Editor’s note: This article first appeared in the July 12, 2022 flipbook.

Kelly Wei said she keeps a Pinterest board dedicated to things that remind her of her best friend, Eunice (Camille) Bao. It’s on this board that she pinned a picture of a girl reading Elena Ferrante’s novel, “My Brilliant Friend.”

Months later, the pair returned to this image, using the novel as the name of their biweekly newsletter about anything and everything they can think of.

“This (newsletter) is about celebrating the love and inherent beauty of writing and writing to an end of intimacy,” said Wei, a business and psychology senior. “It’s not cohesive, but I feel like that’s what makes it quite authentic.”

The pair met and roomed together their freshman year at UT and started multiple creative projects, including vlogs and outfit-of-the-day videos, under the name “one seventy stories” — an homage to their dorm room in Moore-Hill. However, with all these different creative endeavors, Bao said it was difficult to find a project that stuck — until “My Brilliant Friend”.

“We were writers first and foremost,” said Bao, an economics and Plan II senior. “We finally found a project we were both really passionate about and really good at.”

In January, the two friends launched the biweekly personal newsletter on Substack, a popular blogging platform where users can upload self-published newsletters. The pair writes about whatever is on their minds each week, ranging from reflections on past relationships to detailed pop culture analyses.

Wei and Bao said they wanted to use their newsletter as a way to celebrate the inner workings of friendship. At the end of each newsletter, the pair chooses to spotlight one of their “brilliant friends,” recognizing their unique triumphs. 

“It’s being open about your friends,” Bao said.“Being open about what you like about them and acknowledging their achievements, their value and role in your life.”

One of their spotlighted “Brilliant Friends,” Caleb Zhang said he appreciates the authenticity and introspection emulated by Wei and Bao.

“It’s made me value friendship a lot more,” said Zhang, a marketing and Plan II senior. “Friendship is something we take for granted, so seeing them write so beautifully and thoroughly about friendship and human connection is really refreshing.”

Bao said the intimacy of self-publishing their newsletter on Substack empowers her to write freely, without worrying about the pressures of commodification that come from meeting requirements set by larger publications

“There’s something to be said there on what you prioritize,” Bao said. “Not worrying about how (your writing) lands, but worrying more about how you feel and how you write about it.”

Despite working with Bao for years, Wei said that through their newsletter, she realized their personalities aren’t as similar as she initially thought.

“(Bao is) everything about the world that I think is exciting and beautiful, but not necessarily native to me,” Wei said. “(Being able to) engage with those ideas that she stands for through a medium that we both love has been the most valuable thing to come out of this newsletter for me.”

With Bao studying in Hong Kong in the fall, she said she appreciates how “My Brilliant Friend” will continue to connect her with Wei, and she anticipates continuing their newsletter for the foreseeable future.

“(My Brilliant Friend is) something that we truly love doing, and we can do it anywhere in the world,” Bao said. “I think what makes it special is it is about our lives, and we have to keep living it and keep coming back to it.”