Two years ago, out of the blue, I received an email from a kid named Brett. I had recently met up with the Director of Career Services at Michigan State regarding a project I was working on. Brett had done the same thing around the same time and the director realized that the two of us had too much in common not to meet.

Fast forward two weeks from that email to meeting at Barnes and Noble. I walked in, timidly looking for Brett, completely unsure what to expect. We made the awkward—

“Hi, are you Brett?”
“Yeah, are you Megan?”
“Yes! It’s nice to meet you”

—exchange, shook hands, and over the course of the next hour became fast friends. The director was right, we had a lot in common—we both had an entrepreneurial mindset, liked helping people, and wanted to connect with other like-minded students. I left the Barnes and Noble meeting feeling exhilarated, I knew that coffee meeting was the start of something big.

But I never could have expected how much it would impact my life. Since that time, Brett has introduced me to a wide variety of people, helped me with various projects, opened doors to new opportunities, and—most importantly—been a fantastic friend.

So the moral of the story is that a cup of coffee led to an unexpected friendship that—like so many friendships—changed my life.

This is where 52 Cups of Coffee enters the picture. I couldn’t help but wonder what would happen if I continually tried to meet new people. Obviously every meeting wouldn’t lead to the same outcome as that fateful day at Barnes and Noble, but when you invite 52 new people into your life, it’s bound to change somehow.

Exactly how it changes is what I’m about to find out.