As an industry which has long been male-dominated, it makes sense that golf days and invitations to football games have often been the default socialising options, as traditionally 'male' days out. However, in recognition of the fact that women are also a key part of the industry, the Front Events team invited a selection of key industry names to take part in their Ladies Day, and it was a great success.
Our team of ladies consisted of Emma Mason (Blacks Connect), Claire Pender (Bridgebank), Jenny Barrett and Jeni Browne (Keystone), Suzanne Green (Mortgage Brain), Rachel Vaughan (Nationwide) and Yasmin Butt, Jennifer Burns and Robyn Moore (Shawbrook), plus our very own Operations Director Kirsty Shields. It was brilliant to get a group of women from the industry together at once and the atmosphere was fantastic - lots of laughter, conversation (and wine) flowed throughout the afternoon.
We were greeted by Front's Laura Calcroft in the lovely fifth floor bar and enjoyed a few glasses of bubbly before heading for lunch - a three course affair of excellent food, excellent wine and even better company! After this we headed downstairs to be pampered by the lovely people of Lancôme, taught about exclusive fragrance by the ladies of Kilian, and discussed cellular skin technology with La Prairie. We came away with makeovers and a bag of goodies, including some very nice pink champagne truffles, which I may or may not have eaten on the train home...
It was a fab afternoon and one which I hope will become something of a standard in the industry for events - as someone who enjoys a day at the football as much as any bloke, I know it's wrong to say that the majority of social events are purely for the boys. But it was refreshing, and lots of fun, to have an afternoon dedicated to the brilliant, interesting and influential women that make up our industry too - so a massive thank you to Laura Calcroft and James Prosser at Front Events!
