St Pauls • Bristol
Ladies Wine & Design X Gather Round – “Don’t Hold Back”
They’re back! Ladies Wine & Design kicked off their packed 2023 roster with an inspiring and informative evening at our Brunswick Square home. We couldn’t be happier to host their first Bristol event of the year.
‘Don’t Hold Back’ was created with the mission to empower womxn and non-binary people to take ownership of their journey, in their work and personal life. Talks covered themes of belonging, being yourself and not holding back from who you want to be. With Gather Round filled with incredible, creative business owners it felt like the perfect collab.
LW&D was started by Jessica Walsh to combat the sometimes competitive and unsupportive nature of business. With only a small percentage of female creative directors across sectors, it is LW&D’s aim to change this through mentorship circles, portfolio reviews, talks and creative meetups.
Spearheading the Bristol chapter is Sara Foley, Senior Designer at Mr B & Friends, alongside Helen Liang, Creative Practice Consultant at Industry of Us and Beatrice Menis, Co-Founder of Studio Kibi. Together they’ve hosted fantastic events over the past couple of years, all with the aim of bringing the best out of their community.
The night kicked off with drinks and a talk by Gather Round’s very own Community & Events Manager, Hannah Coton. Hannah touched on how we all harness our power in different ways, some through social connection and others through solo experimentation and play. Hannah encouraged us all to embrace how you do it and, however it may look for you, do it wholeheartedly and unapologetically.
Chapter Leader Sara was the main event as she opened discussion about imposter syndrome and how to conquer it. An incredible speaker, Sara brought a welcome lightness to a sensitive topic and backed up her hypothesis with quotes from none other than Ru Paul.
It was great to see womxn from all corners of creativity and business come together at Gather Round to meet and share their experiences. Wine flowed from the bar and interesting conversations sparked amongst the crowd, inspired by Sara’s talk on how to beat imposter syndrome and Hannah’s points on the importance of a supportive community.
People shared stories of similar experiences in their workplaces and started to build a plan for the next meet up. They left with minds full of inspiration and newly born WhatsApp groups to carry on the night’s discussions.
