Datasite x FxF
The Brief
Datasite has long believed in something the dealmaking industry has been slow to act on: that the women shaping the future of M&A, private equity and corporate development don't need another panel about whether they belong. They need rooms built for them.
It's a belief that maps directly onto the women in our community. High-performing dealmakers in some of the most male-dominated corners of finance, where access, visibility and the right network are rarely handed out equally. The brief was to build something that felt earned, curated tightly enough to be worth showing up for, and intentional enough to mean something after.
The Campaign
For International Women's Day, we took it on tour. Two cities, one message: a celebration of women closing deals and opening doors.
Six weeks out, we launched a campaign across LinkedIn, Instagram and our newsletter, with personal outreach to a curated invite list. From February 4th to March 14th, four pre-event posts generated over 60,000 views and 700 engagements across both cities. All organic content and the right story reaching the right audience.
In London on March 7th, 360 women signed up. 150 made the curated guest list. 115 walked into Flute on a Saturday morning to a brunch designed to feel as considered as the women in it: branded menus, cocktail toppers, fresh flowers, a photobooth, and a room of women who spend their weeks being the only one in theirs, finally surrounded by people who get it.
Terri Duhon, Board Director at Morgan Stanley, Wise and Rathbones, gave the keynote. She asked the room one question: have you really grasped your future potential? Women who walked in to network left thinking about the next ten years of their careers.
In Paris on March 12th, a smaller and more intimate setting. Breakfast at Flora Danica for 40 women, zero to six years into their dealmaking careers, the women who will be running the desks in ten years, in a room with the women already doing it.
A panel of three: Céline Forgues, Director of Corporate and Investment Banking at Bank of America. Margaux Avril, M&A Vice-President at Lincoln International. Karolina Slavkovová, Senior IB Associate at Lazard. Three women across three stages of the same career, talking openly about ambition, visibility, and how to position yourself in environments built for someone else. The women who came stayed past the close.
The Impact
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Hear from her:
"Community can provide support and encouragement and can really help us to be brave.
Afterwards, as I walked around and asked every awesome woman what their big dream was, I was blown away by the support, ambition and energy flowing through the room.”
— Terri Duhon (Speaker), Former Board Member, Morgan Stanley International
