Career Changes, Community Building & Brand Partnerships with Ayahna Wilbon

On this episode of She’s Lost Control, we’re joined by Ayahna Wilbon — founder of Friends Table — to talk about career pivots, community building, brand partnerships, and creating a business rooted in culture and authentic connection.

Ayahna shares her journey from working across logistics, tech, marketing, and corporate brand roles to building a community-led platform centred around food, creativity, and meaningful experiences. We dive into the realities of navigating career transitions, balancing side ventures with full-time work, and building a culturally relevant brand from the ground up.

This episode is packed with honest insight into entrepreneurship, leadership, personal branding, and resilience, especially as a Black woman navigating predominantly white corporate spaces.

We also get into:

•  How to navigate major career changes with confidence 
•  Building authentic brand partnerships and sponsorships 
•  Community building and creating culturally relevant experiences 
•  The realities of entrepreneurship and scaling a business 
•  Networking, self-advocacy, and leadership mindset shifts 
•  Balancing creative projects with full-time roles 
•  Why genuine relationships matter more than clout 

Whether you’re building a brand, launching a side hustle, or navigating your next career move, Ayahna’s story is full of practical advice, mindset shifts, and inspiration for building a career on your own terms.

🎙 She's Lost Control — the podcast for ambitious creatives who are done playing small. 💌 Join #TheChaosClub → www.instagram.com/sheslostcontrolpodcast/

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

This week, we're joined by Ayanna Wilburn, founder of Friends Table, a creative studio bringing people together through food, culture, and brand experiences. She's gone from corporate roles at iHeartRadio, Target, and Facebook to building something completely on her own. Career pivots, partnerships, community, and why you should never be afraid to build the career that you actually want. Let's get into it. Ayana, thank you so much for joining me today. I'm happy to be here. I'm really, really excited. I want to take it all the way back to the start before we get into where you are in your career at the moment. Did you always know that you wanted to have a creative career or were you destined to, you know, be a lawyer, an accountant? Where did it all come from?

SPEAKER_02 0:38

Yeah, so actually when I was younger, I really wanted to be an anesthesiologist. Don't know why. Didn't like science, was never good in science, but then in high school, which I think you guys call it what college. You guys call it college. Yeah, college. Yeah, because then our college is your uni. Yeah. So in college, in high school, I did a lot of events at my high school, and that's where I kind of like got the love. Like, hey, I think I like this. I think I like the events and things like that. So no, I definitely thought I was gonna be a doctor, and I'm not.

SPEAKER_00 1:07

And so when you were in school, were there any teachers or how were your family like? Was anyone guiding you in a specific direction? Or where did you even kind of start to understand what you could do as a career?

SPEAKER_02 1:20

Yeah, so I went to a performing arts school from the time I was five until I was like 18 years old. So I always knew that a career in the like creative field was possible as in theater. Um, we had scenic design, tech design, which you could design the lights for like our productions. So I kind of always knew that those would be careers, but I am a first gen like college graduate and now getting my master's and even to move abroad. So no one really knew anything, but honestly, any accomplishment that wasn't like having a baby young or you know, being out here on the streets, it was an accomplishment in my family.

SPEAKER_00 1:59

A hundred percent. I can imagine being within like a creative institution, and like you've just explained, like there were so many types of disciplines that you were obviously exposed to. Guess how did you experience all of those different disciplines? And then how did you start to realize okay, that's not for me? This is more interesting.

SPEAKER_02 2:14

Yeah, so I would really say probably like my senior year of high school, that's when, or maybe junior year, I'll say junior year. So like 2013, probably really when Instagram started to like pop off, and Instagram just really became a thing. I found out about I don't know if you know Karen Sybil, she's like a marketing and PR guru. She was like one of the first people to kind of do it. She was like this black girl boss, and she did brand partnerships with Dr. Dre's Beats, and she got that collaboration, the partnership with um Apple. Not not Apple, it was Little Wayne, it was Little Wayne and Beats. She got that collaboration partnership. I don't know where she is these days, but Instagram and seeing her do that, I was like, wow, I've never seen anyone that's young that looks like me work with celebrities, but isn't like an artist and manager, or she isn't like a girlfriend of these rappers. And I was like, brand partnerships is a thing. I want to do that. So I would say, like junior year high school, like 17, once Instagram really exposed us to like all over the world, is when I really when I was like, okay, I can do whatever.

SPEAKER_00 3:21

And how I guess once you went into uni, you started to expose yourself more to what that creative career would look like. Did you have a plan in your mind of like, okay, I've set myself on brand partnerships now, these are all the steps that I need to take to get to it, or was it let's do do do do do through life and then see what happens? That's what it felt like.

SPEAKER_02 3:39

It felt like do do do do do do do do do laugh literally. I didn't honestly, I never thought that I would get into brand partnerships. Even until like I probably say the last like three or five years, I never thought that I could get into it. Um after college, I lived in Chicago, so then I moved to Chicago, and I was just exposed to so many different cultures. And even then, Chicago is a creative city. I don't want to like negate that it's not, but it's just it's not like a New York where you have so many brands. You'll have like L'Oreal, you'll have so many like offices and headquarters. You don't really have that in Chicago. It's really like a business city. Some people make it out for music. It's you know, it's getting there now, but I never really honestly thought I would I would get into brand partnerships ever. Thought that it was anything that I could ever be in. So I went to like my school's job fair and I actually saw my cousin who was at a job booth, and I was like, hey, I need an internship. Like I didn't even know like you worked at she worked at a theater at the time. And I'm like, obviously I have background in theater. I went to like a theater like high school, but I wasn't ever interested in working in the theater space. But she was like, Okay, like what are you interested in? I was like, marketing. So she put me in the marketing internship, which was so great. It was so much fun. I got to work with like brand partnerships and grassroots marketing within the theater space, but also knew that I wanted to do it on a larger scale. And then after after university, I got my first job at a logistics company, which was so random. I don't I don't know how I applied, I don't know how I got the job, but it was not fun. It was literally not fun. We were literally just shipping freight all over the United States, and then of course the pandemic happened, and I was like, oh, my cuss on you?

SPEAKER_00 5:32

Yeah, oh yeah. By all means, fuck away.

SPEAKER_02 5:35

Do you know what I mean? Then I was like, oh, fuck it. Like, I'm quitting my job. Like it's the pandemic. We don't know what's gonna happen. Like, I'm gonna leave this job. I hate it anyway.

SPEAKER_00 5:43

Who cares about shipping like 20 pallets around the United States? I think it takes a lot of balls to turn around in any normal day-to-day moment of life, but then also add in those factors, you know, finishing uni, you've just you the world might come to an end. Like, yeah, what was it in Ayana that made her go? Do you know what? Fuck it.

SPEAKER_02 6:01

Yeah, I was really just yeah, I think the pandemic, I just didn't know what was gonna happen. Obviously, in America, we had like the stimulus checks that were coming into us. I was still working my part-time job. I think I talked about how I was working at Nike part-time in my undergrad. And the goal was to eventually go to Nike Corporate. Um, Nike had shut down, they were still paying us, and if anything, I always have my part-time job to fall back on. So I was just like, yeah, actually, I'm just gonna like find something else that I actually want to do. And that's when I went, I don't know if we heard of the of Accenture. Oh, yeah. Yeah, so I applied. So this is my strategy for applying for roles is so there's no strategy. I literally I just apply. Like I'll mass apply, and then sometimes I'll forget that I apply, then I'll get an interview, and I'm like, oh, cute. Yeah. So I got an interview at Accenture, um, and our client was Facebook, and so we were working on their technical, um, look any technical bugs that came through with Facebook. So if you are advertising, let's say this podcast on a platform and you're like, I can't upload my video, why is this happening? I would just investigate those bugs. And I did that for about eight months, and I was like, in my brain, I kind of was like, you know, this is nice, but I would love to be on the Facebook side. Like, I would actually like to be on the client side. And I don't even know, I was so new at it at Accenture. I don't even know if this was technically corporate, like appropriate at the time. But since Facebook was our client and I had all of those internal contacts, I saw that it was a role open at Facebook and I was like, hey, I see this role open. I work for Accenture, I work on this platform right now. I actually think that I would be a good fit for this role. And I went over to the Facebook side. I went over to the Facebook client side and it was I know.

SPEAKER_00 7:47

Was that one of those people? Was that someone that you contacted who was one of those contacts that you had?

SPEAKER_02 7:52

No, no, it I it actually wasn't. It was um, I don't have you ever worked at a company that has workday. I love all the yeah, although I hate applying for a role on workday, I love workday's internal system because you can see the company structure. You can see who's the manager for that role, who's the hiring manager, who are the people on that team, where do they report to? You can literally see a visual map of the company structure. So I really just wanted to work day. It was like, okay, let me figure out the person that I need to email. And obviously, work workday has their emails. So then I emailed a recruiter and I was like, hey, love that. I see you guys are hiring for this role. Here's my resume. I actually think I'll be a great fit. And instead of asking, you know, like, I'd love to know more about the role, when are you free to chat? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:43

Actually, when are you free to interview me? Mm-hmm. Actually, I've got so many friends used it like six months, nine months, a year to find a role. This may just be, you know, what's already built in Tayanna, but what is it that made you just say, when are you available to interview? Because I think if you'd have said that to like Camilla 10 years ago, Camilla would have been like, Oh my god, no, you didn't say that. What if they're gonna like what is it in you? And I guess what advice could you share on just putting yourself out there and asking the question, like, when can you interview me? I'll be great for this. Yeah. What advice could you share on that? Or is that just something that was born out of you and who you are?

SPEAKER_02 9:19

Yeah. Thankfully, thankfully, thankfully, I grew up with a mother that always said the worst they can tell you was no. That's literally what it is. I'm like, and so I think from my early age, it kind of built that built up that like rejection therapy of like, you never know unless you ask. I don't know. My black household, it was closed mouths, don't get fed. So it's like, if you don't ask, you will never know.

SPEAKER_00 9:44

I was about to say, are you sure you didn't grow up with my dad? Because my dad, very old Englishman, my dad was like, if you don't ask, you don't get it. Yeah, and if you don't ask, you don't get it, so you won't know. Bearing in mind, my dad was also the person that used to be like, send them a letter, and I'll be like, who the fuck's gonna read a letter, Gordon? And then he'd be like, exactly my point. No one else is gonna send a letter. So if you send a letter, you're gonna stand up. Like, but I think it's I think it's one of those things that probably when you're younger, you kind of look at a bit like, oh my god, can you go away? Like you're pushing me into this high pressure situation. I just don't want to do because it's scary. It sounds like it's it's that mentality that has stood you in good stead throughout all of your career.

SPEAKER_02 10:21

Yeah, yeah. No, literally to the uncomfortable situations. Like I have a twin sister and we used to play the violin. My mom used to make us get up in front of the church and play the violin for every service. So I think I think just being used to be in place in uncomfortable situations and having to do it regardless of how I feel.

SPEAKER_00 10:40

A hundred percent. And so once you once you manage to bag that spot and move over into brand, what was your experience of that different environment? Because I think going from an agency to in-house behind a brand is like a totally different ball game.

SPEAKER_02 10:54

Yeah. Oh, it was great. Facebook's training system. So I was in kind of like an early careers path. So everyone was really fresh to the the workforce. This was also like 2020, 2021. So obviously, companies had a lot more money and resources to give to that. Sure. But it was great. They really spent the first six months really training you on that role. Working with someone who's been in that role for a few months to years before you, they were really dedicated and like committed to your set success in that role. And so I worked with small to medium food and beverage brands out of Austin, Texas. So that's, you know, if your mom's selling some homemade jam. Yes. Or even like she made her own spice and she's like selling that. So we would work with them to kind of educate them on Meta's platforms and best practices, really.

SPEAKER_00 11:52

How did you then start to map out where your career was going, or were you just going with the flow?

SPEAKER_02 11:58

Uh, I hate to say that I'm a go-with-the-flow type person. These days I'm definitely not go with the flow, it's more strategic. But um, crazy enough, I was at Facebook for about a year and a half until the world started opening up again. And since my clients were based out of Austin, Texas, they were uh telling me I had to move to Texas. Gosh, there's this whole business insider article out there about it. But um at the time, I just wasn't ready to leave Chicago. You know, I talked about home so much how Chicago didn't have this like creative scene or like these big brands that had headquarters there. But the city culturally is just so great. It's so great that you can honestly kind of like build whatever. But anyway, so they were telling me that I had to move to Texas, and I was like, I don't want to move to Texas. And Austin, so people typically know Texas for like Austin, Dallas, or Houston. Austin, their slogan is keep Austin weird. And if you've been to Austin, sorry for anyone who is from Austin listening to this, but Austin's weird. Austin, it's like they make it a point to be weird. Austin wasn't calling, and I guess this kind of goes back to uh just how I feel about getting a job or like just my optimism. I ended up telling them, I was like, okay, I'm not moving to Austin, but I'll move to Dallas. And they were like, okay, you can move to Dallas. You'll just have to commute to the office whenever, like, we'll need you there. That might be like once a week or maybe like once a month or something like that. I was like, okay, cool. They were like, but you're gonna have to relocate yourself. And by the way, Dallas to Austin is not, it's a two-hour drive. Like, that's not really a commute. So I was just like, by any means, I'm not moving to Texas. So found an apartment in Texas, signed a lease. The day before the movers came, I was like, I'm not doing it. So I left Facebook. I quit my job at Facebook. I know, I know. I and I felt so, this is like the Harvard of companies. People dream to work at a fan company, and I'm quitting because I don't want to move to Texas. And I was like, it's just not something I want to do. So I quit, was unemployed for about two months, and then I got the best job ever at Target. That is my peak. You know, when people peak, I love Target so much, and that is where I felt possible that brand partnerships will really be like a trajectory for me.

SPEAKER_00 14:21

Kudos to you for having a pair of balls to turn around and be like, oh fuck, this ain't for me. Like, as much as those moments are scary, I think those are the moments where the win is in the I put my big cow panties on and I don't want to do this. So once you move into what you kind of dub your best job, um, what was that role at Target like? Was it it entail? What was your day-to-day? And was there a reason why you went for Target or was it the role in itself that that spoke to you?

SPEAKER_02 14:49

Yeah. Um, so after Facebook, I kind of started to strategize how I would apply for jobs. And it was really, I would take a look at some brands and companies that I personally had a connection to and that I would frequent often. And I loved Target. So I was like, let me take a whim to see if they have an account management role open. I knew that I didn't really like account management, but there were some aspects of it that um I could tolerate and like kind of loved to be like, okay, let me go back into account management, applied at Target and got the role. And I was just, I was shocked, honestly. I was so shocked. I ended up working on stationary categories. So that's like your pens, papers.

SPEAKER_00 15:30

How is that role like because obviously going from something you said you were on food and beverages brands before? What was that transition like now focused on like stationary, which couldn't be more left?

SPEAKER_02 15:42

Um, you know, it was a really big transition because I went from working with your local mom and pop shops who were probably bringing in like$10,000 to$20,000 a year to these big brands who have budgets of well over$500,000 and they have a million-dollar budgets. So it it felt a lot serious. Like, not that Facebook wasn't serious, but it felt like, oh, we have a bunch of dollars on the line versus like at Facebook, some of those clients were so small and so low touch that we honestly I probably have a check-in with them once a month versus and it didn't feel as intimidating, I suppose. Yeah, it didn't feel as intimidating, but it also didn't feel like I had more of a say in anything. Because to them at Facebook, we were just trying to get them to purchase more ad space. But at Target, they wanted that ad space. They wanted our expertise, they wanted our opinion. And so it really was great to have that input and to feel like I really had an impact. But day to day, it was going into our CRM system, seeing how the ads were doing. If someone was launching a new campaign for, let's say, one stationary client that I loved. I'm not gonna say any names, but tell you what I loved this client so much. They were so freaking fun. They would always launch for back to school. So back to school was like their Christmas season. So really just going in to see how they performed last year, what kind of ads they ran last year, giving my expertise on what is trending in the market. This client was also really new to influencers. So introducing them to our influencing partner as well as in-store kind of activations as well. So just really managing those, working with our creative team, which at the time was based out of the United States. And we also had a metrics team who would they would dive deeper into the metrics so that way we could focus mainly on that client relationship and really just making sure we nurture that race that relationship.

SPEAKER_00 17:46

But it sounds like you had like quite a variety. If you had like install activations, then like the actual strategy and consultancy. Is that what inspired Friends Table and your next venture?

SPEAKER_02 17:56

Yeah, it did. Friends Table, so it's such a it's such a fun thing. What actually really, really inspired that. I had a manager at Target at the time who I was, they let you do these kind of like stretch roles where you could spend a couple months um working with another team, but obviously you weren't getting paid extra, but you were able to to tap into some of their projects. There was a a brain activations team that I really wanted to work with. And but your manager had to sign off for it. And at the time, she told me that she had never seen me do events before, so she didn't know if I could do events. And after leaving Target, I was like, Oh, I'll show you.

SPEAKER_01 18:37

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_02 18:37

I was like, I love those. I'll show you. I was like, Oh, okay, I'll show you. So I would say like Target kind of inspired it, kind of, but it was really that someone telling me that they kind of didn't believe in me and my ability to do something. And so I was like, Oh, I'm gonna give you a big fuck you and show you that I kind of So Target was doing a round of layoffs, and unfortunately, I was part of that. And it took me nearly a year and a half to find another job. And so that's when I started Friends Table. I was like, okay, I have this client management, client relationship. I love to go out to eat with my friends. I know what these brands are looking for. I know that I have a market in Chicago that they could tap into. How am I gonna use kind of these pitching skills that I learned at Target to kind of pitch to brands? So that's when I started Friends Table.

SPEAKER_00 19:23

But you say you went back to those smaller, um, smaller budget clients. In my experience, I feel like my biggest learnings came from having to be really creative with I have two pounds to make you famous, compared to brands who had like five million times the amount of money. Do you feel like that helped you in your business side of developing Friends Table?

SPEAKER_02 19:48

I would say more so with the larger clients because rather than the smaller clients, because their budgets were so small, and typically the middleman was an agency. So typically the brief was not coming directly from the brand, but it was coming from their agency. So it was there was really no room to even give any creative input. It was just more so, this is what our client wants, put it on there. But with um working with the larger clients and having that direct trust in them to be like, okay, I trust you as a target employee to be like, this is how we're gonna get more traffic through the door, get more people to go to the stationary category and pick up our things, definitely helped. I literally say it, it's how I figured out Chicago. What is it kind of missing? Why do people like Chicago but love New York? You know, but yeah, I would say like the bigger clients is what really helped with knowing what these brands needed and how I could leverage that for brand partnerships for these dinner parties.

SPEAKER_00 20:52

And what what was it that made you actually set up Friends Table as it is? And I guess what were those early events, what were those biggest learnings that you had?

SPEAKER_02 21:01

Yeah, oddly enough, once I got let go from Target, I came to London in 2023 for Carnival. And I was working remote at Target at the time, and so my plan was to kind of test trial London, see how I felt about it, see if I actually wanted to move here. And then I lost my job during that trip, and I was like, damn, what am I gonna do now? And I had made so many friends here in London, and they were like, dang, we're sad you're leaving. Like, don't leave. And I had one friend, and she was like, You gotta figure out how to make it back to London. I was like, you're right. And I was like, I don't know how I'm gonna make it back to London. Like it's really hard to get a job to sponsor you. I don't want to go back to school. How will I make it back to London? And so I keep this notes app on my, you know, on the notes app, I keep a list of everything that I love. And everything that kept coming up was like food and my friends. That's it. It was like food and my friends, because my friends are like my second family. And so I was like, how about I host this kind of dinner party? Dinner parties were pretty new. In Chicago. They were pretty big here in London. I was like, I think I could take like dinner parties back there. I love to help people. Kind of like the goal behind it was to highlight local chefs, which literally one of our chefs just opened up her own restaurant in Chicago, which is such a good.

SPEAKER_00 22:15

I'm such a cry. Those things make me want to cry.

SPEAKER_02 22:17

It's such a literally she opened up one of her own restaurants in Chicago. And I'm like, girl, I'm so proud of you. This is what Friends State Wolves for. Also, since I have been working remote since graduating, I felt like I got a little awkward. Like, I was like, I need to create a space where I'm meeting new people, I'm hanging out with my friends, and I like food, and I also just have this background in account and client management. How do I blend all of those? And um, oh, my biggest learning if we want to go back to coin compassion. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 22:46

What was the biggest financial learning in those early stages?

SPEAKER_02 22:50

I mean, you gotta, you kind of have to have the money to start a business. You know, passion can't run it forever. It's the heart of it, but passion can't run it forever. My first dinner, it was actually a lot of brand gifts gifts, like they donated product and it was like a big loss. And so the second dinner, I was like, oh no, we need dollars actually. We need this brand dollars, no more gifting. Like, thank you so much for the free product. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But I need some money. We need some money. And so that's when I really was like, okay, and it goes back to like the Facebook interview. A lot of these brands will be like, oh, so what is it that you need from us? Hop on the call. When can we talk? I don't even when can you interview me? Like, I don't even, I don't even want to go through email. When can you talk to me? Because I know that if we talk on the phone, I'll be able to really show you the passion behind this and really show you how this can really help your brand, especially in the Chicago market.

SPEAKER_00 23:47

And that's the annoying thing, isn't it? Like, I feel like sometimes I wish I could email like email people or message them and just be like, can you just fucking answer the phone? Just give me your mobile number because I know once I tell you this, you're gonna buy into it. So you just want to tell brands like, I know that this is the right thing for your brand, and you just need to get on board and then you'll see the results. Like, what advice could you give in terms of actually getting the money over the gift? And what strategy advice could you give to anyone trying to pick a brand or secure a brand for for an event that they might be doing?

SPEAKER_02 24:23

So, strategy-wise, I would say just honestly choose a brand that um or look for brands and reach out to brands that really speak to what your event, your brand is, like not just a random one that you think people are gonna love, that you think is gonna give you money, but just one that really connects to what you're doing. And then kind of like a strategy of reaching out. I mean, tap into your network. Like, thankfully in Chicago, I have like a great network of friends who know people, who know people. Chicago's not that big. Chicago is not that big. So really like tapping into your friends, it's important to like make genuine friendships. And I think that's why in my phone, I was like, oh, my friends, my friends, my friends, not just what they can do for you, but like, are we really friends? You know, you really tapping into your network and your friends, honestly. They they've been such a great every single dinner party, my friends have helped me set up and tear down. They've helped me DJ, they've helped me serve, wash dishes, and that's really why it's called Friends Table, because my friends have helped me build this thing.

SPEAKER_00 25:29

Has there been any mindset shift in terms of moving from, you know, an employee to an employer when you're looking at Friends Table? Was there anything that shifted in terms of how you actually work as a professional?

SPEAKER_02 25:43

Definitely. I I'm still learning this, but it felt really hard to kind of be a leader in that sense and delegate tasks or ask for help. Or um, I know one campaign we were working on for a beauty brand, I had two of my best friends and my sister on the team. And it felt really weird like shutting down their ideas or being like, that's not really helpful, or what we kind of need at the moment. I think it definitely shifted my mindset from not being a leader to being a leader. Like, I feel like the Friends Table helped me become more of a leader than any other job I've ever worked in.

SPEAKER_00 26:22

Going on to our next segment, Two Lies and a Truth. I'm really keen to to hear this.

SPEAKER_02 26:37

Yeah. Um, I guess kind of back to my manager telling me that she didn't think I should go for something that that she's never seen me do before. Um that's kind of like one. And then also I've had people tell me that because I am a black woman in these predominantly white spaces, that I should, that I some things I shouldn't really speak up about. And I know, and I think that's terrible advice. Terrible, terrible, terrible advice. I think there's a way you can speak up about it that is palatable to people, but I definitely think that as you grow older, especially in these this corporate America or corporate, whether it's in the UK, you're gonna have to advocate for yourself. No one else is going to. You may have that one manager that will help you or you know, a mentor that will be great for you, but at the end of the day, it's your life, it's your story.

SPEAKER_00 27:25

I just have to say that was very diplomatically put of you, like palatable, but I honestly think that's a load of bollocks. Being palatable, what does palatable mean? I know. What does palatable mean? Do you know what I mean? Like what does palatable actually mean?

SPEAKER_02 27:38

I know. I I think it's it's kind of like a way when when you have it's a way of like passive aggressiveness, honestly. When I think of pal palatable, it's a way that you know you're kind of trying to get your point across, but not in a rude way, but in a slightly rude way. It's passive aggressive, honestly.

SPEAKER_00 27:56

This is why people feel like shit in workspaces. Like, so hopefully there is someone that's given you a good piece of advice that you've held true.

SPEAKER_02 28:03

Some good advice I've gotten. I I gotta go back to what my mom said. It's really the worst they can say is no. I mean, the worst they can say is no. Because even thinking about my how I got my job at iHeart, I had interviewed with them once, didn't get the job, didn't hear back from them ever. Then I went to my email, was like, I have the recruiter's email. I found a job online. Let me just email him and say, hey, hey, I this job is open. Like you have your candidate right here. Hello. So like I was like, what's the worst that they can hire? They say interviewed directly with the hiring manager and got the jobs. Really, that advice from my mom is like, the worst people can say is no. I mean, they say they might be like, fuck you no, but it's like fuck you soon.

SPEAKER_00 28:47

And even if they do say fuck you no, it's like, okay, you have a lovely day. Like, thank you so much. Like, even literally, I think it's even just it's like the weird, uh, going back to what you said earlier, the like avert, what is it, like the aversion therapy or whatever it is. I think it's almost like a little test that we can do for ourselves of just like you need to build up your resilience because whether it comes from no from a brand sponsorship, no from a partner, no from a client, literally the no is so inevitable that it's like you might as well just get used to get hearing no. Like just assume you're gonna get a no, not even in like a negative way, just in a well, I'm prepared for the no. And if you say yes, fucking amazing, like on. But at least we're not that upset. For our uh final segment, what's the 411? We will give advice to people. So, our first question is from a 25-year-old from Bristol. She says, I have a full-time job, that's fine, but the stuff I actually care about, like culture and creative ideas, doesn't really fit into my role. I don't know if I'm being impatient or if I'm ignoring a gut feeling. How do you know the difference?

SPEAKER_02 29:49

Well, I guess my question is have you spoken to your manager or have you spoken to anyone else on the team about these interests of yours? Do people know, or is it something that you're kind of just keeping to yourself? It also could be patience as well. But I guess if if you don't know where you're gonna go or you don't have that like next plan, then what are you tying the patients to? If that makes sense, yes. Yeah. So I would say that. Like, do people know? Do people know what you care about?

SPEAKER_00 30:22

Would you say that's like a help or a hindrance? My early years I used to really hide it because I was like, oh my god, I don't want them to think that I don't give a shit about my job or like, do you know what I mean? That it's gonna interfere with my nine to five. Do you think that people like someone like that who's sitting here thinking, like, I'm creative and I don't really know about this? Do you think those moments you should still go ahead and be like, no, tell your team what you're interested in doing?

SPEAKER_02 30:43

100%. I I think she should 100% tell her team. Um, unless there's a conflict of interest, then you should not necessarily say it. But if it's not, then why not? I mean, I've had job interviews where people have taken me to the next step only because they've seen my portfolio with the dinner parties. And mind you, this could be a beauty brand or a brand that has nothing to do with dinner parties, but they just love that I have this thing that I'm passionate about outside of work that kind of taps into my creativity. But they're like, I just wanted to learn more about it and you and how you can do that. If it's not a conflict of interest, I definitely say let people know. People won't know.

SPEAKER_00 31:19

Oh, I love that. What are you I'm gonna quote you? What are you what are you tying your impatience to? That is so true. Because by say, No, it's so true because you're sitting there going, Oh god, I don't know what I should do. Well, if you don't know what you're doing, then why are you stressing yourself out? And at the same time, if you don't like your job, what are you? It's almost like, well, there's nothing to be impatient about because you should you already know the answer if you've got a gut feeling.

SPEAKER_02 31:40

Mm-hmm. And if you are not really satisfied in your job, then that's where you go and create something else out of work.

SPEAKER_00 31:47

Mm-hmm. And and how I guess just going back a little bit, how did you find because this this might serve them in good stead? Because obviously you had you had a you've had a period where you're like obviously working and you're zooming friends' table at the same time. What advice could you give in we've all got bills to pay and you've got to sometimes stay in your job and stick it out and you know, chug it out for as long as you can?

SPEAKER_01 32:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:08

But if you do start a venture on the side, what advice could you give on having that balance and not fucking up your nine to five, which you know obviously you need to keep going in, but also dedicating the time and passion needed to get your idea off the ground. Yeah, asking for help.

SPEAKER_02 32:22

I think I think I had mentioned at one point for a project I had two of my closest friends and my sister on the team. And so sometimes they would take the calls while I couldn't, or they would send the emails when I couldn't. So really just like asking for help for people that you trust that'll have your best interest at heart, really.

SPEAKER_00 32:40

Totally. No man is an island. Well, no woman is an island. Yeah. My second question is from a 28-year-old from London. She says, I work in-house and part of my role is building our brands, but sometimes it feels like we're just posting content instead of actually building something meaningful. What actually makes a brand strong today, and how do you do that from the inside?

SPEAKER_02 33:01

I think what really makes a brand strong is their connection to the culture. And I'm trying to think of a brand, for example, a a couple things. Their connection to the culture, um, kind of like ease into the market, I would say. And this is me kind of like just thinking off the dome, but I'm trying to think of a really emerging brand right now that that people are loving. I would say Road is a good one because obviously they have someone young who's the face of the brand, someone who's culturally relevant that's the face of the brand. They also like have that kind of what am I trying to say? It's kind of like unofficial partnership with Apple, where they create those phone cases that kind of like they only fit on iPhones, right? But I guess like um, if she feels like they're just like posting on social media and not really like connecting with like the community, maybe I'm just an advocate for speaking up. I am. I'm just a really strong advocate for speaking up and saying, so how are we connecting with the community? Like, what can we tap into that's culturally relevant right now? Yeah. Honestly, if you can capture people's hearts, they're gonna spend their dollars.

SPEAKER_00 34:16

100%. 100%. So our next and final question is from a 26-year-old from Brighton. She says, I've been running community events for the past year and they're growing, but I'm basically breaking even. I know brand partnerships could help me level things up, but I have no idea how to actually approach the brands and what to charge them. How would you start turning community into something financially sustainable without losing the heart of it?

SPEAKER_02 34:41

Don't ever lose the heart of it, because then you lose it. But you could always crowdfund. I know people do that. I haven't personally explored that route. I know some of my friends have said, I think you should crowdfund. Crowdfunding is a good one. Kind of adding value when you approach these brands, really think about the value you can add that another community isn't already adding to that brand. Once you add value is when the companies will see more opportunity, more of an opportunity to invest in you. Uh and then Yeah, sometimes you might just have to up your price.

SPEAKER_00 35:18

How would you measure? Because obviously, when you're in your early stages, you might not necessarily have, you know, the number of attendees, the number of social followers, you know, all of those like sexy things that on paper make an investment or a sponsorship really obvious.

SPEAKER_01 35:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 35:32

What are what what do you think is a key thing that someone would need to show a brand in order to get their buy-in? What is it that you think really makes a brand go, do you know what, you deserve my money?

SPEAKER_02 35:44

That's a really good question. Passion. For my first dinner, a lot of the brands could really just tell that there was just passion behind it. And it wasn't just like me trying to get free product or be a money grab. It was like, no, this is what we're really doing in the community. And even if you can't help, I still love to stay in contact. Like, yeah, really just the passion behind it and maintaining those relationships. Like, there are there's one brand who they helped out on one dinner, they didn't help out on the next dinner, but we're still in constant contact. Like, hey, how's it been going? How's the brand been going? I guess that's really where my like account management and my client management side comes in, where I'm like, you know, we worked together once on this campaign, but that's not gonna be the end of our relationship.

SPEAKER_00 36:35

Totally, totally. And that's obviously what's in it what's enabled Friends Table to do so well. And I cannot wait to go to my first one here in London. Like, I think it'll take such a big pair to like pack up your shit and go to the other side of the world. Like it does. It's not easy, it's scary, and I just think it's a testament to you how lovely you are, how talented you are. And when Friends Table is hitting London streets, we'll be plastering it everywhere. Everyone needs to go and eat and enjoy and make new friends and hopefully meet Ayana because she's absolutely gorgeous and lovely and stunning human. So thank you so much for joining me, my darling.

SPEAKER_02 37:09

Thank you so much for having me. This was so great.

SPEAKER_00 37:11

Well, thank you, my darling. Keep us posted on the first Friends Table in London and we will let everyone know.

SPEAKER_02 37:17

Yes. Oh, I'm so excited. It's coming soon. We're in the works. Stay tuned, stay tuned, everyone.