**How Kathleen Hanna and Hayley Williams Connected Over Email Before Their Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Conversation (Exclusive)**.zin

Kathleen Hanna and Hayley Williams Formed a Bond Over Email Before Their Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Talk

Feminist punk icon Kathleen Hanna and Paramore’s Hayley Williams recently shared the stage at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio, for a sold-out conversation celebrating Women’s History Month and the Rock Hall’s new Revolutionary Women in Music exhibit. Despite their easy camaraderie, the two had never met in person before the event—though they had exchanged emails over the years.

“We had just emailed a couple of times, like, ‘Hey, I like your work’—that kind of thing,” Hanna, 56, told PEOPLE after the event. Their connection deepened when Hanna asked Williams to provide a blurb for her 2024 memoir, Rebel Girl: My Life as a Feminist Punk. Williams not only agreed but continued reaching out with thoughtful feedback about the book.

Hanna, best known for her work with Bikini Kill and Le Tigre, revealed that Williams’ words came at a crucial time. “I really was isolated at the time because I was at the end of turning the book in and about to go on tour,” she said. “I really didn’t have anybody to talk to—my husband [Beastie Boys’ Adam ‘Ad-Rock’ Horovitz] was sick of hearing about it,” she joked.

During their Rock Hall conversation, Williams, 36, was visibly honored to be speaking with Hanna, reacting emotionally to every compliment. Hanna, in turn, praised Williams for her intelligence, humor, and deep love of music.

Reflecting on her decades of activism, Hanna emphasized the importance of rest and trusting intuition. “They’re trying to turn our intuition off and make us think feminism’s over, that it’s already been done,” she said. “But the fact that they’re stripping away our rights shows it’s the opposite of over.”

Hanna’s memoir, Rebel Girl, a raw and powerful account of her life and the Riot grrrl movement, will be released in paperback on June 24.