my personal substack, rerooted, for over a year now and have found the process to be incredibly challenging yet rewarding. So, I’m familiar with the platform and have established a personal writing practice. At the end of last year, I was proud of personally committing to writing and publishing once a week, and was seeking another challenge: building a substack with a partner. I was inspired by this quote: “You can build fast by building on your own. But building something great requires working with others.” So I started thinking of potential collaborators and immediately thought of V.
V and I have worked well together in the past as recruiters for the same global startup accelerator where we met: a chaotic and fast-paced environment. So, we know each other’s working styles and can get shit done. V was also the one who inspired me to read and journal in college, which later led me to writing and Substack. I’ve also read V’s past writing, and I’m a BIG FAN. I strongly believe more people need to read V’s writing and selfishly, writing this substack would give me more chances to read it. So creating this substack would be a full circle moment.
I pitched the idea of writing a substack together to V early 2024 and she was down. We quickly agreed that we wanted the substack to be centered around platonic friendships. Especially female friendships through our own lens and experiences.
Some personal inspirations for In Tandem have been my mom’s 60-year-old-female-friendships, Friends Forever, Beautiful World Where Are You, and Frog and Toad. And the rest is herstory.
🩵 V: So Sondra (of course) has explained the why here in a more structured and easily digestible way than I ever could. Instead of repeat it, here’s my chaotic two-cents on modern friendships:
We’re going on about 6 years now, and we’ve gone through any number of things together: work drama, travel, breakups, new boyfriends, deaths of dear friends… the list goes on. And yet, the hardest part of it all has been the physical distance. The way that adult friendships and life can get so busy and revolve so heavily around the place that you are. I struggle with the balance of all this, trying to keep far friends close, while also making space for everything else in life, so when Sondra pitched the substack idea, I was relieved. All my favorite things (namely writing & Sondra) in one little outlet? I’ll take it.
So here we are – creating our own little online postal service. A way to talk about the chaos and hilarity of life while living separate lives thousands of miles away. An ode to friendship and croissants and tackling each other in airports. To getting through the hard stuff together and then cackling telling stories at a coffee shop when we’re finally in the same city.
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S: Sondra | V: Veronica