Join us!
Partners
Dine with Yelp – The Third in the Series of Kitchen Dinners
June saw The NextWomen enjoy great success with the third in their series of Kitchen Dinners. Led by UK Manager of Yelp, Laura Nestler, the evening could not have had better weather. With temperatures hitting 33 degrees and the heat in the kitchen too much, tables were moved to our balcony and drinks held in the central Notting Hill garden. As the sun set, guests dug into a light summer menu of gazpacho, basque chicken with wrapped asparagus and Eton Mess.
A fantastic group of women were this time joined by two men – Nick Coleman of Technology Den and Andrew Nutter of Balderton Capital. Admittedly an unplanned scenario, it only added to the evening’s events where a stellar line-up of women included: Azita Qadri of Eat your Cake and member of Management Today’s 2009 List of 35 Women Under 35; Lisa Tse, founder of Lisa Tse Creative Consulting and one of five women invited by Addidi Angels to champion an extraordinary businesswoman in history for the Addidi Inspiration Awards; as well as two Europa (TechCrunch Europe Awards) nominees Sophie Cox of Worldeka and Lexie Mendelson of Webjam.
Once seated and after a brief introduction from each guest, the starter and main courses were enjoyed over varied conversation. With the final course of Eton Mess in place, the enviably young and impressively successful Laura Nestler took centre stage. Agreeing that with most start-ups many people wear multiple hats, she revealed that her business cards presently have no job description and questioned people’s ability to succeed in a start-up if they do not assume such a role.
The crux of her talk that ensued was that:
‘Keeping community and personality is what will make a website.’
She has recognised that by making personal connections – by picking up the phone or meeting people in person – she has sped up the management ladder, partly by meeting the right people but also by being able to make the process a personal one. This isn’t to say that she doesn’t use Facebook or Twitter. She of course recognises the nation’s love of social networking sites and that to stay connected you must do what everyone else is doing, but she believes you shouldn’t just leave it there.
For the Summer Kitchen Dinner on July 27th BOOK NOW!
Her first lesson in, shall we say, getting what she wants, came when she decided to get a scholarship to study at a Public University in the States. She went to the Rotary Club. Made friends, and hey presto – she found some funding. Her networking skills didn’t end there though, and her CV to date is a sparkling example that person-to-person networking still has a massive place in today’s world of business. She has worked and travelled in Tanzania; made famous people happy for Addidas; travelled in Europe, working as a chef in Belgium and a Tour Guide in Rome with no previous experience of either; worked as director of admissions at Portland University and of course joined the Yelp team in the U.S. as employee number 33. None of these positions, she feels, were achieved because she had put a lot of time in behind the computer screen, but because she went out and met people.
As she drew to an end, and guests mingled with end of evening drinks, she finished by mentioning the positives of receiving criticism:
‘Bad reviews are like getting parsley stuck in your teeth. If someone points it out, it’s embarrassing. You may get defensive, but in the long run you can get rid of the parsley and then you feel happier’
comments
One Response to “Dine with Yelp – The Third in the Series of Kitchen Dinners”
Leave a Reply
- br/>
Extras
-
[...] women and 15 (lucky) men arrived at The NextWomen kitchen for pre-dinner drinks and a taste of the ‘original’ and usually (much) smaller kitchen dinner. A seemingly smooth operation took attendees on a swift [...]