Journal Entry: Women in hospitality...

Summer supper club - Fireside Feasting around the grill. Chef Imke (left) Lucy FOH (right)

Creating sustainable careers for women in hospitality can sometimes feel like a far off concept given the daily battle so many of us face in the toxic environments we are forced to work in.
In our industry being assured, ambitious or even mildly forceful in what you want is often considered rude, undermining or ungrateful to the (often white male) colleagues we are surrounded by. The idea of aspiring to be a leader in the kitchen/out on the floor is often dismissed as soon as we mention the idea of wanting a family one day.

As women we are stripped of our right to dream of a life where buying a house, having a family or even affording the mental space to believe that a career we have worked so hard for, can be sustained beyond 30years old...

Sounds dramatic? It's not. It's real.

It begs the question, how are we as a collective in this space able to build something that is both inclusive and resilient for people to experience? In what ways do we serve our community of women in creating opportunities for genuine connection, learning and development? Crafting space for new narratives to unfold and be told in our industry…

As a women led business Ubuntu Food is committed to doing the work to build sustainable pathways for our community to come together. We don’t claim to have the answers but we do have a commitment to our people. Learning to unlearn. Pushing to create. Taking time to understand and fully appreciate.

Ubuntu
I am, because we are.