In addition to fashion and fabulous prizes, financial planning was on the agenda …
All products featured on thegloss.ie are selected by our editors. If you buy something through affiliate links on our site we may earn a commission.
Financial feminism, facing challenges and how to play your part in being kinder to the planet while still loving fashion were just two of the topics explored by guest speakers at THE GLOSS Gala 2024, in association with Goodbody.
The subject of financial challenge is familiar territory to every single mother and sole breadwinner. It certainly is for serial self-reinventor, media entrepreneur, writer and performer Cally Beaton. Having anchored a series of THE GLOSS Goodbody Investment Club financial planning modules in 2023, Cally believes that turning money from a source of stress to a source of strength is the route to freedom and independence.
Cally started her career in TV production and, when her company was acquired by ITV, she found herself on the ITV board – not just the youngest board member at 32 but the only woman member. She went on to set up an award-winning creative consultancy before joining US studio giant ViacomCBS as a Senior Vice President – overseeing budgets in excess of $500m for brands such as Nickelodeon, MTV, Comedy Central and Paramount.
Cally, as the audience found out, knows a thing or two about self-help, having helped herself out of a boardroom career to try something completely different. An unexpected conversation with the late Joan Rivers (you can imagine that was fun!), who recognised another funny female when she heard one, encouraged her to start a new career, this time in front of, rather than behind, the cameras as a performer and speaker.
This reinvention wasn’t Cally’s first financial challenge. A single mother to two children, one with special needs, Cally was the breadwinner while building a brand new career. Her advice to women facing financial challenges of all sorts is to acquire the knowledge you need to make a plan, and to get some expert advice from a trusted advisor. “Create the financial space to develop a new perspective,” she says.
With 1,600 immensely accomplished women in attendance at THE GLOSS Gala, Cally played to her strengths, eschewing serious advice in favour of the funny approach to facing the money music with lines such as “I had no safety net. Money doesn’t blow my skirt up.” Everything one does or can do, she says, has financial value. “Don’t be afraid of failure,” she concluded, citing Samuel Beckett: “Ever tried, Ever failed. No matter, Try again. Fail again, Fail better.”
As you may know, THE GLOSS Gala was once called Look the Business for the simple reason that we believe that fashion can help take women forward in business. Fashion can help you feel strong, can signal your ambitions and aspirations. It can make you feel confident. Over the years we have had many speakers on this topic and all had interesting things to say. But, this year we wanted to explore a new dimension to the subject – can we lessen the negative impact of fashion on climate change, and play our part in being kinder to the planet while looking the business.
Award-winning journalist, author and activist in the sustainable fashion world, Dana Thomas began her career as a model, then worked for The Washington Post and for 15 years was the Paris-based fashion correspondent for Newsweek. She writes for The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, Harper’s Bazaar, and Vogue among other publications.
As one of the most well-respected and prominent voices in fashion, Dana shared her story as well as her passion for sustainability. She described how it’s possible to be a fashion consumer with less negative impact and with less guilt. Her advice: buy less and buy better, wear more, waste less, and support retailers and labels that have their priorities and policies in the right order.
Follow Cally Beaton @callybeatoncomedian and Dana Thomas @danathomasparis.
Photography by Conor Healy / Picture It Photography