As some of the only women of color in Congress, "the squad's" friendship may also be a way to support each other and prevent burnout.
Moj Mahdara, the CEO of makeup and fashion festival company Beautycon, told an audience at The New York Times New Rules Summit in June that befriending other minorities kept her from getting burned out at work. Mahdara said she sometimes feels pressure to work harder as a woman of color to achieve career success, a common phenomenon among minorities in the workplace. When she feels stressed or overworked, Mahdara said she reaches out to her other woman of color friends for support.
"We are only texting and talking to each other about propelling our dreams," Mahdara said. "That's the secret pact I think we've all made: to push each other forward."
Similarly, Marah Lidey and Naomi Hirabayashi, co-founders of the self-care app Shine, bonded initially due to both feeling burned out at work from being the only women of color at their jobs.
The two used the phrase "representation burnout" to describe the feeling, and told Business Insider that they built Shine in part to create a support network for minorities in the workplace who experience it.