Eps 4 | How to Get Paid to Have Fun with Friends | Polina Ermakova and Galyna Parker

What do you do when you move to a new country and realize you don’t really have anyone around you?

For Polina, that moment came during pregnancy. She didn’t have close friends nearby, no familiar circle, and at some point it just became clear - she missed having people around her.

So instead of waiting for friendships to somehow happen on their own, she decided to take it into her own hands and create a space where women like her could meet, spend time together, and feel less alone.

It started very simply. A small event with a stylist, a few girls, nothing massive. But the idea resonated. People came, they connected, and they wanted more.

Over time, those small meetups turned into a consistent rhythm. Women started showing up regularly, bringing friends, staying in touch, and forming real relationships outside of the events too.

In this episode, we talk about what actually made it work - and it’s not what people usually expect.

It wasn’t about building a “network” in the traditional sense. In fact, Polina intentionally avoided that format. No formal dinners, no forced conversations. The focus was always on doing something together - surfing, activities, casual meetups - things that make connection feel natural, not transactional.

Another important part was how she showed up online. Before the community even took shape, she was consistently sharing useful content about life in Florida - places to go, things to do, recommendations. Over time, people started to see her as someone who understands the space and can be trusted.

That trust made the transition from follower to attendee feel easy and organic.

What’s interesting is that for quite a while, she didn’t even think of this as a business. It was just something she genuinely enjoyed doing. And that played a big role - because people can feel when something is forced, and when it isn’t.

We also talked about how she would approach this if she had to start again from zero.

Her answer was very straightforward: start creating content, study what others are doing, and don’t overcomplicate the first steps. In the beginning, it’s okay to learn by copying - the important part is to start and stay consistent.

One idea that came up several times during the conversation is that people don’t come for the format - they come for how it feels. And that’s something you can’t fake or over-engineer.

Looking back, what started as a personal need slowly turned into something much bigger. Not because it was perfectly planned, but because it solved a real problem - for her and for many other women in the same situation.

Watch this episode on YouTube.