“We're not going to give up in-person gatherings, but at the same time, virtual tables have been so meaningful. Post-COVID probably will be a ‘both and’ community.” - Carla Fernandez

In November, we hosted a live interview with Carla Fernandez and Mary Horn in front of an intimate audience. For both women, their work with The Dinner Party is personal. “We know what it’s like to lose someone and we aren’t afraid to talk about it,” their website states.

When COVID-19 arrived in March, Carla, Mary, and the team “frantically put together some programming.” They stood up a calendar of events, including yoga and journaling, that Dinner Parties could tune into from around the world. But when they turned to their community and asked, “what do you need more of?” the answer grounded them in their founding purpose.

“They weren't as interested in these one-way teaching experiences,” Carla told us. “What they really wanted was connections and homies that they could talk to about what was going on in their life.” People can go to a yoga class any hour of the day, seven days a week. At the outset of COVID-19, there were a lot of organizations providing those spaces (thankfully!). What Dinner Partiers didn't have was someone that they could talk to about their grief.

Since that realization, they have launched the Buddy Program, connected affinity groups, and added 70 new tables to their community. In our live interview, we talked with them about finding an activity that was purposeful, participatory, and offered the peer support people come to The Dinner Party for.

We have plans to host another live interview soon! Stay in the loop by subscribing to our newsletter.

Highlights, inspiration, & key learnings:

Origin story. Why Mary comes to the table. (We first heard Carla’s back when we talked with her and co-founder, Lennon Flowers, on a previous episode of the podcast.)
Listening to community needs. Asking questions that revealed next steps.
Purposeful & participatory shared activity. How The Dinner Party launched the Buddy Program and transitioned the tables online.
Paying attention to hand-raisers. How the team supercharged and supported affinity groups that popped up around shared experiences and identities.
Looking to the future. A post-COVID world with the best of virtual and IRL gatherings.

👋🏻Say hi to Mary and Carla + learn more about The Dinner Party.

📄See the notes from our live event!

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Emil Abrahamsson

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