Today we’d like to introduce you to Emily Persky and Ingrid Hung
Hi Emily and Ingrid, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
We grew up together here in LA and have been best friends since 7th grade! We had different early careers: Ingrid in hospitality, working as Danny Meyer’s assistant alongside some of the top culinary talent of our time, and Emily at Instagram working with brands to establish and grow their businesses on the platform. In our roles, we both saw our creative friends working hard to establish their own businesses—comping services for friends and family, interning for minimum wage, assisting for longer than they should. At the same time, we noticed how many people in our larger networks were searching for the kind of high-quality, fairly-priced lifestyle services that these creative friends were offering. But, because everyone was looking within their own immediate network, there was a major disconnect. So, we thought: Let’s connect the two groups!
We started I Have This Friend with the mindset that everyone deserves to live their dream life—not just the established or well-connected. To achieve a certain kind of lifestyle (gorgeous homes by expert interior designers, dinner parties with private chefs, the crème de la crème of photographers shooting your wedding), you used to have to comb through social media to find the right talent or get referred by a friend. With I Have This Friend, it’s easier, more accessible, and, frankly, more enjoyable to browse and discover emerging creatives and book their services (and they can continue pursuing a career doing the thing they love!).
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Building a company is tough work and we were never under the impression that we could do it all ourselves. Thankfully, we have the most supportive community to lean on, which has only grown in strength and size. We went viral before our website had even launched because the concept of IHTF alone really resonated with people. We didn’t have nearly enough capacity to handle the volume of requests coming in. So, we launched our concierge line early and recruited friends, siblings, cousins, and anyone else who wanted to help out to reply to as many requests as we could. That resourcefulness was—and still is—fueled by the desire to get people connected to make magic happen. That’s what this is all about!
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
We scout, vet, and feature the top creatives of tomorrow, making it easier to book high-quality, fairly-priced lifestyle services today! Unless you find someone on Instagram or hear about them via word of mouth, it’s generally hard to connect with cool creatives—and it’s equally hard for these creatives to get their business off the ground without prioritizing content creation (and not everyone wants to do that!). You can think of I Have This Friend as a more curated Etsy for lifestyle services. Consumers can connect with the creatives they’ve been searching for and book their services, giving these creatives a direct line to their target audience. Win-win!
We’re so proud of the community we’ve built and so grateful for every member’s role in helping us build and grow something impactful. We specifically feel incredibly honored to work with and feature the most talented up-and-coming creatives; they’re the ones who make this truly special.
So, before we go, how can our readers or others connect or collaborate with you? How can they support you?
There are SO many ways!! Head to ihavethisfriend.co to connect with our concierge, browse and book emerging talent, create an account with us, sign up for the newsletter, shop our merch, and check out our blog. And, of course, follow along on Instagram @ihavethisfriend and TikTok @ihavethisfriend_!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.ihavethisfriend.co/?utm_source=PR&utm_medium=article&utm_campaign=voyageLA
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ihavethisfriend/
- Twitter: https://x.com/ihtfriend
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@ihavethisfriend
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@ihavethisfriend_
