Women’s Day was buzzing activities across the country, with various organisations and brands hosting events that were all aimed at celebrating Mzansi Queens.
One such event was the launch of Brutal Fruit Spritzer’s first women-only pop-up bar RockerFella in Soweto.
The woman-centric brand had the perfect concept with the pop-up bar called SheBeen, a space dedicated to women and for them to be free, offering the perfect girls' night out.
The SheBeen, a play on the word shebeen, had all the ingredients of a female-centric venue - pink aesthetics, elegantly designed and all the right touches; a powder room with everything a gal might need on a night out.
“The establishment of SheBeen was born out of our brand proposition of ‘You Belong’, which seeks to promote women’s joy, belonging and freedom, without any hesitation or interference,” said Candice van den Bosch, Acting Head of Brand at Brutal Fruit Spritzer.
“SheBeen exudes our brand values of making women feel special.”
However, the space failed to live up to the Brutal Fruit slogan of “you belong” by ensuring that we truly felt like we belonged.
Organisers must have not anticipated the number of ladies that would be attending the launch because the comfortable space lacked enough seating.
Leaving many longing for a simple seat and manners were completely missing from one rude organiser who ushered us away from the bar area and told us to sit outside in the Joburg cold.
Now, yes, the outside area catered well for those in need of a smoke break and some fresh air from all the dancing that was inside, but not for the comfortable experience one was hoping for.
Seems organisers wanted us to huddle around our ice bucks like at an actual shebeen, but alas, organisers with manners thought quickly on their feet, like true queens and made solutions for the predicament.
The seating debacle was fortunately resolved before singer and songwriter Busiswa Gqulu and DJ Zinhle got the party going.
The two queens sure know how to fire up a party and make sure everyone feels like they belong.
Busiswa and DJ Zinhle both freely engaged with the women, dancing and singing along with them as they sang their famous collaboration, ‘My Name Is’.
After dancing the night away comfortably, without the prying eyes of any men, we were sadly met with those eyes outside the SheBeen, but thankfully there were CCTV cameras and visible personnel around.
The SheBeen will be accessible to all women in Gauteng during August, in celebration of National Women’s Month and is open from Thursday to Sunday.