The introduction
Since 2017, the ever-growing list of Beyond Introductions (BI) questions has sparked personal connections through the stimulating exchange of asking and answering.
It began with Kirsten Mancosky’s reputation as “the question girl,” which captured the attention of people who wanted access to the list of questions. BI caught wildfire and now inspires many to engage in the questions through everyday conversations with friends, family, partners, colleagues, and even strangers.
Now let’s go beyond
The essence and practice of BI was brewing years before it materialized with a name. Kirsten Mancosky still owns – and continues to add to – the iPhone Note that originally held just a handful of personally curious questions. Asking these questions with people expanded her perspectives and connections as they shared answers about their lives, beliefs, and desires. The list would grow as she put her habit of overthinking to good use by reflecting on her own life experiences and producing new questions that led her to discover more about how others thought and lived.
The list now exceeds 160 questions – some are fun and light hearted, a few are hypotheticals, and many are deeply introspective, but they all have the unifying theme of diving past surface-level conversation to uncover the core of a person and true connection.
BI has traversed the digital avenues of Instagram, podcast, and e-book to expose great minds of ordinary people as well as equip fans with the questions (in a more tasteful fashion than iPhone Note). In 2023, by popular request, the first BI book was published as a physical guide on the art of connection, complete with 64 of the most engaging questions yet.
