Building Community Around What Matters

Wife, Mother, Founder. For Blake Frances Hendrie, these three words say a lot about who she is and what drives her.

Blake is the founder of Frankly UAE, a community-driven platform created for families, by a family living in the UAE. The platform helps families across Dubai find what is genuinely worth their time and money, from events and activities to dining, camps, classes and experiences.

As a mother of three, Blake knows how much time and effort can go into finding the right things for a family. Frankly UAE grew from that experience. What began with her own search for better family experiences has become a platform built around trusted recommendations and real community.

Through Frankly Families, Frankly Youth and Frankly Collective, Blake has created different spaces for people to connect. Frankly Families focuses on tried, tested and trusted family experiences. Frankly Youth gives Dubai’s teenagers a space of their own through the Teens in Dubai youth group, while Frankly Collective brings people together through real events and shared experiences.

One of the parts of Frankly that means the most to Blake is Frankly Family Camps. Created to make school holidays easier for families, the camps give children a place to have fun, make friends and enjoy their breaks. Seeing the excitement on children’s faces each school holiday is, for Blake, one of the clearest reminders of why she started Frankly.

She has also recently Launched Frankly Youth: Frankly Youth was created as the home base for everything happening for teens in Dubai — a space built entirely around them. “The next generation doesn’t need to be told what to do — they need space to figure it out,” says Blake, founder of Frankly. “That’s what Frankly Youth is built for.”

Her passion for community also extends to supporting other women in business. Blake actively creates opportunities for women in Dubai to work, grow and build their own ventures. She believes in making room for other women and in the simple idea that when women support women, everyone rises.

Blake brings more than 15 years of experience across events, hospitality and entertainment in Dubai and Australia. During this time, she has built brands, produced large-scale experiences and partnered with leading venues and operators across both markets.

Before founding Frankly UAE, Blake founded The Collective Co and Movement Hub Dubai. Her work has spanned unique activations, decor and styling, wellness and fitness, family events, camps and large-scale production events

Today, Frankly UAE brings many of those experiences together in one place. For Blake, it is the next chapter of her story in Dubai, shaped by her love of family, community and events that are genuinely worth showing up for.

As a wife, mother and founder, Blake’s journey is not simply about building a business. It is about building a community, creating opportunities for others and raising a generation of confident young people, one connection at a time.

Frankly UAE