Community Catalyzer

LWD Cluj - My Contribution to the Women Local Designers' Community

The Context

I have created this page to showcase my contribution to the local design community and my abilities beyond the designer shoes.

Ladies*, Wine** & Design is a global non-profit initiative with chapters in over 285 cities worldwide.

LW&D was founded in 2015 by Jessica Walsh.

"Only 1% of creative agencies are founded by women & non-binary people, and the numbers are even smaller for women/non-binary BIPOC. The LWD mission is to see more diversity in the creative industry, especially within leadership roles.

LW&D takes an intersectional approach to this work. They offer free mentorship circles, portfolio reviews, talks & creative meetups for underrepresented creatives." ***
* The LWD space is inclusive of all women, non-binary, agender, and gender non-conforming people. Self-definition is at the sole discretion of that individual. If one feel they could benefit from a space meant for people who do not identify as cis men to share ideas and collaborate, they are welcome.

**Alcohol is entirely optional; one can drink tea, coffee, or whatever they like.

*** source: ladieswinedesign.com
**** photo: Ainhoa Morales; illustration: Andreea Ilisai.

I have co-founded Ladies, Wine & Design Cluj back in 2017, together with fellow dear creative & designer women.

Ever since, the community gathered more than 25 live editions, Instagram and Facebook pages with a digital community of about one thousand members, a closed group of about 200 designer & creative women.

A project born out of Ladies, Wine & Design Cluj is a video series initiative that I started in 2019, entitled "Girl Crush".

All of my work for this community has been pro-bono, just like the one of my colleagues.

The events meant a lot for unifying the women's local design community.

The Start

It was early 2017 when a dear friend of mine, a visual artist, invited some of us, creative ladies of the city, to join a photo shoot for a project of hers.

The gathering led to an online group chat - and that led to the LWD global link being shared in there.

I was so, so excited to see their mission. And that such a beautiful support net for creative women and non-binary exists.

So, one thing lead to another - and I took action. I sent the email to Ladies, Wine & Design that we want to open an event series in Cluj-Napoca, Romania.

The Story

Ever since, we have organized events in all sorts of alternative locations - from hubs to offices, from workshops to design showrooms, and from hostels to cafeterias.

We had on board sponsors, supporting us with the wine - aligned with the Ladies, Wine & Design global theme*. Once again many thanks to all the ones offering their space for the LWD Cluj gatherings and to our wine sponsors.

We also needed to bring our own contribution to make the magic happen. From skills to time invested, to catalysing our community members, connecting dots and making things happen.

* Wine or any alcohol has always been entirely optional; one can drink tea, coffee, or whatever they like.

Sometimes, the theme of the gathering was just discussing a hot topic - such as individual work versus working in a team. Or how to manage your social media presence, as a designer/creative.

Other times, the gathering turned into a lettering or embroidery workshop**. We even had a sustainability crash course - to educate fellow designers on how they can improve their impact as individuals on this planet.

During and after the pandemic, the event series took a longer break - we only had one Instagram Live session and one Zoom event.


// to be continued

** special thanks here to Andreea Ilisai and Camelia Tomi for their extensive contribution to this community - and not forget to mention Corina Monea, Ioana Gotia-Ciurea, Bianca Mocan, Ainhoa Morales - among other fellow creative ladies, that took part in all this magic community birthing.

Ladies, Wine & Design Cluj is a franchize events series part of
Ladies, Wine & Design Global, founded by Jessica Walsh.

All the visual assets presented in this case study are the intellectual property of the photographers and illustrators that have created them.
Photo Credits go to Ainhoa Morales & Andreea Boros



Testimonials
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Thanks for reading - I hope it was relevant.

On the website you can discover some case studies. I consider all the results of my work a co-creation alongside my clients.

The selection of studies is just a glimpse of what my creative process can be.

Stay imaginative and open.
We can go places together.