On the day that the Women's Enterprise Task Force announced its intention for a privately held women's enterprise forum, The NextWomen took the lead as the first women's enterprise forum with a focus on high growth business. In celebration of Women's Enterprise Day, over 80 women came together in their most successful Kitchen Dinner to date - The BIG Kitchen Dinner - where Stephanie Phair of theOutNet.com delivered an inspiring keynote, and The NextWomen announced their next End of Year Kitchen Dinner.

The evening set off to a novel start, as 70 women and 15 (lucky) men arrived at The NextWomen kitchen for pre-dinner drinks and a taste of the 'original' and usually (much) smaller kitchen dinner.  A seemingly smooth operation took attendees on a swift conveyor through check-in, individual photography and prosecco and canapés.  The kitchen was turned into a candle-lit den that was full to bursting as the final revellers appeared.

It was with great relief that, as the party began to move over to the Clarendon, the recent London rain had abated, and apart from gale force winds dangerously whipping skirts in the air, the 200m transition went problem free.  The venue was beautifully wrapped in white and gold, and as the guests settled into their seats, the wine was poured and Simone Brummelhuis greeted the party with a special reference to Global Entrepreneurship Week and Women's Enterprise Day.

An amazing starter set the precedence for the evening, as waiters brought out charcuterie boards of meats, cheeses and roasted vegetables; followed by a seafood feast of whole crabs, prawns and oysters on a bed of seaweed, that were nothing less than decadent.  If it felt the initial bar had been set too high, there was no worry of disappointment as the enigmatic Stephanie Phair of theOutNet started with the brilliantly apt quote from Madeleine Albright - the first female US Secretary of State:

'There's a special place in hell for women who don't help other women'

Stephanie mapped her fascinating career, which started just having graduated from Oxford with a degree in philosophy, politics and economics, and having made the decision to head for New York.  Of Argentine and Canadian descent, but having grown up in London and spent the last ten years in the States, there is no surprise that a subtle US hint runs through her accent.  Yet it's not her accent that is so impressive here, it is the number of high-end fashion companies she has worked with over the years as a result of heading across the pond.

In line with visa requirements her first step onto the fashion ladder saw her building on her education as a fashion economist, although she now admits this largely equated to studying parties, but instilled into her the 'can do' attitude that comes with New York.  From here, the ball started rolling as she worked with Issey Mayake and then onto US Vogue, where she talked candidly about Anna Wintour and the great lessons she learnt in staying connected.

Indeed she laughed at the 'bionic right ear' she developed to listen and learn from the endless phone calls she would make.

As she moved into a position with Portero, she began to help luxury brands build their image online, but as her visa was coming to its end, Stephanie decided that ten years on, it was time to head back to London.  Looking for a new challenge, Natalie Massenet approached her with the opportunity to launch and lead theOutNet, which had already gone viral six months previously after having let it slip.  As a result Stephanie needed no time to decide - theOutNet.com was born.

Six months on, and the company has grown unbelievably from 2 - 37 people, stocks over 200 brands and has experienced immense success.  Impressively, when they teamed up with Christian Louboutin to offer up to 70% off, their orders peaked at 3 orders per second - we defy any online retailer not to be envious of such statistics.  Building on her work with Portero, Stephanie and her team have helped to preserve the image of luxury brands in the discount world, whilst providing their customers equal attention.  Indeed she reads all customer emails personally, and ensures each week to reply directly to a number of them herself.  This is such a personal service from a company that could so easily take a simple and impersonal route.

Perhaps the most impressive outcome of this new venture, however, is that 60% of customers at theOutNet.com are new to NET-A-PORTER, and although they have been blessed with the ability to piggy back their older sister's already established distribution services, undoubtedly leveraging on this very privileged starting block, they have built a brand based on their own merits.

It was as this fascinating keynote ended, that drinks were washed down with a main course of poached salmon and roast filet beef that did not disappoint, and as the evening began to draw to an end, the charity raffle saw a very lucky Christina Vaughan of Image Source win arguably the most coveted of the prizes - a beautiful Christian Louboutin bag.  A room of generous donators, means The NextWomen will be donating over £500 to the Girls' Education Program of Room to Read.

With closing time beckoning, the fantastic hosts at the Clarendon sent attendees home satiated with a huge choux 'The NextWomen' complete with a border of individual choux, and a keen eye on how theOutNet will progress over the coming months amd years.  As for The NextWomen - they have released a date for their next Kitchen Dinner - Wednesday December 16th - that will revert back to the original format in The NextWomen kitchen.