Last night, a wonderful bunch of professional ladies gathered around a traditional Christmas dinner to chat business, life and collaboration. We were delighted to join forces for the second time with the ladies at Eyedea. Eyedea is a London-based society for women that hosts speaker and charity events aiming to inspire and connect young female professionals.

We welcomed the brilliant Vivienne Sung and Tracy Doree, founders of Llustre, as after dinner speakers. They shared their tales of success (Llustre was acquired by Fab.com after just 10 weeks) and where they’re at currently.

Tracy and Vivienne talked through initial customer acquisition through a smart referral scheme and forming relationships with key influencers. They talked about the importance of brand and how having a beautiful platform and user experience was as important as selling beautiful products. The dynamic between them as co-founders was great and it was easy to see that their personalities would have shone through at each stage as they developed the business – they hosted their launch party at Tracy’s flat, which gave a real chance for guests to get to know them as people. They highlighted the importance of a women’s perspective when the target audience is predominantly female and the opportunities for businesses with that focus. They also touched on fundraising, decision making and how the exit came about. The wine flowed (considering it was a Monday) and the evening ended with some great questions from the other diners.

We were joined by professionals and entrepreneurs from Net a Porter, MyCarGossip, Blu Dot, byflock, Travelex, Microsoft, Wayfair, Bloomberg, Running in Heels, a black and white story, Treniq, Cooking With Mama and others.

A few snippets from the evening:

A gorgeous 2 course dinner of traditional Christmas turkey and Christmas pudding were enjoyed at the Green Restaurant in Clerkenwell.

Wishing all you ladies (and men) a Merry Christmas and best of luck with your ventures!

Have a look at our upcoming tables in the new year here.