On the 10th ofMay 2023, I held the second Inspire Roundtable in London at The Athenaeum, kindly hosted by Monika. Thank you to all the wonderful ladies who attended, some who were there last year at the Pan Pacific and some new faces too.
Key takeaways fromthe roundtable
- Appreciate having a space that is so open, honest and we can share our experiences.
- Learning from one another and knowing that we are not the only ones.
- Mentoring needs structure and accountability
- Learning that "I don’t need to be liked by everyone"
- Women need to practise advocacy and self-promotion
- Are quotas the way to go for gender balance?
- How to not lose yourself as you grow as a leader
- Promoting gender balance helps with staff retention.
I come away from each of these events so energised and encouraged by this supportive community
of women in hospitality.
Testimonals
"The roundtable felt a safe space where I could be able to share how I feel as a woman starting to make her way up in a world that's unfortunately still mainly led by men, and at the same time learn about other women's path. I was initially intimidated by the fact that the other attendants had much higher roles than mine, but I realised after about 5 minutes, that that didn't matter to anybody except me and everybody was happy to listen to what I had to say and get a different perspective. It was also lucky that it was arranged a few days before my first big international conference and I got a lot of tips, advice and that really helped to calm down the stress I was starting to feel. Furthermore, some
of the women that attended the round table were also attending the same international conference and arranged for us to meet up in a couple of occasions, which made me feel part of a community." Mara Cattaneo
"I love these rountables - so nice to be able to communicate in a small group and learn so
much from other people’s experiences" - Laura Jones
"Although initially a bit hesitant about what we we would talk about, Tairona and Mara
found is very useful, especially in preparing for Berlin and other upcoming conferences." - Andrea Shaw
"Lovely eventand opportunity to discuss common ideas in a very safe and open environment" - Silvia de Candia
"I thoroughly enjoyed the roundtable. Naureen has created a warm and safe environment for
members to share their fears and experience which they normally wouldn't be able to share with their friends or colleagues. The roundtable also allows me to meet people who works in the same industry but outside my normal circle." - Eva Chan
