The inaugural LOR Festival will feature a ‘stellar lineup of industry experts, role models and thought leaders’ that will host workshops and panel discussions on subjects including how to start up and scale a business; storytelling; work-life balance, leadership; and conscious and sustainable hospitality.
Confirmed speakers include restaurant columnist Marina O’Loughlin; Blacklock founder Gordon Kerr; Studio Paskin founder Zoe Paskin; Pear Comms founder Lucy Noone-Blake; and Tiella founder Dara Klein.
The Festival Market will see brands and businesses such as Oatly, Botivo, Natoora and Kelly’s Cause, showcasing their wares, with more stalls to be announced.
It will be a place for networking, mingling, eating and drinking, organiser Natalia Ribbe says.
There will also be a series of wine tastings at the market, from the likes of Uncharted Wines, Emile Wines and Wine Box Co.
Tickets for the event, which takes place at Shoreditch’s Town Hall Hotel on 10 March - are available to buy now.
LOR was founded in 2015 by US-export, now Margate resident, Natalia Ribbe, after her own journey in the industry and need for a community of like minded and supportive women.
Since then it has grown to a community of over 10,000 that hosts events, workshops, training sessions and networking opportunities, advocating for a more equitable and sustainable industry, now and for the future.
“I am so passionate about hospitality and the capacity it has to be a truly phenomenal industry for women to work in - one in which we can have fun and truly express our creativity, but with the confidence of strong business acumen,” she says.
“I also believe - from first hand experience - that strength is in numbers and having a network of inspiring peers that support and raise each other up. I’m so excited to bring all of these very important, educational aspects of LOR, together with some of the industry’s most successful and inspiring leaders, to create an amazing event.”
The festival is being supported by OpenTable, Toast, and Oatly.
Tickets are available here.