As the Christmas lights and windows adorn the high street and the super market shelves are stocked with mince pies and mulled wine, it is time to gear up for the festive season and to reflect on the year that has (rapidly) gone by!
As I have mentioned in the many a previous post – I am really thankful to all of you – both guests and partner brands who have supported the Keziah CONNECTIONS initiative that I launched in July! Your kind words and encouragement have been priceless. I am really, really grateful. Launching Keziah CONNECTIONS has been one of the highlights of my 2012!
The third Keziah CONNECTIONS NURTURE AND NETWORK™ evening took place on the 23rd of October and was enjoyed by all who attended!
Below is an account of the evening by fellow blogger Nicola aka Belle Noir Bride
On Tuesday (23rd October) a friend and I made our way to the third Keziah Connections: Nurture and Network event. I have been meaning to attend previous events but I was either working or away so when Natalie invited me to this one I cleared the diary to make sure I would be there.
The events are the creation of Natalie, marketing consultant and founder of BeautyPulseLondon. The mission of the event is to encourage women of colour to make a bigger impression on the beauty industry.
Did you know? Black British women spend on average six times more than their Caucasian counterparts on their hair alone!*
The events are all about sharing knowledge, learning and networking in a relaxed and friendly environment. Previous events have all taken place in plush surroundings and this one was no exception. The Mandara Spa at the Park Plaza Hotel, Westminster was the venue for the event and this gorgeous setting completely set the tone.
A glass of prosecco in hand we explored this gem of a place and discovered that it really is so much more than a normal hotel spa. The Spa’s originated in Bali and have now expanded to places such as the Maldives and Phuket. Having visited Thailand on my honeymoon, I noticed the spa had a distinctly Far Eastern feel as soon as we entered and the smell alone transported me back. Ahh blissful memories!
The focus of the event was PR and Communications in the beauty industry, and so Natalie had a line-up of talented speakers including Deborah Johnson of Pure PR who shared her wide experience in the beauty industry. She even picked out one lucky entrepreneur from the audience and gave her some feedback on ways she could improve her packaging. I work in Marketing and I still found the talk informative and engaging.
I asked Deborah a question, as I wanted to know from the perspective of a beauty insider what her top predictions are for the beauty industry in the future. Her answer? A renewed focus on skincare, taking it back to basics and making sure the skin is in the best possible condition and secondly appliqué make-up. You heard it here first!
This was then followed by a tour of one of the therapy rooms and a demonstration of a Balinese massage, unfortunately the demo wasn’t on me, but just seeing it being done was enough to make me want to book a massage.The demo was accompanied by a talk from Louisa Durrant of Monty PR who looks after the Mandara Spa account and we also got to get up close and personal with products.
The evening was also about networking and unlike other events it was all very natural, and I met a variety of ambitious, interesting and approachable women.
To top it all off the goody bag was good! Two full-size Mandara Spa products and also a nail varnish courtesy of new brand Dielle. All in all it was a fantastic event, which I would highly recommend to anyone who wants to crack the beauty industry or even just has a passion for it.
*Source: As quoted in the Guardian, 19th August 2005 via Keziah Connections
Thank you Nicola for a fantastic review!
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