LET’S TALK IS A COLLABORATION OF WOMEN RESTAURATEURS TO BUILD COMBINED ECONOMIC POWER. IT IS NOT AN ORGANIZATION, IT IS NOT AN ENTITY, IT IS AN ACTION-LED MOVEMENT BY WOMEN BUSINESS OWNERS AS PEERS.
- Let’s Talk Womxn was started as a conversation forum in July 2020 for women restaurateurs to get to know each other, learn from & support each other. It has explosively evolved to much more – to help women business owners build bargaining power and visibility, combine voice, undertake economic collaborations and political action. It is a magical model of competitors as collaborators. It has grown to include women entrepreneurs across food and drink.
- At the nexus of dining, food, drink, entrepreneurship, consumer, retail, business and women, this movement is completely out-of-hide and voluntary. With no overhead or staffing, all support flows directly to its women entrepreneurs.
- Women entrepreneurs in culinary are tired of receiving manuals, guidelines & webinars. Or being on the fringe of attention and involvement dictated by economic power and herd mentality. Let's Talk redresses this.
- Let’s Talk forums connect over 400 women restaurateurs/owners across 14 cities with virtual sessions and a multitude of on the ground initiatives. Each Let's Talk forum is co-hosted, nourished and led by 2-4 leading women restaurateurs. Learnings are cross pollinated by cohosts across all cities.
- Marquee women restaurateurs in each city are peers alongside owners of all sizes, stripes, colors, formats, orientation or identity. Within six months of inception, it is in the NRN Power List 2021 Top 50 for inclusive impactful leadership alongside industry giants.
- Collaborative initiatives have included women’s restaurant weeks, multi-restaurant tasting menus, catering, corporate segment and nonprofit event demos and panels, gift baskets, food fairs, happy hours, meal kits, subscriptions, a picnic with the City, supper clubs. National events have been held across cities for IWD and the women's right convention. Much more is afoot.
- Let’s Talk Women have applied for grants collectively, met with a governor, met city councils for regulation, written OpEds, negotiate with vendors, and participate on panels to share our collaborative uplifting model.
- Let’s Talk deliberately has no lofty mission statement, statement of values or five-year plan. The universe abounds with these well-meaning, murky, unaccountable articulations.
- The goal of Let's Talk is to build camaraderie, visibility, combined economic power and scale of our women entrepreneurs through this crisis and beyond. We are happy to share our “B cube model” to inspire other sectors and all women.
- Let’s Talk is founded and led by Rohini Dey, Ph.D. Vermilion restaurateur in Chicago, former McKinsey & Co. and The World Bank, former trustee/founder/chair of the James Beard Foundation Women's Leadership Program for a decade.
Let’s Talk Women Chicago
Supper Club with Time’s Up
ORDER BY AUGUST 24TH
HOSTED AT VERMILION. THE LAST FRIDAY OF EVERY MONTH.
Five incredible women. Five incredible courses. One incredible cause.
Limited In Person Tickets with Panel & Conversation. Or Takeout.
Picnic in White with Let’s Talk Womxn Atlanta
Celebrate an afternoon of food, drink and music created by womxn at Floataway Cafe. Dress in white in solidarity with inclusivity and diverse womxns’ power. With fare from: Floataway Cafe, Twisted Soul Cookhouse & Pours, Bella Cucina, Bhojanic, El Ponce, Beautiful Briny Sea, Chef Mallory deGollian, Sasser Culinary Insights, Chinese Southern Belle, Edible Endeavors, 3 Parks Wine, Red’s Beer Garden and more. Live music set by Lola Cole Music and DJ Hourglass. General Admission tickets $45. VIP ticket $75.
Let’s Talk Women
Picnic in White
A picnic hosted by the City of Chicago and Let’s Talk Womxn on the lawn of the iconic Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park. Gourmet picnic boxes and cocktails, women performers, a power-women soundtrack, interviews with women restaurateurs and speakers. Guests dressed in white in solidarity with inclusive and diverse women power. With fare by Vermilion, Saigon Sisters, Paramount Group/Eden, Demera, Frontera, Bistronomic, The Dandy Crown, Antique Taco, Savory Crust, TeaGeschwendner, No Bones Beach Club, La Luna, Teertsemasesottehg, Justice of the Pies, and Pretty Cool Ice Cream. Championed by United Airlines, Sysco, Uber Eats the Chicago DCASE.
Let’s Talk Womxn Philadelphia Picnic & Happy Hours
Let’s Talk Womxn PHL kicked off the summer season with an abundant picnic spread for pick-up on July 11th. It also kicks off a series of collaborative Sisterly Love Happy Hours every other Wednesday at women-owned bars throughout the city starting 7/14 including: Triple Bottom Brewing (Spring Garden), Sor Ynez (Kensington) , a.bar (Rittenhouse), and Jezabel’s (West Philadelphia). Sponsored by Diageo, each happy hour features cocktails, wine and beer specials, accompanied by snacks.
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City Cohosts
Mary Aregoni
Chicago
Rohini Dey
Chicago
Anne Quatrano
Atlanta
Deborah VanTrece
Atlanta
Rosa Thurnher
Atlanta
Jen Ziskin
Boston
Tracy Chang
Boston
Carla Chalkley
Cincinnati
Julia Petiprin
Cincinnati
Lara Swan
Lexington, Louisville
Ouita Michel
Lexington, LouisvilleScroll To Top
Bridget Foy
Philadelphia
Ellen Yin
Philadelphia
Jennifer Carroll
PhiladelphiaLatest News
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Reach out to Let's Talk Womxn. If you are a woman business owner in food and drink in a city we're in and would like to join us. Our forum is open to all and we'd love to have you.
To corporation, associations, and media, we're open to all help.
- share our collaborative Let's Talk Womxn model, a force beyond DE&I initiatives
- leverage our expertise on all things restaurants, food, drink and entrepreneurship as 400 frontline operators
- tap our pulse as consumers and women with a combined vast following
- partner with us to unconventionally and directly foster change and help women scale
