hannah sharman-cox and siobhan payne
Co-founders and organisers of London Cocktail Week
“I think one of our biggest lessons is that you need to be very open to change in order to grow...”
Tell us a bit about your current job
We are the co-owners and organisers of London Cocktail Week, which is the biggest cocktail festival in the world, welcoming 25,000 guests every October. Alongside this, we own a consultancy company called HANDS London, working across various aspects of the drinks industry.
What and where did you study after school
We both had quite different educations after school, Hannah went to a prestigious performing arts college and Siobhan studied Politics and Economics at Sheffield University.
How did you get from answer 2 to answer 1?
Hannah: When I was living in America after college I read an article about the award-winning bar – Milk & Honey, NYC – and felt so inspired by their ethos that after returning to the UK, I approached their London outpost for a job, which they eventually gave me! I was part of the launch of many award-winning bars under that group and then switched from bars to books and brands, working at a well-known drinks magazine and publishing house.
Siobhan: I started my career in PR straight after university, working at a fairly sizeable agency that handled some major drinks brands. However, whilst I loved the drinks and hospitality industry that our clients sat within – I wasn’t sure whether life in a big agency was for me. So when I met Hannah, who was looking for someone to join her to help her run a ‘little thing’ she’d just launched called London Cocktail Week, I jumped at the opportunity. We have worked together ever since.
London Cocktail Week has gone from strength to strength and celebrated its tenth year in 2019. In recent years, we have created other successful offshoot festivals – London Wine Week, London Beer Week, Espresso Martini Fest and Scotch Whisky Weekend to name a few – and went on to create an online home for all these events at DrinkUp.London. But recently we have decided to re-focus our efforts back into London Cocktail Week as we enter our second decade of business together, and launch our consultancy brand HANDS London.
How does your formal education feed into your present career (if at all)?
Hannah: Certainly for me, the discipline I learnt at performing arts college has impacted the way in which we run the business. At college we had to show up, ready to go day after day, no matter how we were feeling or what knock backs we experienced. It was – character building.
Siobhan: I’d actually say that my formal education hasn’t played much of a role in my present career – apart from getting me that first job in the agency, which required degree level education. I think the growing up I did at university probably made me better equipped for the professional world, although I’d say the life experience from the travelling I did in my early twenties certainly impacted too.
What things have you learnt outside of formal education that have been helpful to your career?
Hannah: For both of us, growing the business from a germ of an idea to something well-known, award-winning and successful over ten years has definitely brought lots of life lessons along the way. Whilst we’ve always had financial support and a board of directors to answer to – essentially it’s just been the two of us (along with various team members over the years) who have built the business we have today. I think one of our biggest lessons is that you need to be very open to change in order to grow, and not be afraid of walking away from an idea if you discover it’s not going to work, however emotionally attached you might be to that idea.
Siobhan: The other lesson we’ve learnt to live by is to be nice to people. Because we work with hundreds of drinks brands and hundreds of bars, we’ve encountered a lot of people over the last ten years, and what we hope is that our kind, supportive attitude towards people has really paid off.
What are the really useful skills for someone in your job to possess?
Siobhan: A high level of organisation is required for running a business, whatever that business does. That actually doesn’t come naturally for me personally – however you can put processes in place for yourself that ensure you stay on top of things. This is definitely the case when it comes to running a team, because not only do you need to have a handle on your own work, but also the work of others to ensure everything is happening as efficiently as possible!
Hannah: I’d also say that tenacity is a vital quality to have when you’re trying to build something. Generally when you’re launching something new you spend quite a lot of time proposing ideas and talking to people about what you can offer – and with this often comes knockbacks – so having a thick skin and maintaining the momentum to get back out and re-pitch is key.
What does an average day at work look like for you?
We recently read a book called The Joy of Work, which advocates the idea of ‘Monk Mornings’ – starting the day not on emails but focussing on getting a job done during the first hours of work when you’re at peak efficiency. So that’s how we start our day now – we choose something that we need to crack on with, for example writing a sponsorship proposal, a PR brief or scheduling in some social media. A lot of our job involves meeting with people, whether that be our sponsors, consultancy clients, bar partners, media partners etc and so we often have a number of meetings and phone calls to fit in for the rest of the day. At the moment we’re hosting those meetings on Zoom – and it’s so efficient we’re definitely going to continue that as much as possible once things start to go back to normal. A regular part of our working day is going to some sort of event in the evening – which might not sound much like work, but networking and staying abreast of what’s going on in the London bar scene is integral to what we do – so this is an essential part of our day, and is luckily part of our job which we really enjoy! At the moment though, whilst events are on hold, we’re very much appreciating the slightly slower pace of life, whilst still supporting the new initiatives our partners are coming out with, such as delivery cocktails or virtual events!
What's the best thing about your job?
We both absolutely love the hospitality industry, and for us, being so integrated within it makes absolutely everything worthwhile – it’s like a massive extended family. We’d also be lying if we said we didn’t enjoy some of the perks, such as being sent new products, being shown a brand new cocktail menu in one of the best bars in London, or being taken on distillery tours and special tastings. Increasingly our job has resulted in some global travel – often being flown somewhere to judge a cocktail competition or attend an event - and whilst that’s on standby at the moment, it’s definitely something we’re looking forward to getting back into. Day to day, being able to set our own schedule and targets is something that suits us both really well – and we love the fact that we can run with ideas when we have them, as we’re the only ones we have to answer to!
What's your least favourite aspect of your job?
When you run a small business you end up doing a lot of different roles – and during the festival itself, this might mean that we’re – even after ten years – emptying bins when we see they’re full, or sorting out a blocked toilet. Even if you’re not in live events – you end up doing a lot more day to day admin than someone who might work for a bigger company and have junior staff to do these entry level jobs. Whilst we do have some junior staff at really busy times, inevitably a lot of the admin still fall to us.
Also, whilst the regular events and travel is a great perk – there are also times when this can be very tiring. However, the business wouldn’t be where it was if we hadn’t committed as much energy to networking and building relationships.
What advice would you give someone seeking a job like yours?
If you’d like a job that’s a little more out of the ordinary, or to run your own business – our biggest advice would be to just go for it! If you have an idea for something, first off, make a clear and realistic business plan. You then need to be really honest with yourself about that business plan, separate yourself from your emotional attachment to the idea, and decide whether it can truly work. If you believe it can, then it’s time to take a risk and give it a go – what’s the worst that can happen?! To caveat that – you really have to be prepared to be told ‘no’ or ‘not quite’, a lot, and to not falter at the first hurdle. Also – try to meet as many people as you can who might be able to help you – you simply never know where a good connection might lead you!
Find out more about HANDS London here.