Connection Isn’t Complicated (We Just Make It Weird) ft. Kate Terentieva

In this episode, I’m joined by Kate Terentieva, founder of Off The Record—a connection card game built to help you skip the surface and get straight to the good stuff. We talk about everything from growing up as the go-to “deep chat” friend to building a product that’s helping people have conversations that actually matter.

We cover:
→ The real reason we struggle with adult friendships (hint: it’s not just time)
→ Why asking good questions is more powerful than having the right answers
→ How cultural identity, language, and being a first-gen American shaped how Kate connects
→ What she learned about human behavior from working with brands like WhatsApp & Four Seasons
→ And how Off The Record went from a side project to a movement for deeper connection

This episode is for you if you’ve ever sat at a networking event dreading the “what do you do?” convo, felt lonely in a room full of people, or just want to be better at making people feel seen (and also heard because that’s different).

FIND WHAT YOU NEED FROM THIS EPISODE:

00:00 – Meet the woman who turned awkward small talk into a connection game

06:31 – Why building relationships is literally the point

15:22 – Surface-level convos in a scroll-happy world

19:44 – A tool that makes conversations feel less like interviews

26:09 – From cultural confusion to a communications career

27:15 – A childhood love affair… with books

35:30 – The art (and magic) of meaningful conversations

41:40 – Creating space where people actually feel safe to be real

45:07 – Rethinking assumptions, ditching the small talk script

53:07 – How social media is messing with your relationships (yep, again)

58:24 – Change doesn’t start with a rebrand—it starts with a convo