the lore

behind likewise

We are both from Washington and met in college at Washington State University (WSU) when we joined the same sorority. Sam got involved with the chapter early, becoming Secretary our freshman year. She got to know everyone in the chapter (because she was in charge of attendance and meeting minutes) and everyone knew her because she was the secretary. We’re unsure about the true origins of our friendship, but our sophomore year when we both lived in the chapter house we found ourselves running into each other in the hallways and chatting for hours on end (when it only felt like 20 minutes). We found out that we have very similar music preferences and both have creative passions. Before long, we found ourselves in the same friend group but also spending lots of time just on our own, and one day we decided to start a podcast as a means of recording our conversations so that we could listen back (even though Isa didn’t listen to them). COVID hit and though we scrapped the first ever episode we recorded, we persisted and four-and-a-half years later here we are.

our adventures

Since our friendship truly began in 2019, we’ve gone on numerous adventures. Whether it was driving across the state for a planned trip home or buying tickets to a concert in Seattle that night, we’ve found a way to make it work. We’ve been up and down the state of Washington (one time we drove three hours to Vancouver, WA just for coffee), and, of course, across it. We decided to start a “county counter” at some point and that’s expanded to a “state counter” as well.

In 2022, Sam took on a full time roll as a travel chapter development consultant for our sorority’s national organization. That took her to many different states and schools before she officially settled in Nebraska to work for Buckle HQ.

In 2023, Isa went to Nebraska to visit Sam—our first time seeing each other in person since May 2022—and, of course, we went to a concert there (The Band Camino) and roadtripped to Denver for a second concert that week.

In 2024, Sam and Isa decided to make another concert trip but met in Salt Lake City to see Niall Horan (along with Sam’s boyfriend and Isa’s sister). We also met up in Milwaukee this year for our first ever event as media (RomanceCon)! It was so fun and we’re excited for the future opportunities we’ll have with Likewise (and potentially as Same Way Books).

Suffice to say, the annual concert trip is here to stay and we’re so excited to see what 2025 has for us!

  • Actually, no! Sam works full-time in social media content strategy for a fashion retailer and Isa works in sports!

    However, our creative passions and ideas often crossover and we love pursuing new things together. (maybe we're a little too codependent in that, we're working on doing new things alone, but it's more fun to do stuff together!)

  • Everything truly is a joint effort. Sam will take the lead on some things and Isa will take lead on others. Typically, we find ourselves naturally gravitating toward more creative (Sam) or more administrative (Isa) things, but we don't limit ourselves. If one of us is feeling something we bring it up and try it and see how it all works out!

  • We were in the same sorority, so we would work together on lots of projects there. We also both interned for an online magazine for women in business, which is where we learned so much about content strategy, graphic design, and guest sourcing in real-world settings. And, that's also where we developed a good work partnership together.

    A not-so-secret-secret is that we're working on a book (the first in a series - releasing Feb 14, 2025). But, other than that, we're unsure! We've already tried doing another podcast and that didn't pan out quite how we hoped (but that's okay!), so we're taking it one day at a time here with Likewise and Same Way Books and we're both really content and excited about where we're at and can't wait for what else they bring us in the future.

  • Isa grew up actually really loving to read until the later years of elementary school. She remembers devouring the 39 Clues series (particulary Maze of Bones by Rick Riordan). She basically stopped reading for pleasure altogether until 2020 when she read three books in 10 days. Then, at the end of 2021 she decided to get Book Of The Month—hoping that spending money each month on a new book would inspire her to read and it worked (however, she's only read a handful of the BOTM books she's gotten, the majority of books she's read have been ARCs, indie books, from the Libby app, or cute covers she saw at Target).

    Sam just started reading, because before 2022 she was illiterate.

    Now, they're writing a book together, going to book conventions, and infinitely adding to their already too long TBRs.