Turning small talk into big talk

ByJenn Granneman

Kalina Silverman, a freshmen at Northwestern University, approaches strangers on the street and asks them a big question like, what would you do if you found out you would die tomorrow?

She started her project, Big Talk, after having a deep conversation with a friend and wishing that every conversation could be like that.

“My dream for the whole concept is for it to become a social movement where people want to have big talk in everyday life,” she tells Huffington Post. “I’d love to have discussions or groups to talk about these things. I want it to inspire people to go up to strangers and start asking these kind of questions when they meet them.”

Introverts typically loathe small talk. Susan Cain writes in her book Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking, “Many [introverts] have a horror of small talk, but enjoy deep discussions.” 

I’m the founder of this community and the author of two books: THE SECRET LIVES OF INTROVERTS, a manifesto for all the “quiet ones,” and SENSITIVE, an Amazon Best Book of the Year. An educator and a journalist, I’ve been featured in the NY Times, the Washington Post, Oprah Daily, the Guardian, and more. I started Introvert, Dear in 2013 because I wanted to write about what it was like being an introvert living in an extrovert’s world. My mission is simple: to empower introverts and sensitive people to embrace their strengths — and to start seeing their nature as a good thing. Since embracing my own introversion and sensitivity, I live a pleasantly boring life with my son in St. Paul, Minnesota.