Welcome to the Smart Friends Network, a collective of excellent products & media properties created by our many smart friends.
Smart Friends lead companies, write books, host podcasts, direct and produce film, TV, and theatre, run non-profits, and advise, consult & educate at the highest level. We are also very, very fun. Want to join us?
But wait, that's not all!
Smart Friends collaborate with, celebrate and amplify each other, provide essential feedback and advice, and are a hella fun hang. We gather online & IRL for business and pleasure, and a LOT of laughter & joy. Smart Friends connect Smart Friends to national (& international) media opportunities, investors and investments, fantastic partners, stress-tested recommendations, and killer event hookups.
Please drop us note in the contact form below, or just sign up for updates. We won't send you crazy spam or add you to weird petitions. We'll just let you know what our smart friends are up to, and pretty soon, they'll be your smart friends, too.
Thanks for all you do! (We see you.)
Rachel Sklar
Founder, Smart Friends Network
Why Join the Smart Friends Network?
-
Amplification & Reach
You are making something smart, cool, useful & great, and it deserves to be seen, and then seen again. It's super noisy out there, and everyone has the attention span of a gnat. We created Smart Friends Network to help you break through the noise and get seen, heard and noticed.
-
Networking & Connection
When you have this many Smart Friends, you want them to meet each other. Smart Friendship is not a zero sum game, it's the gift that keeps on giving with each new Smart Friend pulled into the fold. Magic happens when Smart Friends meet.
-
Press, Social & Earned Media Support
We've been very effective in getting media coverage for our Smart Friends in the past, and we know that it's useful to be a trusted destination for journalists seeking stories and sources. We know how to attract press & social coverage for our members.
-
New Project Support
Smart Friends is proud to support new launches (and re-launches!) of women-led and women-centered properties, including “The Breadwinners” “Organizing Chaos” “This Changes Things” “Have You Seen My Film?” “Business Meeting” and “The Epstein Files Book Club” podcasts, plus our flagship "Hi Smart Friend" podcast (coming soon!). We love to develop & support new projects, and we're very good at it.
-
Partnerships & Collabs
It's a proven fact: Smart Friends who work together go further, faster. The Smart Friends network is a very efficient way to bring future partners together (and part of our mission is to help you find each other). We love to see Smart Friends connect with each other and work hard to facilitate fruitful & positive connections between members & other colleagues (aka Smart Friends of Smart Friends). It gets results.
-
Strength in Numbers
It's just math. A bunch of us working together has greater collective marketing muscle, and presents an efficiency for any smart sponsor. (Big-money sponsors, do be in touch.) This math also means that together we are a force - the wind at each other’s backs and the rising tide that lifts each other’s boats. (And floats them.) Come on in, the water’s fine! We also proudly mix our metaphors.
About Us
Rachel Sklar is the founder of the Smart Friends Network. She was previously the co-founder of membership network TheLi.st (with Glynnis MacNicol) which was acquired in 2020, and subsequently founded Inner Circle, a membership network in beta that subsequently became Smart Friends.
She is a former lawyer, an award-winning journalist (New York, Huffington Post, Elle, CNN, Washington Post & more), and an in-demand creative consultant for communications, amplification and growth strategy. She has worked for & with companies including Saks, Spotify, Netflix, TED & Donors Choose. She is also a lyricist, bookwriter and proud member of the BMI Advanced Musical Theatre Workshop and is an avid theatrical investor (faves: Suffs, Titanique).
Rachel has successfully placed clients and Smart Friends in national media outlets including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, CNN, Elle, BBC, CNBC, Business Insider, Marie Claire, InStyle, Vox Media, Forbes and many more, and facilitated numerous introductions that led to hires, partnerships, investments, speaking opportunities, invites to cool events, and numerous high-energy showtune singalongs.
Her fun facts include writing award-winning vomit jokes (book, Taking Off! musical), jokes for President Obama’s White House Correspondents Dinner speeches, and singing on a dance-pop hit in Sweden (mercifully no link). Rachel is a single mother (& stage mom) of an amazing 11-year-old daughter who also has many smart friends. They have big plans.
Ruth Ann Harnisch is an American producer, investor, activist and philanthropist. She founded The Harnisch Foundation in 1998, not only fully aware of the unfairness that allows families of wealth to shelter income from taxes but also determined to make the best use of this advantage. (No family member is on the Foundation’s payroll.) Ruth Ann invests both personal and philanthropic capital in content creation, including feature films, documentaries, series, and other media that advance social causes and explore topics of important public interest, often in partnership with other funders including Impact Partners and Sundance Catalyst. Her documentary films have been shortlisted for (Unrest), nominated for (The Hunting Ground, Sugarcane), and won (Icarus, Best Documentary Feature, 2017) Oscar consideration. She is also a private investor with a portfolio that includes many women-led startups and energy infrastructure.
Ruth Ann is a member of the Women Donors Network, Women Moving Millions, Rachel’s Network (environmental funders), the International Women’s Forum (Tennessee and New York City Forums), and the Leadership Nashville Alumni Association. She most recently became the first patron of Creative Mornings, helping people to connect and create in real life and virtually. She is the Publisher of the Sunday Long Read, a sponsor of HellGate & Oldster (among others), founding supporter of over 100 Substacks, recently hailed as “the legendary champion of indie media” by Delia Cai (DeezLinks). She and her husband Bill Harnisch also provided funding the Bill & Ruth Ann Harnisch Neurosciences Center at the Peconic Bay Medical Center.
The Smart Friends Network exists because of Ruth Ann's catalyzing support (financial and otherwise). She is the OG Smart Friend & we are so grateful for her!