ZENE Privacy Policy
Last updated: 20 August 2026
ZĒNE (“ZĒNE”, “we”, “us” or “our”) is a social reading club bringing women together through books, conversation and community.
We respect your privacy and are committed to handling your personal information responsibly. This Privacy Policy explains what personal information we collect, why we collect it, how we use it, who we share it with, how long we keep it and the rights you have over your information.
1. Who we are
ZĒNE is the organisation responsible for deciding how and why your personal information is processed.
For data protection purposes, ZĒNE is the data controller.
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or how we use your personal information, you can contact us at:
Email: hello@zenesocial.com
Website: zenesocial.com
2. The information we collect
Depending on how you interact with ZĒNE, we may collect:
Information you provide to us
This may include:
Your name
Email address
Contact details
Information you provide when contacting us
Information you provide when joining a waitlist or mailing list
Event booking information
Membership information
Information you provide when responding to surveys, feedback forms or other ZĒNE communications
Any other information you voluntarily provide to us
Information collected automatically
When you visit our website, certain information may be collected automatically through cookies and similar technologies.
This may include:
IP address
Browser and device information
Pages visited
How you interact with our website
Approximate location derived from technical information
Website usage and analytics information
Some of this information may be collected through third-party services connected to our website.
3. How we use your information
We may use your personal information to:
Provide and manage ZĒNE services
Manage event bookings and attendance
Manage memberships, where applicable
Respond to enquiries and messages
Manage our waitlist
Send newsletters and other marketing communications where you have consented or where otherwise permitted by law
Provide information about upcoming ZĒNE events, activities and opportunities
Improve our website, services and events
Understand how people use our website
Administer payments and transactions
Maintain appropriate business and financial records
Prevent or detect fraud, misuse or other unlawful activity
Comply with legal and regulatory obligations
Protect our rights, property and the safety of our community
We will only use your personal information where we have a lawful basis to do so.
4. Our lawful bases for processing
Depending on the circumstances, we may rely on one or more of the following lawful bases:
Consent
We may rely on your consent when you choose to subscribe to marketing communications or otherwise give us permission to use your information for a particular purpose.
You can withdraw your consent at any time.
Contract
We may process information where it is necessary to provide a service or fulfil an agreement with you, such as administering an event booking or membership.
Legal obligation
We may process information where this is necessary for us to comply with a legal or regulatory obligation.
Legitimate interests
We may process information where it is necessary for our legitimate business interests, provided that those interests are not overridden by your rights and interests.
This may include operating and improving ZĒNE, managing our website, communicating with existing customers and maintaining the security of our services.
Where we rely on legitimate interests, we consider the potential impact on individuals and their rights before processing personal information.
5. Marketing communications
If you subscribe to ZĒNE’s mailing list, we may use your email address to send you information about:
ZĒNE events
New releases and reading recommendations
Membership opportunities
ZĒNE news and updates
Community activities
Other information about ZĒNE that we believe may be relevant to you
Where consent is required, we will only send marketing communications where you have given the appropriate consent.
You can unsubscribe at any time by using the unsubscribe link in our emails or by contacting us.
If you unsubscribe, we may retain a limited record of your request so that we can respect your preference and avoid sending you marketing communications in the future.
6. Event and membership information
If you book a ZĒNE event or become a member, we may collect information necessary to administer your booking or membership.
This may include your name, email address, booking details and relevant payment or transaction information.
We use this information to:
Process and manage your booking or membership
Communicate important information about your booking or membership
Manage attendance
Provide customer support
Maintain appropriate financial and business records
We will not collect more information than is reasonably necessary for these purposes.
7. Who we share your information with
We may share personal information with trusted third-party service providers where necessary to operate ZĒNE.
These organisations may process personal information on our behalf and include:
Squarespace
Category: Website hosting and technology provider / data processor
Squarespace hosts and operates our website and may process information submitted through our website, including information provided through website forms and other website functionality.
Email marketing provider
Where applicable, we may use an email marketing platform to manage our mailing list and send communications.
Provider: Klaviyo
Payment providers
Where applicable, payments may be processed by third-party payment providers.
Provider: Stripe
Payment providers may process payment and transaction information in accordance with their own privacy policies.
Professional advisers
We may share relevant information with professional advisers, such as accountants, where reasonably necessary for accounting, financial, legal or regulatory purposes.
Other service providers
We may use other suppliers where necessary to operate ZĒNE, such as event, ticketing, technology, analytics or communications providers.
We require third-party processors that handle personal information on our behalf to provide appropriate safeguards and process information only in accordance with our instructions and applicable data protection law.
We do not sell your personal information.
8. International transfers
Some of the service providers we use may process personal information outside the United Kingdom.
Where personal information is transferred outside the UK, we will ensure that the transfer is made in accordance with applicable UK data protection law and that appropriate safeguards are in place where required.
For example, Squarespace states that it uses the European Commission Standard Contractual Clauses together with the UK International Data Transfer Addendum as safeguards for certain international transfers, including transfers to the United States.
You can find further information about Squarespace’s data protection arrangements in its own privacy and data processing documentation.
9. How long we keep your information
We will not keep personal information for longer than is necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, unless we have a legal, accounting or other legitimate reason to retain it for longer.
Our retention periods are based on the type of information, why we collected it and our legal or business requirements.
ZENE retention schedule
| Information | Purpose | Retention Period |
|---|---|---|
| Contact form and general enquiries | Responding to and managing enquiries | Up to 12 months after the enquiry has been resolved |
| Website and cookie information | Operating, securing and improving the website | According to the applicable cookie or technology lifespan |
| Event booking information | Managing bookings, attendance and event administration | For the duration of event administration and ordinarily up to 12 months afterwards |
| Payment and transaction records | Financial administration, accounting and legal obligations | For as long as required by applicable accounting, tax and legal requirements |
| Information required for legal or regulatory purposes | Meeting legal and regulatory obligations | For the period required by the relevant legal or regulatory obligation |
We may delete or anonymise information sooner where it is no longer required.
We review our retention practices periodically and may update retention periods where our legal, operational or business requirements change.
10. Cookies
Our website uses cookies and similar technologies.
Some cookies are necessary for the website to operate. Other cookies may be used for purposes such as analytics, remembering preferences or understanding how visitors interact with our website.
Where required by law, we will ask for your consent before placing non-essential cookies on your device.
For more information about the cookies used on our website and how to manage them, please see our Cookie Policy.
11. Your rights
Depending on the circumstances, you may have rights under UK data protection law, including the right to:
Ask for access to the personal information we hold about you
Ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete information
Ask us to delete your personal information
Ask us to restrict how we use your information
Object to certain processing, including direct marketing
Ask for your information to be transferred to you or another organisation in certain circumstances
Withdraw consent where we rely on consent as our lawful basis
These rights are not absolute and may not apply in every situation.
If you want to exercise one of your rights, please contact us using the details in this Privacy Policy.
12. How to request your information
You can contact us to exercise your data protection rights or ask questions about how we use your information.
Please contact:
Email: hello@zenesocial.com
We may need to verify your identity before responding to certain requests. This is to make sure that personal information is not disclosed to someone who is not entitled to receive it.
We aim to respond to valid requests within the applicable legal timeframe.
13. Keeping your information secure
We take reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect personal information against unauthorised access, loss, misuse, alteration or disclosure.
However, no online service can be guaranteed to be completely secure.
Where we use third-party service providers, we take reasonable steps to ensure that appropriate security and data protection measures are in place.
14. Children’s information
ZĒNE is intended for adults and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children where this is not appropriate or necessary.
If you believe that a child has provided us with personal information without appropriate permission, please contact us so that we can review and, where appropriate, delete the information.
15. Third-party websites
Our website may contain links to third-party websites, platforms or services, including social media and external retailers or partners.
We are not responsible for the privacy practices or content of third-party websites.
We recommend reviewing the privacy policy of any third-party website you visit.
16. Changes to this Privacy Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes to our services, technology, legal requirements or how we process personal information.
The latest version will always be made available on our website.
Where appropriate, we will notify you of significant changes.
Last updated: 20 August 2026
17. Complaints
If you have concerns about how we use your personal information, we encourage you to contact us first so that we can try to resolve the issue.
You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK’s data protection regulator.
You can find information about making a complaint on the ICO’s website:
https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/
ZĒNE
71-75 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London, WC2H 9JQ / ZENE SOCIAL Ltd
hello@zenesocial.com
ZĒNE Cookie Policy
ZĒNE uses cookies and similar technologies to help our website function, remember preferences and understand how visitors use our site.
Some cookies are essential for the website to operate, while others may be used for analytics or other non-essential purposes.
Where required by law, we will ask for your consent before using non-essential cookies. You can also manage or disable cookies through your browser settings, although this may affect how our website functions.
Our website is hosted on Squarespace, which may place cookies on your device to provide its services.
We may update this policy if we introduce additional services or technologies that use cookies.