Member Mona Panjwani Case Study

In 2015, Mona Panjwani was a compensation analyst at TIAA-CREFF making $115,000 a year.

On the side, she had an events management business, which netted her an additional $75K a year.  

She wanted to build awareness for the "Sparkles" brand and reached out to me on Facebook messenger for support.

She had seen photos of my events, where 300 women were attending at a clip. I invited her to the next one. I still remember her walking into the the great white room, and asking, “What do I do?" 
I did the "Jerry Maguire" walk of the room, introducing her to a few women.

That was June 25, 2015.

In the interim, Mona was renting space in other people’s venues for events.

What I didn't know is that she wanted to become the VENUE. Right before the pandemic, she took over an old beer taphaus and rebranded it as a gastropub. With new American fare, the restaurant was located on prime water front real estate, ideal for weddings and 50th birthday parties.

Through it all, she kept attending my roundtables, which were in person in 2020. Now SheSuite Roundtables are virtual to be inclusive of women all over the country and the world.

The screenshots in this series are from a recent client buyout at the restaurant. Today, in 2025, Lokal makes $10MM in revenue. 

Mona now has a staff of 40 that reports into her. A social media manager. A general manager. And–her own event planner. Long gone is that woman who walked through the doors of my event June 25, 2015, unsure of herself.

This month, she's launched a new dining concept on the roof of the Club Quarters Hotel in FiDi. It's her first New York City venture.