From left: Halima Muhammad, Sukanya Prasad, Ashleigh Genus and Prisca Ho staetter.Halima Muhammad, Sukanya
Prasad, Ashleigh Genus and Prisca
Ho staetter share a spacious
four-bedroom apartment together
on Myrtle Avenue in Brooklyn.
Two of the roommates pay about
$950 a month (and have their
own bathrooms), while the other
two pay about $890.
7The night that the four young
women — who call themselves the
Myrtle Bees, after their street name,
Myrtle Avenue, and their apartment
number, 2B — began the search
for an apartment, ‘‘it turned into us
walking to the deli, giggling in the
rain, watching movies and building
a fort,’’ Halima says. ‘‘It was weird
because it felt so natural.’’
They moved in during November
2020, while New York was still in
lockdown and a vaccine was months
away, and quickly became close.
‘‘Winter hit, and it was really rough,’’
Ashleigh says. ‘‘We had all these
bonding moments because we
couldn’t see our other friends. It was
just the four of us.’’ Now their days
are busy and varied, but most nights
they sit in the kitchen and process
everything together. Halima says her
fellow Bees are the ones with whom
she shares her workday tribulations.
Last spring, they even partook in
the ultimate New York friend group
ritual: a weekend together upstate.
‘‘That trip solidifi ed us because we
were away from the apartment,’’ she
says. ‘‘And it still worked.’’
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