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Julie Rodriguez and Diana Navarro, both 30, met 8 years ago over a conversation about their hair when they both worked for a crisis hotline in New York City. Though they didn't know each other well, Diana asked Julie what hair products she used. "Since we're Puerto Rican, our hair tends to frizz up," explains Diana. "I noticed Julie had nice hair, so I hoped she could offer some new solution."
During that conversation, the women discovered several things in common besides hair woes: Both were single and in their late twenties, both had a degree in psychology, and both thought their workplace was poorly run. Since they seemed to hit it off, they exchanged phone numbers so they could socialize outside of work.
Several months later, Diana finally called Julie, and they ended up talking for five hours. It was then they discovered even more common ground—frustrations with church, uncertainty about their faith, and thoughts on how to improve their workplace. "It was incredible," says Diana. "Even after five hours, it was difficult to hang up because we had so much to talk about."
"That's the problem," says Julie, laughing. "That set the precedent for the rest of our relationship."
Coincidentally, they began to be scheduled to work together a lot after that. While there, they'd discuss strategies to beat the burnout so common in crisis hotline work. They both believed individual responsibility, humor and play, and a pleasing environment were keys to a successful workplace.
"We thought our ideas were fairly common- sense," says Julie. "But everyone seemed intrigued by them, so we finally started writing them down." They earned the nickname "The Memo Women" as they circulated their ideas at work. Julie and Diana even called a few meetings with their supervisors to share their brainstorms.
When Julie and Diana found themselves saying, "If we ran a business, we'd do it this way," they began to birth plans for their own company.
Simultaneous to their venture into the business world, Julie and Diana also began a spiritual journey together.
"I was raised in a nominally religious home," says Julie. "We attended church only on Easter and Christmas." But Julie's mom became a Christian when Julie was 14, and insisted she attend church with her every week after that.
"I told my mom, 'I know my rights. When I turn 18, you can't force me to go to church with you anymore.'" She made good on her words.
Diana was raised in the Bronx by a mom who dragged Diana to church seven days a week. "I began to resent Christianity as I got older. When I got to my teen years, I walked away from it all."
So when they first met, Julie considered herself a nominal Christian and Diana was an agnostic. Spurred by their common uncertainty, they searched for answers together.
Both had read Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard's book Dianetics. They were drawn to the way Hubbard's organization was run—with well-presented classes and high-profile, highly committed followers. "We found Scientologists to be more faithful to their beliefs than many of the Christians we'd known," says Diana. But months after they'd started considering themselves Scientologists, they attended one of Hubbard's conferences together—"We also went to meet guys!" confesses Julie—and they were actually turned off by the same devotion that had initially intrigued them.
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