As a high school teacher, Danielle Bayard Jackson's students often came to her after class to share their friendship drama. When she left the classroom to begin her own PR agency, Danielle listened as high-achieving women confessed their own friendship issues. That's when she realized that female friendship is the great equalizer-- an area where every woman struggles, no matter her age or status.

And that's when the obsession began.

Committed to helping women learn how to create and sustain meaningful friendships, Danielle began doing the work.

She became a certified women's coach, began studying the complexities of female friendship alongside world-renowned therapists, researchers, and psychologists, and started the Friend Forward podcast to answer the questions she receives from women in her DMs. Danielle has also created a coaching program to help adults master platonic relationships - teaching tangible research-based strategies to help women learn how to make friends, rekindle old friendships, navigate conflict, and create connections that have depth and closeness.

Now Danielle's become a go-to media source on the subject, and her advice has been featured in outlets like the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, NBC News, and Oprah Magazine. She also speaks across the country about the power of female friendship and recently partnered with the popular global app Bumble as the official spokesperson for their friendship platform: Bumble BFF.

Danielle recently signed a book deal with Hachette to write about the function of conflict in female friendship (May 2024). She looks forward to sharing what she's learned about women's conflict, communication, and cooperation to help women across the world to form healthier friendships.