LET’S TALK IS A COLLABORATION OF WOMEN RESTAURATEURS TO BUILD COMBINED ECONOMIC POWER. IT IS NOT AN ORGANIZATION, IT IS NOT AN ENTITY, IT IS AN ACTION-LED MOVEMENT BY WOMEN BUSINESS OWNERS AS PEERS.
National Collaborations
LTW Nasdaq Bell Ringing, Social Innovation Award, CNBC & NY1
Recent Collaborations
Let’s Talk Change
Women’s Leadership in Restaurants & Franchises
Let’s Talk – A Women’s Networking Celebration
CHICAGO INNOVATION PRESENTS TASTE OF INNOVATION. PANEL + LTW CULINARY EXPERIENCE 5/20/2025
CHICAGO INNOVATION PRESENTS TASTE OF INNOVATION. PANEL + LTW CULINARY EXPERIENCE 5/20/2025 Tickets $53-$70. This event spotlights innovation in the ever-changing world of food and drinks. This year’s event features: – Food industry innovators discussing 2025 emerging trends that excite them – Tasting stations curated by Sanctuary & Let’s Talk Womxn restaurants – Libations from…
CHICAGO HUMANITIES AT SANCTUARY. IMMIGRATION, SANCTUARY & FOOD 5/9/2025
CHICAGO HUMANITIES AT SANCTUARY. IMMIGRATION, SANCTUARY & FOOD 5/9/2025 Tickets $50. Join Chicago Humanities at Sanctuary, a new women-centric cocktail den and restaurant, for an evening of feasting and provocative conversation celebrating differences. Feast on global gourmet food stations — crafted by Chicago’s Let’s Talk Womxn restaurateurs — meet the restaurateurs, enjoy statement cocktails (cash…
Let’s Talk Womxn National Restaurant Show Exclusive Dinner Experience 5/18/2025
Let’s Talk Womxn National Restaurant Show Exclusive Dinner Experience 5/18/2025 Tickets: https://www.nationalrestaurantshow.com/home/dinner-experiences/ Tickets $300. National Restaurant Association Show and Let’s Talk Womxn Exclusive Dinner Experience. Experience a culinary feast like no other crafted for the Show attendees and their guests. A five-course dinner, with five leading Chicago culinary concepts, cocktails & wine, hosted by Let’s…
More Than March – Milwaukee
Ticket: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/lets-talk-womxn-more-than-march-dinner-tickets-1247308185359?utm_experiment=test_share_listing&aff=ebdsshios
More Than March – New York
Ticket: https://www.wonderville.nyc/events/more-than-march-2025
More Than March Bash Boston
Kick off Women’s History Month with Let’s Talk Womxn Boston! For one special night on Thursday, March 6th, experience tastings from 18+ of Boston’s top women in food and beverage. You’ll meet LTW Boston members, enjoy their delicious creations, experience fabulous comic relief and celebrate together with a fabulous DJ and so much more to…
Sanctuary & Let’s Talk Womxn Invite You To…
Join us at 3/13 6pm at Sanctuary for a Let’s Talk Womxn dinner feast and conversation. Bring your daughters and mentees. On cultivating fearlessness in ourselves and our daughters. With partners The Chicago Network, Harvard Club of Chicago, Girls in the Game, WBEZ and Chicago Sun-Times. $120 standard ticket, all inclusive (conversation, dinner, wine, tax, gratuity).…
More Than March Bash
Join Let’s Talk Womxn Chicago on 3/2 4-8pm at Moe’s Cantina for Chicago’s definitive women power celebration and an unforgettable feast & drinks by 30+ of Chicago’s 130 incredible womxn restaurateurs and F&B entrepreneurs! Shimmer in stylish silver or come as you are to celebrate, feast, drink, dance, connect and just have fun. Packed with action with…
What Women Want: Fortifying Our Democracy
Global Gourmet Dinner
Harvard Business School Women’s Association & Let’s Talk Womxn Oct 2, 6-8PM. At Vermilion. Chicago. We invite all Chicago food aficionados to an epic multi-concept gourmet feast with wine & cocktail pairing Hear “behind the business” restaurant insights Tickets $150 Email: admin@hsbwa.org by 9/27 Vermilion. 10 W. Hubbard St. Chicago, IL Women boosting women in…
Let’s Talk Womxn National Restaurant Show Webinar 4/17/24
Let’s Talk Womxn National Restaurant Show Webinar 4/17/24 Registration free at Maximizing Your Digital Presence for Growth.
Let’s Talk Change. Reinventing Restaurants. Vermilion 5-7pm.
Let’s Talk Change. Reinventing Restaurants. Vermilion 5-7pm. Tickets $60 for gourmet food stations, event & soapboxes by 10 leading nationwide women restaurateurs. Cash bar. Real opinions, insights & revelations with no holy grails by real restaurateurs! A dynamic gourmet evening for ALL who love dining out and restaurants. What’s working with our restaurants today? What’s…
Let’s Talk Womxn National Restaurant Show Exclusive Dinner Experiences 5/19/24
The National Restaurant Show is proud to partner with Let’s Talk Womxn to curate unforgettable dining experiences for you at 7 p.m. on Sunday, May 19th. Join us for gourmet collaborative dinners, each showcasing not one, but two-three Let’s Talk Womxn entrepreneurs and their concepts. Exclusively crafted, these unique dining experiences are open to all…
LTW National Restaurant Association Show Women Leaders & Owners Reception
Let’s Talk Womxn invites all women in food and drink to attend the first Women Leaders & Owners Reception it is cohosting with the National Restaurant Association Show. The largest food service and restaurants convention with over 55,000 attendees. We invite ALL women to attend, meet, explore ways to promote our businesses and careers beyond…
More Than March
Click Here: Press Release & Participants Ticket link: https://www.exploretock.com/letstalkchicagowomxn “More Than March” is Chicago’s woman-power celebration of the year. Blends unabashed social & cerebral facets. Tasting stations & diva cocktails by 30+ leading Let’s Talk Womxn restaurateurs. DJ, black & bling drag show, dancing, the works. Come in BLACK draped in BLING to revel in…
More Than March Boston
3.07.24 at Boston Harbor Distillery. 7pm. Ticket link: http://tinyurl.com/4wtarnmj
More Than March Cincinnati
3.8.24 at The Grove Event Center. 7-10 pm. Ticket link: http://exploretock.com/letstalkcincinnati Sysco Co-Presenting National Advocate
More Than March Milwaukee
3.8.24 at Denizen MKE. 6-9 pm. Ticket link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/lets-talk-womxn-live-out-loud-dinner-tickets-835199272507 Sysco Co-Presenting National Advocate
City Cohosts
Elizabeth Almeida
Doriana Isufi
Yasmin Curtis
Kavita Kumar
Molly Matelski
Josalyn Holmes
Jessica Perjes
ShaVonne McCants
Michelle Allen
Lisa Gutierrez
Liz Joy
Nicki Laborie
Anne Quatrano
Kate Taylor Martin
Thy Mitchell
Denise Taylor
Melissa Guzman
Josie Smith
Lindsey & Lisa Rusch
Deborah Van Trece
Rosa Thurnher
Jen Ziskin
Nancy Cushman
Nancy Matheson-Burns
Rohini Dey, Ph.D.
Carla Chalkley
Joby Bowman
Terri Graber
Paula Haines
Alli Jarrett
Sharon Haynes
Ouita Michel
Anomalous Campbell
Dana Spandet
Marilupe Moreno
Desta Maree Klein
Barbara Sibley
May Fridel
Naama Tamir
Kat Cirar
MacKenzie DeVito
Jacqueline Nicosia
Angela Lawrence
Some News
Our Credo
- The goal of Let's Talk Womxn is to build the camaraderie, counsel, visibility, bargaining and economic power of its women entrepreneurs. Together.
- Let’s Talk Womxn launched in the thick of the pandemic in 2020 for women restaurateurs to learn from & support each other. It has explosively evolved to much more. It is a magical innovative B-cube model of “competitors as collaborators.” Started for women restaurateurs, it has grown to include all women entrepreneurs and makers of food and drink.
- Started with 15 restaurateurs in Chicago in 2020, LTW has grown to 850+ women entrepreneurs in 15 cities in the US and Canada, with three additional city offshoots. Many more US and international cities are in the LTW waitlist and pipeline.
- LTW launched 3 additional cities in 2020 who morphed to offshoots: Let's Talk Womxn Philadelphia, Let's Talk Womxn DC and Let's Talk Womxn LA. These morphed into Philly Sisterly Love, DC Women in Food & LA RE:Her (see inception GMA, NewsNation, LA Times).
- This action movement is entirely voluntary. And kept lean deliberately with no dues, overheads, bureaucracy, fancy office, CEO. The frills and financial drain of many conventional entities in our industry. All LTW support and revenue flows to its women entrepreneurs to boost their core businesses.
- The crux is monthly sessions by city with "Deep Dives" into business issues to learn from each other, share counsel and referrals. "Pulse" is to know and help each other. Complete candor & confidentiality underlie these business sessions.
- Each Let's Talk city is cohosted, nourished and led by leading city women restaurateurs. Founder Dey cross-pollinates learnings across all LTW cities & nationally, founds new cities, runs the sessions, seeds initiatives and builds sponsors & external national forums for LTW.
- Additional LTW collaborative initiatives - apart from ongoing, all-year learning and counsel - focus on amplifying visibility, boosting aspirations, cross-promoting each other, bolstering revenue, and unstinting referrals and access. See details here LTW National Press Release 2023. Much more is afoot on both the city & national levels.
- Let’s Talk Womxn participate actively in keynotes, talks, panels & forums to share their collaborative positive empowering B-cube model for parity. This model extends across sectors, applies within corporations for "intrepreneurs," and across countries.
- For entities, corporations and cities who champion women entrepreneurs, backing Let's Talk Womxn is a natural choice. All LTW members are owners, employers and tastemakers with a mass following at the intersection of dining, consumer and retail. We are sponsored directly or via our 501c3 fiscal sponsor. LTW works actively with its city CVBs, SRAs, COCs, corporations and other partners.
- The X factor in Womxn is an algebraic expression of explicit openness to women owners of all sizes, stripes, color, creed, format, scale, race, orientation, identities, startups or celebrities. All are peers.
- Within six months of inception, LTW was included in NRN Power List Top 50 for inclusive impactful leadership alongside industry giants. A multitude of awards, accolades and media has followed organically along the way.
- Women entrepreneurs in culinary are tired of the deluge of manuals, guidelines, conferences & webinars. Positive intentions that cause glacial change.
- Women owners are tired of being on the fringe of involvement, whether on boards, policy, the media spotlight, or financing. This is dictated by economic power, PR heft, the fawning-over-the-beloved-few "TV celebrity" herd mentality. Let's Talk aims to redress this.
- Let’s Talk Womxn deliberately has no mission statement, no statement of values and no five-year plan. The universe abounds with these well-meaning, murky, unaccountable, lofty articulations.
- Let’s Talk Womxn is founded and led by Rohini Dey, Ph.D. Vermilion restaurateur in Chicago. Formerly McKinsey & Co., former World Bank, and former trustee/founder/chair of the James Beard Foundation Women's Leadership Program for a decade (2011-2021).
Donate
Donate to Let's Talk Womxn to directly support women restaurateurs and entrepreneurs.
Stay in Touch
Subscribe and get the latest news from Let's Talk Womxn.
JOIN US. PARTNER WITH US. SHARE US.
Reach out to Let's Talk Womxn. If you are a woman business owner in food and drink in a city we're in and would like to join us. Our forum is open to all and we'd love to have you.
To corporation, associations, and media, we're open to all help.
- share our collaborative Let's Talk Womxn model, a force beyond DE&I initiatives
- leverage our expertise on all things restaurants, food, drink and entrepreneurship as 550+ frontline owner operators
- tap our pulse as consumers and women with a combined vast following
- partner with us to unconventionally and directly foster change and help women scale