When you run your fashion magazine, events like the Safiyaa & Amanda Nguyen Civil Rights Activist Intimate dinner series, MADE TO LEAD, are more important than other events. Style Cartel ends New York Fashion Week with Daniela Karnuts, CEO and Creative Director of Safiyaa & Amanda Nguyen, who invited us to an intimate dinner series: MADE TO LEAD to break bread.
SAFIYAA ‘MADE TO LEAD’ DINNER SERIES NYFW
Celebrating the Spirit of Leadership and Resilience in Women. The day after Valentine’s Day, Thursday, February 15th 2024, at 7 PM, we all broke bread at Hutong 731 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10022
It took a while for the inaugural Made To Lead dinner hosted by fashion brand Safiyaa to take place—but once the idea came to life, as it did last month, we could not wait until the next one. 2024 is about women supporting women.
Daniela Karnuts, the CEO and creative director of the label, envisioned the evening as a way to celebrate female resilience, game-changers, change-makers, and leaders who inspire a more positive and powerful space for others—which made civil rights activist Amanda Nguyen the perfect co-host for the first-ever instalment of the passion project.
Nguyen, the founder of the NGO civil rights organization Rise, is a formidable campaigner against gender-based violence (not to mention a nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize, a Time Magazine Woman of the Year, and a Forbes 30 under 30 honoree) greeted attendees as we gathered at Hutong’s private dining room in Midtown East.
Once seated for dinner, she gave us emotional and eye-opening details about her experience as a victim-turned-advocate and lobbyist. She discussed what motivates her: “Being first is only great as long as you hold the trail open for others.”
As Made to Lead offers a platform and encouraging environment for women to share their stories and advance change, the series will continue with new hosts each time. Next up, Nguyen nominated composer, pianist, and singer Chloe Flower, who was in attendance, to carry the baton.
MADE TO LEAD’ DINNER SERIES NYFW
While many of us know Flower for her musical abilities, she’s also an ardent advocate of anti-human trafficking, and she serves on the boards of the United Nations Office on Drugs and The Liberace Foundation.
Among those who joined for the elegant evening, enjoying the famed Chinese eatery’s delicious dishes and marvelling at candle-lit, floral-laden tablescapes decorated by Nicolas Cogrel.
were Patina Miller, Dr Michelle Henry, Hannah Stoudemire, Nikki Ogunnaike, Faran Krentcil, Christine Yi, Eman Mabrouk, Britt Theodora, Kathy Lee, Lucy Feldman, Tenique Bernard, and Alisha Haridasani Gupta, and Style Cartel CEO Charlotte Smith.
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Reynolds Fernandez Photographer
