SHAH ALAM - Making new friends as an adult can feel surprisingly difficult.
Between work, routines and the familiar rhythm of the 9-to-5, opportunities to meet people often become limited.
For Emily Oi and her husband, Parth Reddy, that gap inspired them to create Nosmalltalk KL, a community designed to bring adults together through activities that make conversations and genuine connections feel more natural.
As adults settle into increasingly busy routines, socialising can sometimes become little more than catching up with the same circle of friends.
Oi who is the founder of Nosmalltalk KL, wanted to create something different — a space where people could step away from autopilot, try something new and potentially leave with a few new connections.
“I founded Nosmalltalk KL with my husband, Parth, in March after we realised that most social events in the Klang Valley did not leave much room for real conversation, while finding new friends as an adult can also be difficult.
“We felt adulthood should be more than simply being on autopilot, so we decided to build a community centred on genuine conversations and connections, while enriching adults’ lives beyond the usual 9-to-5 routine,” she told Sinar Daily.
Nosmalltalk KL brings together adults through a variety of activities, taking familiar social events and giving them a more interactive twist.
Its programme includes personality-matched dinners, hikes, walks and pickleball sessions with curated conversation prompts, reflection sessions involving games and dance, work hangouts, goal-setting sessions, as well as more niche craft and cooking workshops.
The community's flagship dinner has already attracted considerable interest, with each event accommodating up to 60 people and consistently being oversubscribed since its launch in March.
For Oi, however, the idea is not simply to fill a room with strangers. The activities are intended to give people something to do together, making social interaction feel less forced while creating opportunities for friendships to develop naturally.
“The activities are currently centred in the Klang Valley, particularly Kuala Lumpur, although we are planning to organise more sessions in Petaling Jaya before eventually expanding into other urban areas.
“Nosmalltalk KL remains a small core team, supported by an evolving group of hosts who bring their own interests and ideas to the community's events,” Oi said.
Among its activities is Walk With Strangers, which takes the simple idea of going for a walk and turns it into an opportunity to meet several new people.
Participants are paired with another person and given a conversation prompt to help overcome that initial awkwardness between strangers. Each pair walks together for 1km before participants are matched with someone else and given a new prompt.
Rather than treating the prompts as a rigid set of questions, they are designed simply to get conversations moving.
“The idea is to encourage participants to talk about themselves, discover shared interests and allow the discussion to develop naturally.
“The concept also keeps the social experience relatively low-pressure. Participants can walk, chat and get to know one another without the expectations that can sometimes come with more conventional social events,” she added.
While friendship remains at the heart of the activities, Oi acknowledged that meeting a potential partner could be an added bonus.
The community may even explore a Walk With Strangers: Speed Dating Edition in the future. For now, Walk With Strangers is open to participants aged 18 and above.
“Beyond the conversations themselves, the activities are also designed to encourage people to remain active.
“Whether it is walking, hiking or playing pickleball, the emphasis is on socialising while doing something enjoyable rather than simply sitting across from strangers and trying to make conversation.
“That approach reflects the broader idea behind Nosmalltalk KL, that meaningful connections can emerge more easily when people are given an activity, shared experience or simple reason to spend time together,” she said.
For adults who feel their social lives have become confined to work and existing friendship circles, such experiences can offer an opportunity to step outside familiar routines.
Those interested in joining Walk With Strangers or exploring other Nosmalltalk KL activities can register their interest through the community's website or follow its Instagram and Threads accounts at @nosmalltalk_community.