We are so honoured to have won Best LBQ Business Award at the Planet London Awards.
The awards have been running since 2013 and exist to celebrate the hard work of grass roots event organisers and community businesses who are committed to improving the lesbian, bi and queer scene. This year almost 4,000 women cast 47,523 votes to decide the winners across the 40 categories.
We beat some strong competition in the form of Barberette, Pink Lobster Dating, Pretty Pink Pearl, Square Peg Media and That's the Spot.
Our Kate was there to pick up the award for the Sh! team. She gives us her thoughts on the night:
"It was an absolutely fabulous night, well... late afternoon! Broadway Theatre was full of empowered, inspiring women. I was sitting there, in full #powerlesbian mode, next to Sarah Waters! (Yes, I was fan-girling hard, as was everyone else in the room - reading 'Fingersmith' in my early teens was a major sexual identity breakthrough).
I was amazed by the supportive and warm atmosphere. Katie and Naomi did wonderful job, not only by inviting such an inspiring crowd but also by creating a fun yet professional event. I was surprised and flustered when Sh! was called to collect an award for the most inspiring business serving the Lesbian, Bi Queer & Questioning community. I thanked everyone on behalf of the whole Team Sh!
Every day we are working hard at Sh! to create an empowered and safe space for women to explore their sexuality. Such a rare and precious space is worth protecting. It is one of the few sex education platforms that not only sprung from the queer community, but has many LBQ staff and continues to base its practices on the experiences and life stories that queer women share with us.
Working in a family-like, women orientated small business that has been focused on sexually empowering women since the 90s' (some of our Team Sh! girls are younger than our shop!) is one of the best jobs a girl in London can have. That's why I am always dying to talk about Sh! to anyone who would like to listen... and on that night I had a full room of gorgeous, powerful LBQ women who were very eager to let me do so."
