SINGAPORE – It started with a question: Can people make friends outside work, school and interest groups?
Looking to meet new people, two friends sent out an open invitation for a social gathering. Anyone can join, but they must meet one simple requirement: Their name must be Chloe.
The hosts – Chloe Tan and Chloe Chong, both in their 20s – wanted to see if a group of random individuals who share nothing but their first name can find common ground and connect.
Tan, who hosts events as part of her job at a tech founder network, said she wanted to try something new.
She found that events have a tendency to be “quite structured”, and participants usually have something in common.
“I wanted to remove hobbies and traits entirely and strip it down to the basics,” she said. “What is the one thing we can keep as a shared trait?”
Introverts welcome
The first event, held on Aug 15 at an outdoor space next to Temasek Shophouse, was attended by about 25 people.
It was planned without an agenda to allow people to “come as they are”, said Chong, who works in sales for a data company.
During the event, many of the participants shared that they usually shy away from socialising with strangers.
“Many of them told us that they are introverted, but this event was so fresh and (only those named Chloe) qualify for it, which encouraged them to join,” Tan said.
Chong added that the requirement meant that people were more likely to turn up alone. “It lessened the participants’ fear of there being in-groups or the possibility of being outcast,” she said.
One attendee, also named Chloe Tan, echoed the sentiment.
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