📍Lisbon, Portugal
May 31st-June 3rd, 2024
The first ever LOLA Europe Camp was held in Lisbon, Portugal from May 31st-June 3rd, 2024. It was attended by the LOLA Chapter leaders from all across Europe.
The LOLA Europe Camp provided an opportunity for leaders to get to know each other, learn new skills which they can apply to their chapters, share their stories of liberty and have a great time together.
Friday, May 31st, 2024
WELCOME CEREMONY & “HOW I FOUND LIBERTY” STORIES
Nena Whitfield, LOLA President
Nena Whitfield, President of LOLA, discussed the founding of LOLA and its importance in providing female-only spaces to discuss liberty from a female perspective. She emphasized that women’s need for liberty is often underrepresented, illustrating this with the example of a woman needing a gun for self-defense being a more compelling argument than a man wanting to buy guns as memorabilia. Following her talk, the rest of the group shared their personal stories of how they discovered liberty and the significance of LOLA in their lives. These diverse narratives came from LOLA members across various parts of Europe, highlighting the widespread impact and importance of the organization.
Saturday, June 1st, 2024
HOW TO TALK ABOUT LOLA
Holly Jean Soto, LOLA Director of Operations
Holly Jean Soto, Director of Operations at LOLA, discussed the importance of LOLA in equipping chapter leaders with the knowledge to effectively represent the organization. She elaborated on how to navigate and present LOLA’s stance on controversial issues, ensuring that the organization’s values and perspectives are clearly communicated to others.
LIBERTY IDEAS: OBJECTIVISM & FEMINISM
Angel Walker Werth, Assistant Editor, Objective Standard Institute
Angel Walker Werth, Assistant Editor at the Objective Standard and Chapter Leader of LOLA England, gave a talk on the various types of feminism and their relationship with objectivism. She drew from multiple historical feminists and the works of Ayn Rand, discussing a range of issues from women in the workplace to abortion, providing a comprehensive exploration of feminist thought through the lens of objectivist philosophy.
HOW TO ORGANISE EVENTS & FUNDRAISE FOR YOUR CHAPTER
Justyna Piątek-Pawłowska, LOLA Poland
Justyna Piątek-Pawłowska of LOLA Poland talked about how to organise events and fundraise your LOLA chapter. She mentioned good practices for planning a LOLA event and how to put them in the liberty context of one’s country/community based on examples from Polish chapter.
For the fundraising part, she shared the success story of Polish chapter fundraising efforts and showed ideas to look for sponsors for your LOLA chapter. The main idea was to show other LOLAs that they can create an impact with their chapter’s efforts and they should think BIG and be BOLD with their chapter’s goals.
HOW TO LEAD YOUR CHAPTER & RECRUIT NEW LEADERS
Anne Dias, LOLA Chapter Program Lead
Anne Dias, Chapter Program Lead at LOLA trained leaders on how to lead your chapters and recruit new leaders. She did a workshop for leaders during the camp so that they can plan and create a step by step process with respect to leading the chapter and recruiting new leaders by giving an example of LOLA Brazil the largest region of LOLA.
WHY SOCIALISM DOESN’T WORK
Catarina Marinho, Juventude Popular Vice- President
Catarina Marinho, the Vice- President of Juventude Popular, a political youth organisation, walked the leaders through what the socialist policies are and why it doesn’t work. She discussed inner policies of Portugal and showed how socialism has failed the people of Portugal.
SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGEMENT
Pema Rubio, LOLA Madrid & Anna Shnaidman, LOLA Israel
Anna Shnaidman, chapter leader of LOLA Tel Aviv, Israel, focused on crafting a good marketing strategy and creating a powerful brief. Pema Rubio, the chapter leader of LOLA Madrid, Spain discussed how to receive the brief and create viral content that reach target audiences. Her goal was to explain how current trends work and the future of digital activism.
Anna & Pema together did a practical exercise that involved making quotes and placing LOLAs as the main character.
LOLA SOCIAL MIXER
On Saturday night, LOLA hosted its annual Happy Hour which allowed all retreat participants to network, grab drinks, and most of all have fun.
Sunday, June 2nd, 2024
HEADSHOTS & OFFICIAL PHOTOS
The LOLA Europe Camp Day 3 started with the ladies having their headshots and group shots taken in the Retreat Hotel. And, of course, the ladies took the opportunity to take plenty of their own pictures as well.
Having professional headshots taken is an important component of a strong, professional online presence. LOLA loves offering retreat attendees a chance to have a few taken.
HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR LEADERSHIP SKILLS
Nancey T. Tsai, Medical Director, Kandu Health; Clinical Professor
Nancey T. Tsai, Medical Director at Kandu Health and Clinical Professor gave a talk on how to improve your leadership skills. She had the retreat attendees take a personality test to better understand themselves as leaders. She explained that being an introvert or extrovert cannot be defined as an essential factor in becoming a leader.
HOW TO NETWORK & IMPROVE YOUR PROFESSIONAL SKILLS
Izabela Patriota, LOLA Director of Development
Izabela Patriota, Director of Operations at LOLA trained leaders on how to network and improve your professional skills.
HOW TO BUILD YOUR PERSONAL BRAND
Cláudia A. Nunes, LOLA Portugal President
Cláudia Nunes, the President of LOLA Portugal explained the girls what she did to become known on twitter with her articles. She told her story and explained how to be impartial in your relationship with political parties and not to allow yourself to be caged in your political opinions. She also gave advice on how to address people on twitter.
ELEVATOR PITCH CONTEST
Each leader had 60 seconds to showcase their skills and deliver the best pitch for LOLA!
FAREWELL CEREMONY & CERTIFICATES
Thank you to our sponsors and donors!
LOLA would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to everyone who attended and played a part in making the LOLA Europe Camp a resounding success. From our outstanding donors and sponsors to the amazing women who participated, you all contributed to an experience that inspired and empowered. The connections forged during the retreat will undoubtedly continue to uplift and strengthen the attendees for a long time to come. Thank you all for being a part of something truly special!
