Over the past year, nights out with friends sharing small plates of food have turned into nights spent with takeout for one. Instead of going to the movie theater with coworkers, we binge-watched Netflix; awkward first dates turned into awkward first zooms; staying home to stave off the spread of COVID-19 turned into confronting head-on another invisible symptom of the pandemic.

Loneliness and other pandemic-related factors contribute to depression and substance abuse, causing a mental health crisis across the U.S. As the CDC (opens in new tab) advises us to do everything to keep our bodies safe (wash hands, wear masks) we must not forget to protect our mental health as well. This includes combating loneliness, an underlying problem that can have devastating consequences.

Nextdoor is attempting to do just that, and its growing popularity speaks to its urgent relevance. This hyper-local social networking app connects people in the same community (common conversation topics include lost cats and restaurant recommendations) and allows everyone to stay in their homes and perhaps for the first time say, "Yes, we have neighbors (who are really, really big might play house music at a really, really loud volume)," and in the midst of that realization, it grew massively (opens in new tab).Founded in 2010 and valued at $2.1 billion, the platform became a community news and local entertainment It became a hub and a virtual way to feel intimately connected to the people down the block.

Sarah Freer, the company's CEO since 2018, navigated her team through both this growth and the league of users from 223,000 neighborhoods (open in new tab) who came to the app for human connection.Marie Claire Editor In an Instagram Live conversation with chief Sally Holmes, Freer shared her thoughts on the power of community and why it is important for us to be a "we" society in a post-COVID world. Below are a few key moments (but to see the entire conversation, visit Marie Claire's IG TV). (Open in new tab)

People have an inner circle, which consists of friends and family. We connect with those people both in person and online, which is why we visit sites like LinkedIn. That's why they access sites like LinkIn. But people are losing the middle ring (people in the community): the middle ring is critical to our health. According to our study (open in new tab), knowing six or more neighbors has a dramatic and statistically significant impact on your health.

The second thing our study tells us is that when people do one small kindness (like saying hello or picking up someone's newspaper and throwing it on the porch), it dramatically reduces loneliness. Kindnesses large and small can have a huge impact on your neighborhood and on you.

Recently, in my county, health care workers have been getting vaccinations, and [vaccination sites] have been getting too many vaccinations. If the shot didn't go into a person's arm, it went in the trash. You can't do that on Twitter or Facebook because people drive hundreds of miles to get there. As a result, many people over the age of 75 got vaccinated earlier than expected.

When I talk about managing teams, there are two words I always use: first, transparency, and second, empathy. When people start working virtually or have high stress levels, there is a need for excessive communication. I value transparency, getting the message out and letting people know who you are, and the second, empathy, is about understanding people. When you have a one-on-one meeting with a teammate, it's very important now to take a breath in the first five minutes and say, what are you really like?

[Part of it is] figuring out what complements you. Where do you get your energy from?" I definitely get my energy from real life interactions with people. I helped co-found an organization called Ladies Who Launch (open in new tab), which focuses on women who are starting, running, and growing their own businesses. [We provide] a lot of pure resources and education, and I'm really proud that in 2020 we launched a grant program and awarded $150,000 to 11 women who are running different types of businesses. The mentoring and coaching has energized me. These women keep me sane. Many of the things these women struggle with are also things I struggle with.

We can get through this. I'm a big optimist. If I wasn't an eternal optimist, I wouldn't have become an entrepreneur. We will get to the other side of this. The reason I came to Next Door was a sense of community. I know that the more this world leans toward hyper-individualism and becoming an "I" society instead of an "us" society, the less likely it is to take us to a better place.

There are many moments in our lives right now that create loneliness. But the solution may literally be in the apartment next door or the house across the street. These are the people we have so much in common with, yet have been hesitant to talk to. My hope with Next Door is to find ways to make it easier to connect.