The Phoenix SalonThe seat next to you is the point.
A curated dinner for high-performing women in leadership. Seated, themed, and built so that nobody spends the evening performing. Each salon is its own event, with its own table and its own ticket.
25+ years in corporate leadershipVice President, defense sector1:1 · Teams · Keynotes · RetreatsWorking nationallyFormatSeated dinner
Table8 to 100 guests
Each dinnerOne theme
TicketsFrom $150, per event
You have done the networking evening.
A name badge, a room on its feet, and forty people half-listening while they scan over your shoulder for someone more useful. You left having said nothing you meant, holding a handful of cards belonging to people you will not call.
This is the other thing. A table, laid. A theme already on it. Everyone seated, which changes the evening more than it sounds like it should — because a seated room cannot drift, and the person beside you is the program.
For women in leadership who want connection that is actually useful, and are relaxed about the fact that career movement tends to follow it.
The shape of itWhat it is.
A seated dinner
Everyone at a table, for the whole evening. Nobody working the room.
One theme per salon
Set in advance and published with the event, so the conversation has somewhere to go.
Eight at minimum
Up to a hundred where the venue and the evening call for it.
Ticketed per event
From $150 a seat, depending on the venue, the meal and who is joining.
Booked publicly
Salons are announced here and on Substack. When a table is full, it is full.
EventsWhere to hear Nicki next.
Each salon is priced and ticketed on its own. Seats are released here first.
The eveningHow a salon runs.
01
THE TABLE
ArrivalYou are seated, not circulating.
There is no standing hour with a glass and a scan of the room. You arrive, you find your place, and the evening starts with everybody already in it.
02
THE THEME
The middleOne question, put to the whole table.
Every salon carries a theme, published with the event. Nicki opens it and keeps it moving. Some evenings carry a guest; the guest is announced on the event page rather than kept as a surprise.
03
THE TURN
AfterwardsThe useful part happens late.
Somewhere after the main course the conversation stops being polite and starts being specific. That is the part people come back for, and it is the reason the table is capped.
Careers do not move because somebody took your card. They move because somebody in the room can describe, accurately and without being asked, what you are good at.
Who sets the tableShe is not hosting this from the outside either.
Twenty-five years in corporate leadership, currently a Vice President at a defense-sector government contractor. She has sat through the networking evenings, the panels and the drinks receptions, and built the salon out of what they were all missing.
She opens the evening, holds the theme, and then gets out of the way — because the point of the table is the people around it.
25+ years in leadership · Vice President, defense sector · JD Wharton C-Suite Executive LeadershipComing to oneThree steps.
01
Pick the salon
Each one has its own theme, venue and price. Read the evening before you book the seat.
02
Book your seat
Tickets are handled per event. You will get the address and the timings with your confirmation.
03
Turn up as yourself
No pitch prepared, no elevator version. That is genuinely the whole brief.
From $150 a seatEventsWhere to meet Nicki next.
QuestionsBefore you book.
Do I need to know anyone?
No, and most people do not. The table is seated deliberately and the conversation is hosted, which is what makes coming alone the normal way to come.
What does a seat cost?
From $150, and it varies by salon depending on the venue, the meal and whether the evening is raising for something. It covers your seat, the meal and the evening; anything particular to a salon sits on that salon’s own event page, before you buy.
How many people will be there?
Eight at the smallest. Larger salons run up to around a hundred, seated across several tables with one conversation running through them.
Is it a networking event?
No. There is no pitching, no panel and no working the room. If that is what you need, this is the wrong evening.
Can I bring someone?
Yes — book two seats. Tables are capped, so it needs to be a booking rather than a plus-one on the night. Dietary requirements go in the booking.
Can my organization host one?
Sometimes. Salons have been built around a cause and around a host before. Start with the 20-minute call.
The Phoenix SalonCome to the next one.
One table, one theme, and an evening where the useful conversation is the point rather than the thing you hope happens on the way out.
Seated dinner · 8 to 100 guests · Ticketed per eventStay close