Three things we got stubborn about
01
IRL > apps
Five minutes of eye contact beats five weeks of texting. That's why we connect people in person.
02
Age matters
Life stages are real, and socializing is better with people in the same one. Our events are always curated by age group.
03
Connection is guaranteed
We make the intros so you can focus on finding your people, without the pressure to work the room.
Built by four people and a group chat
Caitlin Stefanick
Co-founder
CEO
Kelly Fischer
Co-founder
Marketing & Strategy
Lucia Bonfanti
Social media
Content
Ryan Stefanick
Membership
Operations
How Shaka started
2022
We turned small gatherings of friends into real events with real customers.
2023
Shaka grew to 5,000+ members in NYC, and we decided it was time to take it to the next level.
2024
We started expanding to new locations and shifted from general social events to dedicated happy hours for meeting singles and making friends.
2025
Shaka leveled up again by introducing our speed intro system to make connecting at our events even more seamless.
2026
There’s so much more fun to come.
It started with 1 happy hour for our friends in NYC.
5 years later, we're bringing strangers together on a whole new scale.
1000+
Events hosted
11+
Locations
29k+
Members
300+
Partner venues
