Genevieve LeJeune: How we spread our lady love around the globe

Skirt Club founder Genevieve Le Jeune has a chequered past, from a city-hopping financial whizz, journalist and professional expat - to the founder of one of the fastest growing sex-positive communities for women in the world. But from its early roots as a tiny gathering of 20 ladies to a global community of 12,000 members, how did it come to be?

Genevieve reveals all…

SC: The first group of friends you gathered for your very first event - where was it? They must have been pretty good friends?

GLJ: There were many friends and friends of friends. So there was already a level of comfort amongst the group. Remember we were just there for fun, there was no agenda. We wanted amazing cocktails, a tease in the way of a performer and some sexy games. I had just renovated my apartment (which had featured in Home and Garden Magazine),so we had a sexy Shoreditch loft to call home. We had games lined up to play and body tequila was born that night. We concocted this champagne cocktail which had every ingredient in it, and consequently was lethal to drink. We learned!

SC: After that initial party, which city was next?

GLJ: After hosting events in London for 2 years, I moved to the US and decided to try out the concept there. I started with Miami since I lived there at the time and soon after launched in NYC where Skirt Club was enthusiastically received.

SC: Are there any cities you would love to build a community in and can you give us the inside scoop on your favourite cities for a SKirt Club party?

GLJ: We host parties in 13 cities so there’s a lot of choice here. Would it be fair to have a favourite??? I don’t think i’m allowed. I think what always thrills me is the cultural differences in approach to sex and sexuality. Because flirting woman to woman is a skill most of us are still learning. Our events are the same all over the world, it’s only the way in which they play out that's different. Some cities are more open and direct about sex, others find it rather taboo to even discuss it. The majority of places are still the latter, and shame around sex prevails unfortunately which can lead to acute shyness and someimes members choosing last minute not to attend.

In order of courage (100% attendance) I would list NYC and San Fran with our Manhattan members being the most strategic. Yes, there is a game plan (for some).
London requires a few more ice-breakers to muster dutch courage (and several more gins). But gets totally wild at the stroke of midnight. Berlin is born ready. Melbourne doesn’t hold back either.

SC: Have you ever had any kick-back or flack from groups/cities about Skirt Club or are we so professional at being ‘underground operatives’ that people don’t usually realise?

GLJ: Not kick-back but certainly some shocked or surprised reactions. I think there is a general consensus that a group of girls can’t really get up to that much mischief. And then of course the reality transpires. Ha!

SC: How many parties have you overseen to date and how has the style and substance of the parties changed since the early days?

GLJ: We have hosted 168 parties both signature and Mini Skirt, equally split. The events are exactly as they were when we started out, just quadrupled in attendance.

SC: What would you do differently if you were starting out in 2019?

GLJ: With the benefit of hindsight I would have known how popular Skirt Club would be. Of course that was impossible to predict in 2014, as the very nature of women’s sexuality was totally taboo. I think i would have certainly built us up from a technology standpoint to be more robust. And hired people instead of spinning 50 plates.

SC: Did you ever imagine SC would get this big? You’ve been offered assistance from a number of investors but argue many of them aren’t quite the right fit for SC. You’ve just received backing from 43 backers as part of a recent online crowdfunding drive - tell us about the ideal partners/investors for SC?

GLJ: Good question. As you can imagine I’m quite protective of our community, I know many of our members stories and their personal journeys to finding liberation and acceptance in their sexuality. It would be irresponsible of me to allow an outsider in. We have raised funding so far from our members in the form or selling membership, jewelry and perks. This has helped us partly pay for the new website which in turn will help us continue to generate revenue through online membership.

However this is a very slow approach to bring Skirt Club to more members around the world, it may take us 10 years to spread the word. So we are seeking an investor to help pay for marketing and finish our technology platform. Of course this person needs to be someone with the same values and has our members interests at heart. We want to keep decisions about Skirt Club and our future, in the family.

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Are you looking to slip into Skirt Cub as a member, investor or partner? Contact members@skirtclub.co.uk for more information.