Today, March 8th, is International Women’s Day and the celebrations don’t begin and end on one day, they continue throughout the month. Or in our case, as long as special shout-outs for women and women+ are no longer needed. #justsayin…
While we don’t have the space, time or mental bandwidth to recall and highlight every single woman who motivates and inspires us, not just in life but in this industry, we wanted to channel our women+ love through one person: Anna Sebastian, founder of Celebrate Her, the non-profit organisation she set up for the global drinks industry community in 2019.
To say that this one of the most valuable resources for women in hospitality is an understatement. Every day questions are asked, problems are solved, connections are made. Jobs are posted, CVs are shared; requests for anything from who can help with a venue for an event or suggest suppliers, to who’s in town for a meet-up or reccos for city visits get seen by the 600 or so members. Journalists use it to ask questions for their stories, bars use it promote their events, brand ambassadors share details about upcoming competitions, and there are postings for flat shares, safety and childcare. All female-focused, all via WhatsApp and all greatly appreciated by everyone who uses the platform.
There have also been opportunities for members to work together, attend events and meet up at specially organised Celebrate Her get-togethers, most notably at a wonderful dinner last year during the Athens Bar Show. And there’s more. As anyone who knows Anna will tell you, there are always plans a-brewing. Including the launch of World Hanky Panky Day later this month. But before we get to that, we wanted to get her in the hot seat so we can do our best to highlight the incredible platform she’s set up tfor women in the drinks industry.
On behalf of everyone in the Celebrate Her group, Anna Sebastian, we salute you.
Okay, let’s start with the why? What was it that made you set up Celebrate Her?
It was very much off the back of a conversation at the end of the shift when I was working at Artesian. Essentially, the thinking behind it was, how can we give visibility to more women? At that point, we’d been working really hard to get a 50-50 split of men and women in the bar, as well as changing the uniforms so that women could choose whether they wore trousers or a skirt on duty. It’s hard to believe it now but that was unheard of at the time.
Once we’d got to a good point with the 50-50 split, we wanted to continue the momentum, so we pulled together an incredible event. It was November 2019, just before Athens Bar Show and things just exploded – brands really wanted to get involved.
It gained so much traction that, coming up to International Women’s Day in 2020, we collaborated with the 50 Best team to launch their ’50-50 is the new 50′ programme, where they pledged to have a 50-50 split of men and women on their voting panel.
Then over the next year, we began to really formulate what it is that we wanted to do. So back to your question: I think the original purpose was, we just wanted to do something but we didn’t think too much about what that something was. Then over time we were able to really see the power of the community. And that really lies at the heart of what Celebrate Her is – community.
And how has it evolved since the early days?
Honestly, it’s grown so much. I think it goes back to what people need and want. How it’s evolved is seeing people who would never have met, come together. In fact, a lot of the success stories happen outside of the Celebrate Her group. People may meet through the group but then having made that connection, they go off and do things together. That’s a really big thing that we’re really proud of – we don’t always see everything that comes as a result of those connections. Then maybe a year later we find out, which is so cool.
How many people are part of the community now and how many countries does it take in?
We’re due another count but at the end of last year we had around 600 people in 52 different countries. I think it’s close to 60 countries now. We have outposts in the Middle East, UK and the US but the community is pretty much based everywhere.
For the first few years Celebrate Her was doing well but recently, it’s just gone bonkers. What do you put its rapid growth down to?
I think it was that we got a really good group of people around us, people who really wanted to be part of it and drive the community forward. They do it because they want to do good, they want to give back to the industry. We have an unofficial ambassadors programme which is one of the things that we’re building out this year because at the present, everyone does it on a voluntary basis.
What are the three biggest ways that the platform is being used?
One of the main ways it’s used is for resource sharing. We all need the same information, so where we can, we get the information and share it across the platform – it makes sense. It saves 600 people from doing the same thing. As an example, we compiled a calendar of events a few years back and to this day, we have people still requesting it.
Another way that it’s used is for posting information about cocktail competitions and upcoming awards, as a way to give more women more visibility. Then we’re constantly asking who’s in this country or for recommendations of bars, so it’s about bringing people together. There’s also an element of just reaching out and connecting with people as well. But it’s really there as a community, as a resource. The end result of anything we do is just going to make the industry better.
What have you learned about the industry since setting up the platform?
Oh, my God, so much! Particularly when it comes to managing a group of this size. For example, there’s a lot of conflict happening in the world right now and obviously, with Dubai being a place built on expats, it’s only natural that people are messaging me like, “Hey, I hope everyone in Dubai is okay”, and blah, blah, blah.
But there’s the other side, we also have members in Israel who are also experiencing war and message me di9rectly to say how much they value the platform but feel excluded and scared to speak up and remind others that no matter one’s political views or identity, everybody deserves to be safe and free. So I sent a blanket message out in a nice way of a reminder that, there’s conflict and that’s why we have to remain politically neutral. This group isn’t about that. It is really, truly about no matter who you are, where you’re from, that we all deserve a place here.
Managing situations like that and being mindful of other people’s perspectives – the language, the verbiage – has been really interesting.
How the hell do you keep on top of it all, answering messages as quickly as you do, making recommendations to everyone who asks, particularly with your extremely busy consultancy work at Anna Sebastian Hospitality?
Honestly, I don’t know but if you don’t stay on top of it, then you’ll miss something. I’m lucky that I have a business that allows me to run Celebrate Her without ever putting any financial implications on the members.
We’ve been so lucky with brand support but with things like the dinner that we did at the Athens Bar Show last year, we funded ourselves. Celebrate Her is a nonprofit at the end of the day and the moment we start charging and benefiting personally from it, then it’s not what I want it to be.
In fact, I would really love to be able to give the template to men in the drinks industry as there is nothing like this community for men.
Tell us about some of the initiatives that Celebrate Her has been involved in.
We’ve had a number of really cool opportunities over the years, some have come through the community – whether that’s mentorship, education or working with the Women’s Night Safety Charter, and others have come through partnerships. Like the one that we have hosting Celebrate Her panels with Rosewood hotels is very special and we’ve done some great work with Diageo World Class.
We did a very cool collaboration with Lillet about getting home safely by taxi and last year we also did a Spritz and Snap activation at BCB London with them, where we invited people to come and have a beautiful headshot – that was awesome. And of course, there’s the Global Evaluation of the Drinks Hospitality Industry survey that we did with CGA by NIQ and Allara Global last year was huge. That’s something that I hope will have a lasting impact. In fact, our big focuses this year are based around the results of that survey and really listening to what people want.
What are some of the biggest changes that you’ve seen regarding women in hospitality in the last seven years of Celebrate Her?
It’s mainly being shaped by the new generation coming in: how people want to work. They’re looking for more hybrid opportunities and much more flexibility. I also think more women are wanting to be in the industry but we still have a long way to go.
On that note, what are some of the biggest changes that are still needed?
We need to be better at getting more women into the industry. We need to continue to give opportunities to women. Obviously this needs to be done in a fair and legal way but the visibility is important. As is listening.
I also think change needs to happen much, much quicker. Sometimes things just take too long to happen. But there are things that we can do too. Women need to start negotiating to get more and really taking responsibility. If you want more money, you need to ask for it, you need to prove why you should have more money. The pay gap exists, we know that and it needs to be addressed. But we need to address it as women.
But I do feel we’re in a positive place and I always want to talk positively about this and I definitely feel that more women are being more proactive as well.
So now on to World Hanky Panky Day. Tell us about this initiative and how it came about?
It was actually Asterley Bros. who had the initial idea. They approached us about it and we were like, “of course, we’d love to collaborate and work with you!”. Then we were like, “let’s bring in Cygnet. Let’s bring in other brands with a female leader as well. And obviously having started my career at the American Bar, Ada Coleman truly led and paved the way for me and many women in the drinks industry. So while this is a nod to the past, it really is a look towards the future of women in the drinks industry.
How to make the official cocktail: The Truly British Hanky Panky
40ml Cygnet 22 Welsh Dry Gin
40ml Asterley Bros Estate Sweet Vermouth
7ml Asterley Bros Britannica London Fernet
Orange coin to garnish
Method:
Stir all ingredients over ice. Pour into a chilled Martini or coupe glass and garnish with an expressed orange coin.
Where to celebrate World Hanky Panky Day:
Cato
Eve Bar
The American Bar at the Savoy
The Spy Bar at Raffles
