By Victoria Harper, Assistant Editor, Grazia

It is the first Saturday of January and while the Grazia magazine office is still shut, in a small corner of theatre-land a group of readers are getting the full-on Grazia experience.

With a glass of champagne in hand they are getting exclusive behind-the-scenes access to one of the most talked about shows in the West End, the stage adaptation of Pedro Almodavar's brilliant Women On The Verge of a Nervous Breakdown starring Tamsin Grieg.

And Grazia aren’t just on this front row too, we’re also  on the stage interviewing the cast and crew about what it takes to make it as a woman in the theatre today.

While Grazia is principally known for its fashion content, we also know our audience of upscale AB readers - many of those millennials - are as likely to want to know about the hottest cultural happenings, work trends and talking points as they are to know about the latest IT bag.

We know that our audience - especially the millennial audience who have grown up through a recession - increasingly put a value on experiences that enhance their life more than on material possessions.

This growing thirst among our audience for knowledge and experience is why, just over a year ago, we decided to launch School of Grazia, ­ a series of events that would give readers exclusive access to different thought leaders and industry leaders.

This, we thought, would not only give us an opportunity to develop a deeper connection with our audience, respond to their needs and interests, but would also be a way for us to develop different brand collaborations.

Apple partnership kicks us off

One of our first partners in this venture was with Apple, with which we did a series of introduction to blogging School of Grazia events. From here, we launched Stop Talking, Start Doing - a motivation and entrepreneurial masterclass with speakers author Shaa Wasmund and owner of Life Clubs Nina Grunfeld at London's Sketch bar.

Quickly building a School of Grazia brand we have since run School of Grazia events on everything from How to Succeed in a Male-Dominated Business to a How to Dress for Work Fashion special.

Together with Penguin books we launched a Mind Your Money Masterclass which saw an audience of over a hundred women come to listen to the author Miss Money Penny tell them how to they could get control of their financial situation without losing their minds.

Bringing our lifestyle content to life, we similarly launched our cooking School of Grazia with a Christmas Dinner with Waitrose complete with its in-house chefs and tutors. 

More recently, these ‘Schools of Grazia’ have spawned a younger sister in our Salon series ­ where panels of creatives and thought leaders gather in front of an audience to discuss the topics of the day.

Co-hosted with publishers, we have discussed everything from Are We As Sexually Liberated As We Think We Are with columnist and author Bryony Gordon to What Does Success Look Like Now - with beauty guru Sali Hughes and Everyday Sexism campaigner Laura Bates.

With a weekly magazine to run and most of our staff now working across all platforms breaking news on an hourly basis, ­ we feel this is another way we can bring Grazia to life.

And while it may be our readers who are coming to the School of Grazia, it means, as a brand, it is us who are learning from them too. And that kind of connection has been simply priceless.