Friends with Her x HerCanberra: A new way to network (and you’re invited!)

Posted on 8 April, 2024

It’s a beautiful moment when you connect with someone who shares your passion, drive and ambition.

No, we’re not talking about romantic partners – we’re talking about those friends, colleagues and professional connections who share similar goals and ambitions, who just ‘get’ where we’re at in life.

Unless you’re lucky enough to share the same profession or passions as all your friends, it’s likely you’ve wished for some like-minded pals to chat shop with, to compare career notes, give each other pep talks – who understand what you’re going through.

Whether you’re longing to meet other mid-career power women, fellow graduates who are new to Canberra like you, or C-Suite colleagues, it’s a powerful thing to meet people in the same life stage as you.

This is the concept behind Friends with Her, a casual and free networking event series focused on making these connections in a relaxed, small group setting.

Founded by Claudia Harrison McKee and Madeline Bonfini, the idea for Friends With Her was sparked after the pair – who met at university – reconnected in their graduate days and realised they had more in common than they ever thought.

“We quickly realised we were very like-minded and we started catching up monthly to chat about our ambitions, passions and ideas we had,” says Claudia.

“The monthly catch-ups also enabled us to have that accountability and space to celebrate the career wins we had. These were conversations that we didn’t often have with friends and family, and we were excited to be able to bounce ideas off each other.”

“It made us think, there must be other people out there who would love to be able to do the same. We wanted to create a community where people can support each other throughout career. The value proposition to many people can mean different things, at different stages of their career.”

“Friends with Her is about encompassing various elements of that. Whether that be a career change, friendships, hobbies, or fitness. We want to bring together interesting people to have interesting conversations and be a space where others come to meet fascinating individuals.”

Having worked in consulting and Defence respectively, Madeline and Claudia were also familiar with large professional networking events and identified a gap in the market.

“Firstly, a lot of people move to Canberra for work and for those people it can be very hard to meet new people and make friends or build your professional network,” explains Madeline.

“Secondly, most networking events are industry focussed or focussed on business owners or high-level executives. Often junior and mid-level people are left out or don’t get much value from networking.”

The HerCanberra team we couldn’t agree more – and we’ve seen first-hand the difficulty experienced by those new to Canberra or women who feel ‘out of sync’ with their friends’ careers. Therefore, we’re excited to announce that we’ve teamed up with Friends With Her to host the very first Friends With Her x HerCanberra networking event!

Taking place on Thursday 18 April at Highball Bar, the evening will run from 6 pm until 7.30 pm and be a casual, unstructured mingle where, as Claudia and Madeline put it, you’ll find “interesting conversations with people you know or want to know”.

Hosting five events in 2023, Madeline says Friends With Her has been warmly received.

“We have had really positive feedback so far on the events. People have really enjoyed the focus on inclusivity, whether that be age, industry or experience. Most attendees have walked away from our events having connected with at least one new person.”

“We hope to build a welcoming community for females in Canberra and a safe space for talking about ambitions, passions and ideas. We want to be able to facilitate a safe space for being curious, learn, and celebrate our wins.”

We’ll raise a daquiri to that! Tickets to Friends With Her x HerCanberra are free (you’re welcome to buy your own drinks and snacks at Highball on the evening) but numbers are strictly limited, so make sure you reserve your place via Eventbrite and we’ll see you there!

Please note this event is open to people of all gender identities, not just those who use her/hers pronouns.