This week, we hosted our first women in business gathering at the barn–wow was it something special! 50 women entrepreneurs representing various industries and all with a love and passion for serving our local community … to say it was an inspiring night would be an understatement. So much gratitude for this growing, tight-knit community.
WOMEN SUPPORTING WOMEN … YES PLEASE!
Building community is something of great importance to us. To be quite honest, it’s the most important and fulfilling part of our work. Delivering beautiful and functional design is one thing, but doing so while also forming lasting connections with wonderful humans is far greater! Human connection brings us energy and fuels our design engine, and we’re so honored to continue creating bonds with members of our growing community.
“The success of every woman should be the inspiration to another” – Serena Williams
Event Details:
Our vision was simple: to create cohesive, yet an open space for women to mingle, meet, create, laugh, snack, sip, support, encourage and enjoy each other’s presence. We set up a mix of rain barrel high top tables on the patio tiers and long working tables under the tent. We lit (or tried to with the wind!) dozens of tall tapers and scattered them throughout the space. We strung our usual twinkle lights plus a few extra, pulled in stainless heaters, and used a vintage bar for drinks and dessert! Inside the barn we set up a charcuterie spread as well as a few other cute dessert options.
With the holidays fast approaching, we thought it would be fun to incorporate a “make your own wreath bar” during the event. It was a BLAST and we highly recommend trying this activity at your next event or gathering! Sophia from Sunburst Blooms, a local floral event designer, provided all of the greenery and florals used to craft the wreaths. We sourced and supplied vintage metal barrel rings as the wreath bases in addition to vintage wood wreath bases. Providing both options gave the ladies opportunity to choose the look that best fit them, all while letting their creative spirit run wild with the various floral options! Sophia kindly created some sample wreaths for our less creative in the bunch to follow along with. However, unsurprisingly a group of entrepreneurial women can really create some amazing and unique floral designs!
In collaboration with Sophia, we also created a large wreath backdrop for women to take pictures in front of during the event. It was a hit! Incorporating a “photobooth” area is always a fun way to encourage guests to capture the event and excitement.
Our amazing photographer, Amanda Barnes (who took all of these fabulous pictures!), also created a “5 best practices when capturing content” presentation for our guests! This was a fun way to also provide value to a space filled with boss women entrepreneurs who are constantly balancing the daily needs of their business with building a brand! This value-based portion of the event fit so well with the wreath making activity, and our guests had fun capturing their wreath making!
We carefully curated our vendors for the event, all of which were local, female owned and operated businesses and creators. TG Charcuterie and Bar None Hospitality did a fabulous job providing delicacies and drinks for our guests, while Dexter Cider Mill and Dexter Bakery created the yummiest sweets to pair with!
Little goodie bags filled with our favorite women empowerment quote and locally made candles and cookies rounded out the evening. At the next event we hope to ask women to bring their business cards or something branded to put in each of the bags, that way everyone leaves with each other’s information readily available! We did send out everyone’s contact information to our guests for easy contact and ongoing networking after the gathering.
We were so elated by the turnout and ambiance of the gathering. We heard lots of women networking, supporting and learning from one another … truly amazing! We hope to continue fostering and growing this community, not only by future gatherings, but in everyday practice. A comment, like, share, referral, purchase, invite, phone call, check-in, word of encouragement … It all matters! We truly believe we win when we all do, and choosing to lift others up and support one another is the conscious choice we’re making every day.