The Friendship Blueprint: 

The science and practice of deeper friendships

 

A 6-week experience to dive into the whys & hows of friendship and build connections in the San Francisco Bay Area.

 

IN PARTNERSHIP WITH:

 The next cohort starts on October 22, 2026 

 

This is a program for anyone who has ever longed for more meaningful friendships. (Which, to be honest, is probably all of us.) 

Friendship is a critically important, learnable skill that we tend to overlook or even dismiss—but not in this program.

Join us for a six week online program on the “whys and hows” of friendship, featuring opportunities to meet with fellow participants in real life.

We're offering this in collaboration with the SF Chronicle to create a community of friends right where you are. So, unlike national or international courses, we’ll all be in the same time zone, and maybe even in the same neighborhoods.

Breakout cohorts will be grouped by area, so you’ll have the opportunity to meet interesting new people who live near you. (Or not! There’s no obligation to venture beyond your screen, though we think you might enjoy it.)

The Friendship Blueprint

  • Week 1 - Why relationships are the #1 driver of our well-being
  • Week 2: Discover who you are as a friend (your friendship style) and the friendship styles of the people around you
  • Week 3: How limiting friendship beliefs affect us and new mindsets to adopt
  • Week 4: How to lower the “barrier” to friendship by creating friendship experiments
  • Week 5: How to create a “friendship practice” plan
  • Week 6: Why and how to befriend yourself 

With weekly practices to integrate learning into real life.

 

Plus, optional curated in-person events in the Bay Area, designed to meet other people in your cohorts and beyond.

 

I'd like to sign up

Skills you’ll gain:

Interpersonal communication · Self-awareness in relationships · Cognitive reframing  · Habit and systems building · Self-compassion · Self-friendship  · Emotional Intelligence  · Listening Styles · Difficult Conversations · Prototying Friendship

The program includes

  • Live instruction online classes held once a week for 90 minutes starting on Tuesday, Oct 22.

  •  Optional in-person event dates (booked separately)

  • Workbook, videos, resources to drive connection
  • Community of peers and cohort by area

 

 

I'd like to sign up

FACULTY

Jeffrey Hamaoui (Jeff) is a teacher, writer, speaker, and community builder with a unique career path focused on social and environmental impact. He co-founded Modern Elder Academy (MEA), the world's first midlife wisdom school, designed for individuals to take a pause and reframe their perspectives on aging, reimagine their future, and reconnect with their purpose. Jeff is now known as a "friendship accelerator," and is happily married to his best friend, Rachel. They have two children, Gray and Blue, and he credits his wife with being a great counterpart in friendship: he makes them, and she keeps them.

TEDx: "Why we overcomplicate friendship—and how to make it easy"

Jennifer Maer (Jenn) is a designer, creative director, brand strategist, and storyteller. After an early career in advertising, she spent 15 years at the renowned human-centered design firm, IDEO, before founding her own consultancy, Harmonic 55. She has helped all kinds of clients navigate challenges with grace, including Nike, Microsoft, Apple, Genentech Roche, and more. Jenn is at her happiest when she's creating stories and ideas that bypass the brain's radar and go straight to the heart. Jenn holds a BA from Smith College, and an MFA from the school of hard knocks. After 20+ years in the Bay Area, she now lives in Asheville, NC with her wife and an odd but lovable dog.

TEDx: "How to make new friends (without the social anxiety)"

Carolina Lasso (Caro) is a speaker, teacher, and author passionate about human flourishing and helping individuals and organizations unlock their full potential. She is the author of The Path to Flourishing and Angry Women, co-author of The Purpose Reset, and the creator of the PlenaMente podcast. Her career spans leadership roles at Google, American Express, Telemundo, and the Search Inside Yourself Leadership Institute. She has an MBA from New York University and certifications in leadership, mindfulness, purpose, and resilience. When she's not mentoring or teaching, you'll find her with a paintbrush in hand, exploring new corners of the world, or returning to her native Colombia.

TEDx: Why Purpose is like a GPS

We hope you'll join us

EARLY BIRD

$399

Register before October 14th

REGISTER NOW

GENERAL ADMISSION

$599

by registering on or after October 15

7-DAY MONEY-BACK GUARANTEE

If you aren’t completely satisfied with our program, let us know within the first 7-days for a full refund. 

By enrolling in The Friendship Blueprint, you confirm your full commitment to the 6-week program and agree that all sales are final, payments are non-refundable and non-transferable. Knitted, LLC reserves the right to make changes to the program schedule, content, or facilitators as needed, and will communicate any changes promptly. By enrolling, you further agree that Knitted, LLC, The San Francisco Chronicle, its founders, facilitators, and partners hold no liability for any outcomes resulting from your participation, as this program is educational and experiential in nature and does not constitute therapy or professional counseling. We encourage you to carefully consider your availability before registering, as this program works best when everyone shows up fully and consistently across all six sessions.

What other Knitted friends have said about their experience... 

My husband and I signed up for this program at the last moment and it turned out to be really worthwhile. Getting intentional about cultivating friendships has helped me strengthen existing relationships and think about new ones.   Working through this with a great group of folks was helpful as we came at it from different perspectives, and the facilitators were outstanding.

- Matthew S

Attending this program helped me see friendship as an intentional practice, and provided me tools that I am able to apply to my own journey. The class exercises and rituals brought the content together in surprising ways difficult to articulate. I am grateful to have had the privilege of exploring true "connectedness," and feel better equipped to sow some seeds, water them, and see what grows!

- Laurie B.

As a person who places friendship as a top value, I was intrigued by this offering. It revealed how I show up in friendship, what I value in a friend and how I tend to negotiate my needs vs. others. As someone who has done a lot of personal growth work, this is one aspect of my life that had not been examined. The information, facilitation and experiential exercises were superb! I walked away a better friend to myself and to others.

- JS

Wow! What an experience! Who knew there was so much to learn about friendship!?!
Understanding my friendship styles and those of my friends really helped me to deepen existing relationships and broaden into new ones. And all this while making new friendships. I'm inspired everyday!

- Jo Anna

IN PARTNERSHIP WITH: