First rule of The Allbright Club? TALK ABOUT THE ALLBRIGHT CLUB. Why? Because it’s bloody brilliant.
A bit of background: Debbie Wosskow and Anna Jones (entrepreneur and ex CEO of Hearst respectively) opened their first women-only members club in Bloomsbury last March (on International Women’s Day, natch) – named after the US ambassador to the UN, Dr Madeleine Allbright who 25 years ago coined the phrase: “There’s a special place in hell for women who don’t help each other.” Quite.
The pair wanted to open a collaborative space for women in business to come together (its members are all female founders and entrepreneurs) – as the antidote to ‘scene-y’ member’s clubs, or worse, the stereotypical, elitist male-dominated institutions where it mattered more what school you went to than your business accumen.
Rather than being ‘anti-men’ The Allbright’s focus isn’t on male-bashing, far from it – the female members who join their Rathbone Place club and the newly opened Maddox Street sister site in Mayfair are too busy running their own incredibly successful businesses to worry what the patriarchy are up to. It attracts women leaders who excel in their field who want a space where they can meet other women like them.
And that’s precisely the magic that I wanted to be part of – as a female business owner, my aim has always been to be the least experienced, knowledgable and accomplished in any room. Why? Because that’s where you get inspired to grow. I would happily pay my monthly membership for access to the daily timetable of talks, panel chats, screenings and mentoring sessions ALONE. There’s ‘how I started out’ talks from leading female journalists, politians and business leaders, as well as cultural and media events to round out the business offering. But more than that, I love the message that the Allbright is spreading – ‘here is a space where you can be unapologetically female AND driven in business’. The two don’t have to be mutually exclusive and you can thrive here.
Now let’s not skirt around the money issue – yes at £100/month it’s a huge investment for an independent agency like mine, but would I spend that on business development courses, mentoring, attending events and hiring spaces for meetings otherwise – absolutely. It’s just packaged into one price.
On an aesthetic note, I love that its interior design is equally feminine, proving you don’t have to emulate a ‘man’s world’ to fit in, in business. Across 5 floors there’s space to work-out, relax, dine, entertain and most importantly – work.
Which comes onto the practicality element of my membership – with 80% of my client portfolio London-based, it made sense for me to put down roots and have a base somewhere. Being able to hold meetings somewhere in the centre of town, rather than in cramped, noisy coffee shops not only maximises the most of my time in London each week, but also gives my business a professional edge that ‘Waterloo Costa’ doesn’t really have.
And yes, I guess there is a HUGE part of being an Allbright member that is about hanging my ‘female-led creative agency‘ hat on a ‘female-led’ business club and saying – this is what I stand for. ‘Collaboration over competition’ and as The Allbright puts it: