35 Women, Four Cities, and the Reminder That We’re Not Doing Life Alone (even when we are)

There is something different about sitting across from a woman who just gets it.

You don't have to explain why you booked the solo trip, why you're proud of the life you've built, why managing everything on one income can feel exhausting, or why sometimes you wish you had someone to call when you get a flat tire. You don't have to qualify your happiness, defend your choices, or make room for a conversation that somehow always circles back to somebody else's children or relationship.

You can just be.

And after spending time with 35 incredible women across Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C., for our Dinner with SINKs (single income, no kids) east coast tour, I was reminded of just how powerful that kind of connection can be and that we aren't doing life alone, even when we technically…are.

One Shared Experience: We aren't doing life alone

Over the course of our East Coast meetups, women came together from Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Washington, D.C., Virginia, and Maryland. Thirty-five women. Different careers, backgrounds, personalities, and life experiences. But we shared something that made connecting feel surprisingly easy: we weren't trying to fit our lives into someone else's idea of what adulthood should look like.

Around those tables were CEOs, Emmy-winning producers, oncologists, teachers, art curators, sales directors, fitness professionals, entrepreneurs, actors, and women building meaningful lives in all kinds of ways. These are women with full calendars, big careers, interesting stories, ambitious goals, passports with stamps, hobbies they're passionate about, and lives that don't revolve around being somebody's wife or somebody's mother.

We talked about solo travel to Iceland and Australia. Women were excited to hear about my solo trip through Spain, swapping stories and asking questions with the kind of genuine enthusiasm that makes you want to keep exploring. We talked about our careers, our adventures, our challenges, and all the little things that make up a life.

And the best part? Nobody needed to shrink her life to make the conversation comfortable for someone else.

We weren't waiting for someone to derail the conversation about their children. We weren't navigating conversations where being partnered or being a parent was the default point of reference. We weren't trying to prove that our lives were meaningful despite being single and childfree.

Our lives were the conversation. And they were more than enough. And ya know what: WE are enough.

The Relief of Not Having to Explain Yourself

If you're a single and childfree woman, you might recognize the feeling of being in a room full of people and still feeling like you're somehow on the outside. Maybe you've sat through conversations where everyone's talking about school drop-offs, childcare, anniversaries, and family vacations, and you've struggled to find a natural opening to share what's happening in your own life. Maybe you've been asked when you're going to settle down, whether you're lonely, or what you'll do when you're older. Maybe you've had exciting news met with a casual, "Must be nice," as though your experiences are somehow less meaningful because they don't involve a partner or children.

And maybe you've gotten so used to navigating those moments that you don't even realize how much energy they take. That's what made these meetups feel so different.

There was a comfort in talking to women who understood the context of our lives without needing a lengthy explanation. Women who understood that choosing to travel alone can be liberating and that sometimes it's also a logistical headache. Women who know that building a career, maintaining friendships, managing a household, planning for retirement, and creating a fulfilling life require time, money, energy, and effort.

We could talk about what we're excited about, what we're working toward, what we're struggling with, and what we're dreaming about next. And we could do it without having to make our lives smaller, simpler, or more palatable for someone else's comfort. There is something genuinely soul-fueling about that. Not because we all think alike or have identical experiences, but because we can recognize one another without needing to agree on every detail. We can simply understand the starting point.

"I Don't Have Anyone to Call, So I Just Figure It Out."

Of course, these conversations weren't all about the glamorous parts of our lives.

We also talked about the hard stuff: the financial pressure of doing everything on one income. The mental load of being responsible for every decision. The exhaustion of having to be your own safety net. The realities of handling emergencies, maintaining a home, managing health concerns, and making big decisions without a built-in partner to share the responsibility.

We talked about what happens when something goes wrong and there's no obvious person to call.

You get a flat tire.

Your appliance breaks.

You get sick.

You have a terrible day and want someone to take something off your plate. And sometimes, there isn't a default person waiting in the wings to help.

So you figure it out.

You call the mechanic. You research the repair. You find another solution. You ask a friend, call a professional, or make a plan with whatever resources you have available. You do what needs to be done because, well, who else is going to do it?

There were plenty of knowing nods around those tables. Not because we were competing over who had it harder, or trying to win some imaginary prize for being the most independent woman in the room. But because we recognized that particular kind of responsibility. The reality of knowing that, regardless of how capable you are, sometimes it would be nice not to have to be capable of absolutely everything.

And being surrounded by women who understood that was a reminder that we don't have to pretend everything is easy just because we've built lives we love. We can be grateful for our freedom and acknowledge the challenges that come with it. We can love our lives and still want more community, more support, and more people who show up for us. Those things aren't contradictory. They're human.

These Women Deserve to Be Seen

One of the things I kept thinking about after these meetups was how many incredible women I was sitting across from.

Women doing meaningful work. Women leading organizations, treating patients, creating art, teaching students, producing award-winning entertainment, building businesses, and contributing to their communities.

Women who have traveled the world, developed expertise, taken risks, navigated challenges, and created lives filled with interests and experiences. And yet, how often do women like these see their lives reflected in the stories we tell about adulthood? How often are they celebrated in the workplace, in popular culture, or in the conversations we have about what it means to be successful?

So much of the messaging directed at women still assumes that partnership and motherhood are the central milestones against which everything else is measured.

Careers are celebrated, but often alongside a story about balancing work and motherhood. Travel is marketed as a romantic getaway or a family vacation. Financial products are designed around households with two incomes. Even conversations about the future tend to assume there will be a spouse or children to rely on.

Meanwhile, women are out here doing incredible things, building full lives, and contributing to the world in ways that have nothing to do with whether they have a partner or children. They deserve to be recognized for those lives. Not as an exception to the rule. Not as a cautionary tale. Not as women who are somehow still waiting for their real lives to begin. Just as women living their lives.

That is part of why The Single and Childfree Network matters so much to me. And why it matters so much for women like me.

I want this to be a place where the CEO and the teacher, the artist and the oncologist, the woman who's traveled to six countries and the woman who's figuring out how to make a new life in her own city can all find something in common.

You don't need an impressive job title, a certain income, a passport full of stamps, or an extraordinary story to belong here. You just need to be a single and childfree woman who wants connection with other women who understand this experience. You matter here. Your experiences matter here. And the life you're building deserves to be celebrated here.

The Magic of Connecting in Real Life

Online community is powerful. It's how we find each other across cities, states, and countries. It's how a woman who has never met another single and childfree woman in her immediate circle can suddenly discover hundreds of women who share her experience.

But meeting in person adds something special.

There is a difference between reading someone's introduction in a group and sitting across from her over coffee. There's a difference between commenting on a post about solo travel and hearing someone tell you about the moment she realized she could navigate a foreign country on her own. There's something about hearing another woman laugh at the same thing you laugh at, watching her light up while talking about something she's passionate about, or realizing that the thing you thought was uniquely yours is something another woman understands completely.

You leave with more than a few new contacts on your phone. You leave feeling a little more connected to the world around you.Maybe you discover a potential travel companionor meet someone who lives close enough to become your regular coffee date. Maybe you find a woman whose career inspires you, whose interests overlap with yours, or whose perspective makes you think about something differently.

We can't underestimate what it means to feel understood. Especially when your life doesn't always fit the dominant cultural narrative. And while I can't promise that every person you meet will become a close friend, every opportunity to connect gives us a chance to build the kind of community so many of us are looking for. Friendships take time. Relationships require effort. Community isn't something we can simply sign up for and expect to appear on our doorstep.

But we can create the conditions for it to happen.

These four cities were a reminder of what becomes possible when we do.

We're in This Together: Connection, Not Location

Here's something I want every woman in The Single and Childfree Network to understand: being part of this community is about building connections with women all over the world, not simply waiting for an event to happen in your city.

The meetups in Boston, NYC, Philly, and DC were wonderful opportunities to connect in person. But in-person gatherings are a bonus of having more members in a particular area. They're not the only way to participate, and they aren't the entire point of this network.

Our community is bigger than four cities.

It's the woman logging on from a small town where she's never met another single and childfree woman. It's women connecting across different backgrounds, countries, careers, and stages of life, united by an experience that is both deeply personal and surprisingly universal.

That is the beauty of this community.

We may live in different places. We may have different careers, different interests, different financial circumstances, and different ideas about what makes a fulfilling life. Some of us may be traveling internationally while others are figuring out their next weekend adventure. Some of us may have expansive social circles while others are starting from scratch.

But we are navigating a world that doesn't always know what to do with women who are single and childfree.

And we are doing it together. Not because we need to be rescued from our lives, but because even a life you love is better when you have people to share it with.

People who celebrate your wins. People who listen when things are hard. People who want to hear about your trip, your new project, your latest obsession, or the thing you've been thinking about for weeks. People who see you as a whole person, rather than defining you by the partner you don't have or the children you didn't have.

That's what I want The Single and Childfree Network to be: a place where we feel seen, heard, safe, and supported. A place where our lives are not an afterthought. A place where connection doesn't depend on location, and where we can build relationships with women who remind us that we aren't alone in this experience. The meetups were a beautiful reminder of what we're building.

Here's to finding our people, showing up for one another, and building a community as big and full as the lives we're already living.

Angela Gentile is the founder of The Single and Childfree Network, a global community connecting single and childfree women through friendship, shared experiences, and meaningful connection. As an community buildder, entrepreneur, podcast host, and speaker, Angela advocates for greater visibility and representation of for single and childfree women building fulfilling lives outside traditional relationship and family structures.

Interested in partnering or collaborating? For brand partnerships, speaking engagements, media inquiries, and collaborations, contact Angela at partnerships@theangelagentile.com

Looking for your people? Join The Single and Childfree Network and connect with women who get it, wherever you are in the world. Join the Network