Five years ago, Sassy held its very first meeting in my apartment on Park Road in Mid Levels. We were a tiny team of three and it was easy to keep on top of all that was happening because the scale of the business was nothing like it is today. To put it into perspective, our first Sassy Hour had 7 people attend… and we were 3 of the 7!
It’s been exciting to see Sassy grow so much over the past couple of years. We have moved into an office in Sheung Wan, expanded to new countries and we have such an amazingly talented team that I often find it hard to keep up! With so much going on and without a proper conference room (a negative to an open plan office space!) most of my meetings are held in the downstairs coffee shop. While this is great for my caffeine addiction, it is seriously lacking in inspiration!
In a recent meeting with The Entertainer (in said coffee shop!) I joked that it would be fun to go back to old school Sassy days where catch up meetings were held in nail salons, fab restaurants and even sailing on a boat. So The Entertainer team decided to let me give their new monthly subscription offering a spin to spice up our meetings! They gave me 1-month access (available for $149) to their fabulous BUY ONE GET ONE FREE offers around town, and the freedom to enjoy the offers whichever day of the week worked best for us.
So, here’s my story of 7 meetings, 7 activities and 7 amazing BUY ONE GET ONE FREE Offers (all available on The Entertainer)!
Meeting 1 – Artjamming with Gaby, our Creative Executive
Gaby is our resident design guru here at Sassy HQ. She is responsible for the fabulous look and feel you see throughout our site, so it seemed very fitting for Gaby and I to get creative at ART JAM while she gave me the low down on the design updates for our newest websites (Sassy Singapore, Sassy Australia and Sassy Mama Dubai!). She also briefed me on the latest design guidelines she will be rolling out to our team soon. We do love a good guideline in the office (yes, we are nerdy in that way here at Sassy HQ!).
The Entertainer Offer:
Complimentary ART JAM® WITH XL CANVAS when another ART JAM® WITH XL CANVAS of equal or greater value is purchased.
Meeting 2 – Mani’s and Tea at The Nail Library with Simran, our Senior Sales and Marketing Manager
Simran, our all-star sales and marketing ace, is our office energiser bunny. She is always running from one meeting to the next and when she is in the office she somehow manages to find the time to pump up the energy AND answer emails. She is our events queen too, working her butt off for each and every one of them! I managed to convince her to take some time away from her hectic schedule and enjoy a mani and tea at The Nail Library. While we got a Friday afternoon manicure, Sim was able to give me the event rundown for one of our super popular Sassy brunches and we did some brainstorming on a few projects. By the time the hour was done, Sim was off in a flash to her next meeting with perfect nails, a few new ideas and some excitement for her event the next day.
The Entertainer Offer:
Complimentary AFTERNOON TEA MANICURE when an AFTERNOON TEA MANICURE of equal or greater value is purchased.
Meeting 3 – Cupcakes at Kisses with Leslie, our Sassy Mama Editor
We are huge cupcake fans here at Sassy, so one of the meetings had to involve them! Kisses (on Gough Street) is a close distance to the Sassy office, so Leslie and I met there one afternoon for a weekly catch up. We ordered a plate full of cupcakes and sampled each one while talking about the upcoming editorial calendar for Sassy Mama and the latest articles she is working on. I also think I was a conversation hog and talked about my little daughter Eve for way longer than I should have (sorry Leslie!). We even had a chance to chat to Jasmine, the owner of Kisses, who gave us the scoop that there will be a new Kisses location opening up even closer to our office. Stay tuned here for when and where!
The Entertainer Offer:
Complimentary TWO CUPCAKES when TWO CUPCAKES of equal or greater value is purchased.
Meeting 4 – Up-do and Blowout at Airplay with Shaneli, our Editorial Assistant
Shaneli is one of our newest members on the HK team, but you would think she has been with us for ages. She has been a training machine, helping us get our editorial assistants in Singapore and Dubai up to speed and she somehow has not for a second dropped the ball on her Hong Kong tasks. We planned a very girly catch up at Airplay and planned it for a Friday night at 5.00pm so we could enjoy a cocktail and a relaxing blow-dry (for Shaneli) and up do (for me). I think we are both used to chatting over hair dryers so we had plenty of opportunity to catch up at the shampoo station and while getting our hair blown out. We talked about boys, weekend plans (mine involved a Pub Crawl at 7-11 – talk about old school for this aging lady!) and our Sassy to-do lists for the next week. At the end of the catch up, I said goodbye to Shaneli as she headed off to ifc for an opening event at Steve Madden… and I headed off to Club 7-11 for a night out on the town!
The Entertainer Offer:
Complimentary BLOW OUT OR UP-DO when a BLOW OUT OR UP-DO of equal or greater value is purchased.
Meeting 5 – Early Morning workout at H-Kore with Dervla, our Managing Editor
Our Managing Editor Dervla always seems to be trying out the latest fitness class and is currently on a no sugar diet (I obviously am not if you look at my Kisses meeting!). She was the perfect candidate to bring to H-Kore for an early morning workout sesh. While we did not do a lot of catching up during the class (I was mainly huffing and puffing and trying to tone my butt!) we were able to do a proper catch up while we showered for work and during the walk to the office. Dervla filled me in on how the editorial plan was progressing for our new site launches and also gave me an update on our editorial summer internship programme. We also brainstormed where our interns would actually sit in the office cause our space is getting a bit cosy as the team expands!
The Entertainer Offer:
Complimentary SINGLE CLASS when a SINGLE CLASS of equal or greater value is purchased.
Meeting 6 – Evening sailing on Aqua Luna with Lauren, our Sassy Editor
There are days when you fall in love with Hong Kong all over again and I think for Lauren and I we had that feeling during our meeting. We boarded the Aqua Luna for a 5pm sailing, which whisked us around the harbour for a 45-minute boat tour. We are both HK veterans at this point and never really think to enjoy the Aqua Luna without visitors, but I have to say it was the perfect way to end a regular old workday. Getting on the boat seemed to ease any stress or worry away… we sat down with a glass of wine and chatted about an upcoming blogger get-together, new feature ideas and how to mix old school Sassy with some new and exciting articles.
The Entertainer Offer:
Complimentary ADMISSION FOR EVENING SAILING when another ADMISSION FOR EVENING SAILING of equal or greater value is purchased.
Meeting 7 – Yummy tapas lunch at Boqueria with Helene, our Sales and Marketing Assistant
We recently had a Sassy Brunch at Boqueria, which was an absolute hit, so we’ve had tapas on the brain in our office ever since then. I met up with Helene (one of our office foodies) for a chilled out lunch at Boqueria when she had a moment to take a breather from all the event planning she has been doing (in one month, Helene had the Sassy Awards, 2 Sassy Mama Marketplaces and the Boqueria brunch to help plan… and she did so amazingly well!). Between chorizo and croquette’s we chatted about some of the upcoming giveaways the team has lined up (they are good!) and we even had a chance to do some girl talk with Mia who runs the marketing team at Boqueria.
The Entertainer Offer:
Complimentary TWO TAPAS when another TWO TAPAS of equal or greater value are purchased.
I had an amazing time doing this and since I own The Entertainer app, I think I might start making a habit out of these fun meetings with the Sassy team (Kristy, Vanessa and Divya – we need to plan a date!) as well as catch ups with my girlfriends. And we all know that sharing is caring but you don’t actually have to share like I did. In many cases you are able to buy one now and save the free one for later which, while a teensy bit selfish, is awesome for your bank account too!
How to purchase
The 1-month mobile access for $149 can be purchased here or via the app store (download The Entertainer app and then go to ‘buy’. You will then see the option for the 1-month membership). Once you purchase it you will have access to 550+ offers for one month, which can be used any day of the week. While you do have to pay upfront to access the offers I believe if you like the merchants (see them here!) you will be very happy with your purchase and you will get lots of use out of the app. Plus if you end up loving it you can upgrade to a full 2014 membership for a reduced price at the end of your month, which will last you until the end of the year!