U4U is Getting Ready for a Grand Entrance into 2009

What is in a name? STRESS :)

Having completely fallen in love with the name Girlicious as our conference title, it was quite difficult to realise we had to change it!! Some much appreciated feedback brought about the awareness that the title could be construed in a slightly rude way. Although, the light came about as it always does and the new (final) title is now GIRLATION: a Celebration of U

Thank you to the mentorship team for all of the fantastic feedback, I feel like my team has grown by such a vast amount with all of your support!!!



I am delighted to present:

Girlation
a celebration of U

A U4U exclusive event, 14 march 09, 12 to 5

Girlation is a funky, fun & interactive conference for young ladies aged 11-18 and their parents– a celebration of a confident, happy and fun-loving U! Girlation will be featuring:

* Star treatment Girls will be treated like stars with imitation paparazzi & a hot pink carpet at the entrance

* Free pampering Girls will feel like princesses with relaxing spa treatments: massages & manicures

* Styling Girls will check out new fashion trends, try tailor-made makeovers and receive style consultation (potentially by THINK STYLE, exclusive style consulting by our very own Zoe)

* Educational experiences Girls will experience positive development via a makeover from the inside out: a circuit for girls to discuss career options, get tips on reducing stress and build self-esteem.

* Inspiring performances Girls will get inspired by cultural and modern dance and music performances

* Tempting indulgences Girls will be able to indulge in yummy treats and chocolates

Location: Baden-Powell House: South Kensington

on the corner of Queen’s Gate & Cromwell Place: centrally located next to the Natural History Museum & 5 minutes from the South Kensington & Gloucester Road tubes

I AM SEEKING SPONSORSHIP FOR THE EVENT...large and small organisations which appeal to young ladies...A GREAT OPPORTUNITY TO RAISE BRAND AWARENESS AMONGST LONDON'S 11-18YEAR OLDS AND THEIR PARENTS...advertising, tables and booth packages run from gbp 85-2000....please let me know if you or someone you know might be interested as I have a lovely sales pack for more information


U4U was officially born on 8 December 2008!!

With our incorporation and bank account open, it feels like we have really made a huge jump forward!! Now we need to fill the bank, any sponsorship welcome :)

WEEKLY UPDATE FOR WEEK ENDING NOVEMBER 21ST

Sumerah and I had our first meeting on November 20th and it was a productive one!!

She updated me on a project she has been working on with the Women’s Enterprise Task Force and has offered me information on a potential source of funding through the LDA.

Other key outcomes of our meeting resurlted from a discussion of the key challenges I am facing at the moment (which centre around: web site, funding, and legal)

Sumerah offered me great suggestions and ideas as to how to start chipping away at the challenges. Some points she offered that I found very useful include:
Web:
-check out girlgeeks.org and women’s digital society. as my organisation centers around girls, these sources might be great for us to get some female expertise

Legal:
-scour the LDA for free legal and other start up resources, which may be free or highly subsidized

Funding:
-ensure to start measuring and monitoring all components of our activities so that when we start looking for the big bucks we are well backed up by results we have achieved and their specific relevance.

Ok, I am back to the grind… this week focusing heavily on
-logistic details for our GIRLICIOUS conference in March 2009

One side note, this past week I also met with Gillian Rabie whom is a member of Fresh Ideas, and whom I met at the BT mentor event.

She shared some extremely insightful information with me about offering positive development solutions to young ladies from her first hand experience as a secondary theatre teacher. We also found a win win situation in bringing her theatre company to deliver some entertainment at the GIRLICIOUS conference!! J

U4U WEEKLY UPDATE:Week ending November 14, 2008

U4U is a positive development program for young ladies aged 11-18 which focuses on fitness, kindness, culture and environment through weekly meetings, peer mentoring, engaging events, enterprises and professional coaching.

Current timeline:
March 2009: U4U Conference for young ladies aged 11-18
April 2009: 6 week pilot of U4U with 20 girls
June 2009: Launch of U4U program

U4U this week:

Calendar of events this week:
-work sessions on our conference
-work sessions on the U4U curriculum
-jam packed 3 hr weekly general meeting where we focused on 1-company values, 2-conference prjt planning, 3-team development, 4-discussion of share distribution, and 5-practicing our sales pitches to gain sponsors of our conference
-meeting with the Portobello business centre
-support meeting with founders of the new web auction enterprise www.madbid.com
-running around town seeking to secure the perfect venue for our conference
-and all the pieces in between

Key issues:
-finding a person to join our team who would manage, design and cover all components of the web site
-in preparing to register the company I have come across the option of a CIC registration (community interest company)…very interesting structure and seams as though it might be ideal for U4U
-making use of the free service offered by the government sponsored Portobello business centre was a great resource and I will continue to use this service