I’m sipping Pimm’s on the manicured lawn in a garden in north West London on a Thursday evening. Tonight, I will not only amuse myself like a teenager on summer camp, having a giggle making tie dye T-shirts with like-minded women of my own age, but also I will be networking. Welcome to the Social Ladies Club.
“Hello, we are so pleased you could make it.” I’m greeted effusively by one of the three founders of the group, Maxine Elias, 46, a former hairdresser and one-time owner of kosher Chinese restaurant MetSuYan. You may remember her from Channel Four’s Jewish Mother of the Year competition. She’s all bubble and buzz, flitting around the room introducing newcomers.
Elias worked on the idea of the Social Ladies Club for many years, since the time she organised a barmitzvah luncheon for some Orthodox women who wanted a female DJ at the event. She realised that Jewish women, whatever their age or level of observance wanted a place to let their hair down and have fun together.
She enlisted Danielle Mevorah, 35, a trained counsellor who volunteers for Great Ormond Street Hospital and Alyson Martin, 48, a fundraiser and events organiser, to help her get the concept off the ground.
“We wanted to develop a networking organisation for women who have come to the point in their lives where they may feel rudderless, floating through life, looking for something new and different to inspire them,” explains Elias. “We want to inspire people to do things together. To reinvent themselves. My motto is ‘you have to keep growing or you fall off the ladder.’”
I’m amazed that they have time to climb the ladder at all, with 11 children between them, ranging in age from nine months to 17 years. But this year they have already run three successful events — a celebration of International Women’s Day which attracted 100 people, another to raise awareness of Multiple Sclerosis and an Indian cooking evening which was a sell-out.
The target group is predominantly Jewish women in their late 30s and 40s, and events are promoted on social media. “Our dream is to connect more people and make sure women are supporting women, creating many face-to-face networking occasions for personal or professional reasons, without pressure,” says Mevorah. “We already know of several people who have found voluntary or paid jobs through coming to our events. Our USP is the fun element, keeping the events light-hearted. The networking can take care of itself.”
They are not the only ones who have noticed the need for women’s networking groups. The Latte Lounge is an online resource for midlife women, created by mother-of-four Katie Taylor, focusing on the menopause, but taking in anything and everything that the members want to discuss. It started as a Facebook group, but is now a website as well, with a dedicated medical team and more than 20 regular bloggers.
Taylor’s inspiration to help other women as they navigate midlife, is a result of her own struggles with the menopause. “I had a very low mood for a few years. I had no energy, was teary and anxious, and I even gave up my job because I felt couldn’t cope with the demands of work, running a house and being around for my kids.
“One day I came home and sat on my bed in tears. I felt pretty desperate. I searched on Facebook for groups where I could talk to other women who may be feeling the same way. All I found were groups for mums of young kids talking about buggies and nappy rash and play dates.” So she set up her own Facebook group, which attracted 2000 members in two days.
“I called it the Latte Lounge as the best conversations with my girlfriends always happen in a coffee shop over a latte!
“It is exhausting,” admits Taylor, “but if it wasn’t for HRT or having a hysterectomy I wouldn’t be able to cope. The hysterectomy stopped me being anaemic which had caused the extreme tiredness and the HRT gave me back my energy, memory, sleep and enthusiasm for life. “
Taylor is keen to spread the Latte Lounge spirit. She’s set up a Facebook group for men over 40 called ‘The Espresso Bar’, run by ex-Capital Radio flying eye Russ Kane, and she has plans for a YouTube channel. And her mum has started her own Facebook group for the over 60s, called Gin and Fizz.
The long term goal is to be able to use some of the profits from the Latte Lounge to fund a group of scientists, to research all areas of women’s cancer.
“My motivation comes from my dad, he’s my moral compass,” Taylor explains. “As an eminent breast cancer surgeon, he has dedicated his life to finding the cure for breast cancer. I’m not a doctor so I can’t make people better, but what I can do is help women who are suffering in all areas of their lives be it relationships, health, work/life balance, or problems in their families, by signposting them to the right people.”
www.lattelounge.co
www.socialladies.club
