‘Everyone should have a neighbourhood to rely on’
Sarah Friar is CEO of the neighbourhood network Nextdoor, which is shaping the way people share news and information about what is happening in their areas.
Igrew up in a village in Northern Ireland in the 1970s and 1980s. We lived near police barracks, which were often bombed. Our windows would shatter under the impact. My mum was a district nurse and my dad was the HR manager of a nearby mill. Often, we’d hear a knock at the back door. It would either be someone with an urgent medical problem, calling for my mum, or it was someone in need of a job, calling for my dad.
Seeing my parents’ willingness to give inspired me. Growing up in such turbulent times was unsettling, but life went on.
I left Ireland at 18 to study at the University of Oxford. After graduating, I went into finance and moved to California, where I still live. I got a job at Goldman Sachs and stayed for a decade. It paid well, but I wasn’t passionate about it. I applied to become a partner and didn’t get the role. It felt like a failure at first, but it actually gave me the freedom to move on.
In 2018, I was approached to head up a new neighbourhood network, Nextdoor, which had been developed to create an online community platform to connect neighbours. I could see an opportunity to do what my parents had done from their kitchen table, but on a global scale. I could be purposeful and cultivate a kinder world in which everyone has a neighbourhood to rely on. I heard many heartwarming stories when I joined. One that struck me was about an elderly man, Joe, who put a call out on Nextdoor for help with ironing. A local woman, Jen, stepped up. She soon realised that he didn’t need ironing, he was just lonely after losing his wife, and they struck up a friendship. I feel Nextdoor is where people come for utility and stay for community. We worked with social scientists to create a friendly platform. In an experiment, researchers asked people to do small kind acts for their neighbours for six weeks – such as putting out bins or buying someone a coffee. The results showed people felt more connected, happier and less lonely. So we introduced ‘random acts of kindness’ days and awards for local heroes. Those small things go a long way. Some members have taken it further. I heard of one who donated a kidney to their neighbour. During Covid, Nextdoor really came into its own. We now have almost 80m users in 11 countries, including the UK.
My own neighbourhood is very tightknit. My daughter and I joined a book group with her friends and their mums a few years ago. The girls are teenagers now and less involved, but the other mums and I have stayed together.
I hope that Nextdoor can cultivate a caring world in which everyone has a neighbourhood like mine to rely on. My childhood and my work have shown me that kindness is enduring. It’s powerful.
Visit nextdoor.co.uk
Kindness is enduring; it is powerful