I would like to reach out and say a huge thank you to SheSays Stockholm who kicked off in awesome style at Berghs Schhol of Communication in the evening of Wednesday 7th October. It was a full house and supposedly hundreds on the waiting list. It says something of the need of creative women to network and share professional advice and support. Short background: A few years ago, SheSays started to stop chatting about the fact that the world is pretty much half men, half women but hardly any women doing top jobs at agencies, and do something about it. SheSays holds events, where top females in the industry share their thoughts and help people work their way up. They also have their own award called The Golden Stillettos - the first ever wearable award for women who stepped it up. In some countries they offer career management and recruitment and are starting some courses on digital creative and production. You can come to free events around the world and meet other cool women, you can get a mentor (Yr Momma!), a job or even additional income through shout projects. So far SheSays are in the UK, Australia and Canada - and now, thanks to Frida Wansby and her cool team they are also alive and kicking in Stockholm, Sweden. On the opening night four of us - me, Sofia Svantesson at Ocean Observations, Jenny Theolin at Studio Theolin/Hyper Island and Lisa Rytter at Wrapp were asked to talk for 15 min each on the topic "How she got there". I was so impressed and intrigued by my fellow women's great stories, advice and their ability to present with humour and great talent. Then we opened up the floor to questions and there were some great ones from a terrific audience. We also had the opportunity to learn mor about GULDVÅGEN a new award in Sweden, but I'll tell you more bout that in a separte blog posts, as it deserves all the attention it can get! The evening with SheSays ended over glasses of wine and beer with great conversations and networking happening right there. Thank you so much, SheSays for inviting me and good luck on all your future events. Sharing means caring and growing!

The first days at the office, were not spent at the office, as I do not have one. It is a deliberate choice fuelled by the novel feeling of liberty and independence. You know, the romantic thought of hanging out at cafés and working from hotel lobbys. Well, we'll see how long that lasts...

The romantic notion of spending my first day in bed, sleeping in, munching Pain au Choclat and reading the morning paper, before falling back to sleep, did not materialize. I was bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at Sveriges Annonsörer already at 8:30 on Thursday morning, October 1st.

This is when my jury work for "100 Wattaren" (the Swedish equivalent of The Effies) commenced. I am part of a great bunch of people who are in place to judge the category "Charity". Usually an interesting category with great creative expression, not seldom managed and executed with a small budget, as it should be. As I signed an Agreement of Confidentiality as soon as I stepped in through the door, I cannot reveal any details, other than that the jury had great discussions and reached decisions on the first part of the judging - which entries have well-reported and successful results and which don't. Next week we meet again to look at creativity. What I like about Effies and "100 Wattaren" is that the jury looks at both results and creativity and that the jury is made up of both ad people and business people/clients.

For lunch I met up with Hans Sydow, the Grand Gentleman of Swedish Advertising. We were colleagues at Hall & Cederquist in the 80's; Hans at the New York office and I in Stockholm. It is always a pleasure to meet. Hans recently founded the agency Graviz and he was eager to hear about UKnight. The day ended with a visit at Spotify and not a minute had been spent in an office of my own!

Friday brought lots of great energy right from breakfast which was held at Vision Take-off, previously unknown to me. They are a culture and branding agency who help their clients to develop their culture and their brand in line with a clear set of core values and other fundamental business objectives, to drive sustainable behavioral change and optimize communication. I really liked their vision and also their special guest of the day - Linda Björk who runs Björk business (www.bjorkbusiness.com). I participated at her course on Leadership and Mindfulness about a month ago and would strongly recommend it to anyone in a leadership position; Linda is a great stress-reducer and inspiration. We continued with lunch at Komm (The Swedish Association of Advertising Agencies)in the company of Jessica Bjurström, to discuss the need for leadership training within the comms industry.Great plans ahead!

Another excellent day spent outside the Office. Have a great weekend all of you!