I went to London – what a delightful surprise!

On this day, last year, I was in London for our flagship event, the STRETCH Conference. We have been hosting it every year during Black History Month in the UK for the past 8 years. I had gone into 2023 really wanting to meet up in person with some of my colleagues who I had been working with remotely for over 2 years at this point. As much as I was excited, I (honestly) did not expect to like London PLUS my anxiety was at an all time high.

Why?

Was it my first time on a plane? No.

Was it my first time travelling to a new place alone? No.

Was it my first time travelling to a faraway place and leaving my son? Yes!

Maybe THAT was the problem!

I also think it was the fact that every time I have travelled to anywhere, I have stayed with friends or family who I have known all my life. But here I was going to be meeting with my colleagues in person for the first time and I did not know what to expect. It made me a bit uneasy.

I work 100% remotely and don’t really get to meet people in person for anything in professional settings. It has gotten worse since I had my son because it now almost seems like my life just revolves around being in front of my laptop, running errands, school run, visiting my mum and doing church during the weekends. Let me just say being a professional hermit is not the desired state (for me) and I’m working on improving in this area.

Anyway, straight off the bat I’m going to tell you though, London pleasantly surprised me. I loved my experience there last October and I don’t know whether it was London itself, the people I got to experience it with, our host or all of the above. Being part of the team on the ground that was planning and executing the STRETCH Conference event was such an honour. I enjoyed every minute of it!

We met our other former colleagues and friends and having them carve out time to travel and catch up over brunches and lunches was just wholesome. By the way, the London food scene is GREAT! I had the best jollof rice meal to date and even as I type this right now, I remember how it was being prepared and the aroma. My goodness! I usually don’t go crazy over food when I travel but listen, even the Nando’s there hits different! Nando’s Zimbabwe is just annoying me at this point – I don’t even eat it anymore.

The public transit system in London? 10/10! I love it so much because it makes it so easy for visitors to move around. I don’t like having to 100% depend on locals or Uber for mobility when I travel. This may sound weird but it actually makes me homesick. This reminds me of something my dad told me when I was getting on a plane for the first time some 10+ years ago. I was going to Dubai to visit my sister. I don’t know whether he could tell I was anxious but he said, “As long as you can read, you’re going to be fine”. And that’s been my approach to traveling to new places since. As long as it is written in English, I will figure it out. But even though I can read well I did have moments in London of running after trains and missing them by half a second or worse, just ending up on the wrong platform. Exhilarating if you ask me! 😅

Now to add icing to my first ever London experience, I had close family fly and drive in from different parts of the UK to see me just for a few hours. I mean, what do you do with that kind of love and showing up whilst in a new city? Even typing this makes me miss them more. Long distance cousin-ships and sibling-ships suck, honestly!

So what is it about meeting in person?

You all know I am such an advocate for remote work. I believe the flexibility it affords professionals just adds to a healthy and more balanced working experience. Over the years, I have tried to go remote even with my networking – joining communities that resonate with my professional aspirations. I have connected with amazing people along the way with whom I have exchanged products and services with. I have even partnered with others on projects without ever meeting in person. You can never convince me that remote work is not a viable way to grow teams and support business operations. My experience over the past 10 years says otherwise.

But there is something about meeting in person that just brings a whole other dimension to relationships. “Oh you’re so tall!” “My goodness, you are so short!” Those were some of the hilarious first impressions we shared as we saw each other for the first time behind our screens.

Whether we like it or not, perceptions are usually created as we hide behind the Teams, Zoom and Google Meet profile pictures and silhouettes. Sometimes we read chats and messages in voices and tones not intended by the sender. Some of y’all even play voicenotes at 1.5x or 2x speed to get through the message quickly which completely alters someone’s tone 😂 I’m laughing because I do that and it gets on my mum’s last nerve.

So if you are like me and you fancy working remotely because you prefer to keep to yourself and the idea of socialising sometimes makes you cringe, please allow me to change your mind? Allow the conversations to leave the screens and keyboards. Be open to having them over cups of coffee and rich delicious slices of chocolate cake. (Sidebar: The way I have been thinking about chocolate cake lately is just nuts – my birthday is in 2 weeks and I am going to make this girl happy!)

Although this year I won’t be attending our STRETCH Conference in person, I am still excited that I get to have the Virtual Experience and start forging relationships with other attendees who I am going to be watching with online. I’m even more excited for all the professionals who get to be in the room with our team in London. Because I have experienced it in person, I already know the conversations are going to be on fire 🔥

I often share about the STRETCH Conference and the work we do at Career Masterclass because of how it has positively impacted my professional journey. You cannot attend STRETCH Conference and leave the way you came. My very first one was in October 2021 and I still remember how the keynote speaker Suzan left me feeling “normal” but yearning to reach for more and I can tell you, I am not the same person I was then.

To this day, I have followed her own career journey and she continues to inspire me as a woman rising in the fintech space. One of the memorable things she shared was how we should be clear about what comes first, second and third in your lives because when the tough stuff comes and you don’t have this grounding, things can easily spiral out of control. I think I can plug my last post at this point as it relates to this as well.

I could write 127 more paragraphs trying to convince you to join us at the STRETCH Conference this year but I won’t because at the end of the day, deep down inside, it’s your intention that will drive you to a decision as only you know whether or not this could be the push your career needs.

Now, if you would like to attend the STRETCH Conference in person in London we only have up until Monday 14th October before we close ticket sales. Virtual ticket sales will be closing early morning on Thursday, October 17th. You can get your tickets here. I’d love to attend STRETCH with you.

I would also like to know, if you have been there yet, about your first experience of London or kuChando (meaning: the cold place) as Zimbabweans like to call it.