On Friday night Create & Cultivate DTLA kicked-off with a Speaker Dinner hosted by Dove at The Line Hotel. The guests gathered on the Breezeway to celebrate and dine on cuisine from famed LA chef Roy Choi.

Of the Dove partnership Jaclyn Johnson, founder of C&C told attendees, "When I started this company, what I was looking for was real advice, from real women. Those who had knowledge and ideas to share. Women who could inspire me. This is a notion that runs through all Dove campaigns. It’s at the core of their business."

Dove boasts a near 60 year heritage in helping women to reveal beautiful, radiant skin, believing when women look and feel their best, they feel happier.At the dinner Dove unveiled their new product collection that offers a beautiful way to celebrate the women in our lives. For the first time in nearly 60 years, Dove transformed its iconic Beauty Bar with the words love, kind, care, and real engraved for a limited time. Dove Dermatologist Dr. Mona Gohara encouraged attendees to think of a woman in their life who embodies one of these words and to let her know what a positive impact she’s made by tagging her in a post using #BeautyIs. 

At the dinner Kellee Khalil, founder of Lover.ly told us, "One of the most influential women in my life is my business partner, Peggy Fry. She is a twenty year media executive and she inspires me every day to be a better leader. But also a powerful woman who is able to get stuff done, but do so with grace."

Guests sat to a simple and chic tablescape, played with flash tattoos supplied by Dove, and in line with Dove's #BeautyIs campaign, chatted about what beauty means to them. To lead-off the evening Dr. Gohara told us, "Beauty is having confidence in yourself and appreciating your inner core and what makes you unique. It’s about celebrating each other and the strong, powerful women in our lives who have helped us along the way whether it be your mom, grandma, sister friend or mentor."

Gabby Etrog Cohen, VP of PR at SoulCycle said, "Beauty is a feeling of strength and feeling like the best version of yourself no matter what you have on. Frankly, I feel the most beautiful when I’m sweaty and dripping post class, whether that’s a dance class or a SoulCycle workout. I feel the most beautiful and the strongest when I am sweaty."

For a behind-the scenes look at the dinner and to hear what beauty means to some of the other guests, like Paola Alberi of Blank Itinerary and Nicolette Mason, browse the below gallery. We invite you to celebrate the woman who inspires you by tagging her using #BeautyIs. 

Images by Sarah Natasha and Laura Dee

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