Billions Of Besties: North Caldwell Author Pens Debut Book

NORTH CALDWELL, NJ — The world can seem tough sometimes. But when you have a “bestie” to lean on, the going gets much easier, according to Susie Arons.

Arons, a North Caldwell resident, recently debuted her first book, “Billions of Besties: A Celebration of Fascinating and Simply Exceptional Friendships,” with the aid of her co-creator and illustrator, Peggy Panosh.

Arons has a diverse career in the entertainment industry, having served as president of strategic communications at 42West and worked with household names such as Netflix, HBO, Amazon Studios, and Apple Music.

“Billions of Besties” takes a look at the value of friendship, using Arons’ experience in the industry as a filter for the book’s quirky content.

Here’s how Simon & Schuster describe the book:

“Billions of Besties’ is a beautifully illustrated and joyful tribute to friendship, featuring 90+ illustrations and origin stories of besties in pop culture, art, entertainment and beyond. Susie wrote all the little-known origin stories while her best friend Peggy created all the delightful illustrations.”

Arons and Panosh appeared at Watchung Booksellers in Montclair last week to promote the book, taking part in a discussion with best-selling author and entrepreneur Bobbi Brown.

The author offered Patch a few answers to some questions about "Billions of Besties" and her creative process.

What inspired you to create this book even with a chaotic full time job?

Inspiration happens when it's meant to be and that's exactly what happened with our gem, Billions of Besties. As my bestie and co-creator Peggy Panosh was driving from Brooklyn to New Jersey for a lovely day to hang by our pool in NJ, she was captivated by an interview on NPR on friendship that Beanie Feldstein was doing to promote her movie Booksmart. Peggy walked into our house talking about all of the couples, the pairs, the millions and billions of best friends that existed and we grabbed a legal pad, pens and just started making lists. It all snowballed sitting by the pool over the next few weeks. Fortune and the magic of friendship was really shining down on us, as another one of Peggy's friends, Jen Hawkins introduced her to our now fairy godmother Teresa Di Masi, who oversees Tiller Press at Simon & Schuster. Peggy mentioned we had these 2 book ideas, and 15 months, 90+ illustrations and stories later we have a book. Over the course of that time, I changed jobs, Peggy did a 9-city arena tour with Oprah and WW, we all went into lockdown and the research and drawing became a catharsis while we figured out this new normal way of living.

How did you discover the little-known stories about A-list besties?

For every entry in the book, even the ones I knew personally, I used the old school journalist standard of at least two corroborating sources of research, to ensure that I was thorough. In most cases, I used more and when you begin doing research on a topic, you find new gems. Peggy and I had also reached out to friends and family early on in the process for their ideas so that we had a well-rounded initial list to pore over, from historic besties, impactful besties, Besties who changed music, fashion, pop culture, real and fictional - we wanted besties that made us smile, that we hoped would make our readers go "Wow" or at least "mmmhhh..."

Tell me about the importance of friends bonding over social causes?

Friends bond over so many different avenues. They can bond over favorite foods, movies, inexplicable chemistry - juju, just getting each other. And when you are involved in a cause that you are passionate about, or find someone who is passionate about causes, it seems natural that your inner compasses must be set on the same prompts at the very least.

How has the pandemic influenced your own relationships/friendships?

I think I have become more reflective and more appreciative of my friendships and relationships. I miss my friends. Seeing them on Zooms is not a substitute for dinner and a long catch-up. But I also am so delighted when I see their name light up my phone or my Inbox. I think I reach out faster, but I don't think I reach out often enough still. The pandemic has put a premium on relationships. That's for sure.

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