First things first, it was a good choice of venue. We were welcomed at the entrance with a glass of rose lemonade and offered a blow-dry by one of Aveda’s friendly salon staff. The event felt at ease yet very glamorous, perhaps a potential Smart Girl Tribe Summit trademark for future events? There was a definite buzz of excitement as attendees were given ample time to mingle about their upcoming ventures and reasons for attending the summit. We all sat in rows of benches, which became quite uncomfortable after 2 hours, as Scarlett the CEO of Smart Girl Tribe opened the evening with a question: Who has their own business or side hustle? I was blown away about the number of young women who put their hands up- in fact it was the majority of the room! We heard snippets from newbie life coaches, freelance social media managers and mental health advocates. This is why I love female empowerment events because it is fun, light and safe environments like this one where you’re reminded that everyone is on their own path, working towards their own goals and achieving success in different forms.

Scarlett then introduced herself and the SGT panel. I was intrigued if not slightly confused about the format for the summit. The first half was a panel of female-founded companies and the second part was a one to one with the key guest speaker Jamie Laing (reality TV star and founder of Candy Kittens), all hosted by a BBC reporter. It was even more surprising that Scarlett didn’t host the panel talks but in fact, took part in them. Don’t get me wrong, it was interesting to hear about how she made her side-hustle into her main business; however, I felt as though she should have given more time to the amazing panellists she had organised.

The panellists were the founders of Go Get Glitter, a makeup art brand, and one of the co-founders of Vamp Social Marketing Agency, an agency who primarily represents women of colour in creative industries. They spoke about their journeys of going it alone and financing their side hustles (all which said they did it off their own backs!) in order to start making a profit. All three women made it clear that you have to live, eat and breathe your side-hustle until it reaches a point where you can’t not think about it. At that point, you make it your main priority and take a leap of faith towards success. It was really motivating to hear from young women who found their business niche and slotted themselves into the gap in the market. What’s even more motivating is listening to them urge other like-minded women to work towards being their own boss, offering sweet slices of advice and encouragement.

Now onto the second part of the event where the key guest speaker was... a male entrepreneur? I was torn about this because I could understand how hosting someone with a low-level celebrity status could help bring more awareness to the SGT brand. However, in regards to the concept of the event and the values behind the female-empowerment platform, it felt incredibly ironic that he was the main speaker. Jamie Lang spoke largely about his career and men’s mental health (the second being very thought-provoking!) but neither were really on topic. Plus if I’m being brutally honest, he came across quite badly at one point. To quote him: “Everything is an excuse: being a woman is an excuse, being poor is an excuse...” (this was in the context of building a business- cringe!). I think we can all agree how uncomfortable it was to hear something like that from a) business owner who is b) also a white man who comes from old money and good connections. From the eyes of this attendee, the SGT team should have at least briefed Lang better about the point of the event and for future reference, look to work with more 'on brand' speakers for future events.

At the end, goodie bags were hastily handed out containing a millennial mix of self-care essentials such as coconut water, food supplements, bath salts and sweets. For those who booked the deluxe (and rather more expensive) ticket, one also received the memoirs from a founder of a female-led networking company. Smart Girl Tribe were so close to having a really great summit concept however, there is definitely a need to go over the finer details because at times, it felt more like a sales pitch than an empowerment event.