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Showing posts with label BlogHer Conference. Show all posts
Showing posts with label BlogHer Conference. Show all posts

My BlogHer ‘14 Recap (Part 3)

See (Part 1) and (Part 2) for more details from my BlogHer ‘14 recap.

Saturday, July 26th

So you’ll never guess what I did on the last morning of the conference.  I ate breakfast in my hotel again, but this time I woke up a little earlier so I wouldn’t miss too much. I’m not sure why I didn’t get the memo that a hot breakfast would be served in the mornings, but I really had no idea. Lucky for me both breakfasts at the hotel were complimentary, so I didn’t pay out of pocket.  At least I know what to expect for the next BlogHer conference.

Richelle and I
Anyways, when I got to the breakfast, I realized that I did miss two of the 10x10 speakers.  By the time I found a table and sat down, Kara Swisher, the co-CEO of Re/Code, was getting ready to interview Melissa Barnes, the Head of Global Brands for Twitter.  They were both pretty awesome.  Next, the Re/Code reporter, Nellie Bowles interviewed Richelle Parham, CMO of eBay North America, on exploring the untapped opportunity that e-commerce represents for online influencers.  I love what Richelle had to say about the future of blogging with eBay.  She said that in order to get your voice heard, have a point of view and just say it. 

Finally, Arianna Huffington, the Founder of Huffington Post, graced the stage.  She was interviewed by Guy Kawasaki, a Silicon Valley icon and newly-named Chief Evangelist of Canva.  Correction – I must admit there actually wasn’t much of an interview.  Guy jokingly pre-warned us about Arianna’s controlling personality. He mentioned that the last time he “interviewed” Arianna, she said whatever she wanted to tell the audience.  He suspected it would probably be the same and it was. 

Arianna was unexpectedly funny and she always something witty to say when Guy was able to get a question in.  During the interview, Mrs. Huffington explained how important it is to take care of yourself and avoid burning out.  In her new book, Thrive: The Third Metric to Redefining Success and Creating a Life of Well-Being, Wisdom, and Wonder, she explained that she outlines 12 steps to reconnecting with ourselves to renew and recharge ourselves.  Here are a few things that I took away from the discussion: 
  1. Sleep your way to the top: She wasn’t talking about what initially first comes to mind either.  She literally means get some sleep.  This was something that she didn’t do in the past, but now she gets at least 7 hours of sleep each night.   I’m definitely going to give it a try.  I’m lucky if I get 5-6 hours of sleep and that’s on a good night. 
  2. Stop glamorizing being busy: Everyone is busy and it isn’t a badge of honor, so we shouldn’t act like it is. 
  3. “No” is a complete sentence: This one speaks for itself.
Towards the end of the interview, Guy asked Arianna a series of questions.  He asked her if she liked “Mac or Windows?” (She said both), “Harvard or Stanford?” (She said Yale), and “Manolo Blahnik or Jimmy Choo?” (She said Manolo Blahnik.) The entire ballroom burst in laughter when she said that Jimmy Choos are not comfortable because “they are made by men who hate women.”  Not sure if she got any backlash from that comment, but I’m pretty sure she doesn’t care.   This was a short recap of the highlights, but you can watch the interview here if you’re interested. 

By the time that Arianna left the stage, a large group of women ran out of the ballroom to get their copies of Thrive signed. Unfortunately, I didn’t buy the book before I left for the conference, but smartly Arianna had copies on hand ready to sell.  Naturally, I had to buy a copy of the book for myself.  I stood in long line to purchase the book and then another long line to get the book signed. From what I could gather from that day, Arianna stayed to sign everyones’s book despite the fact that she was in a rush.  Unfortunately, my interaction with Arianna was very brief, but there was a photographer on hand that captured the moment. 

Photo Credit: Danielle Tsi  
After I got my book signed I stood in line early for the lunch and keynote conversation with Kerry Washington.  I wanted to make sure that I had a good seat towards the front of the stage.  Not surprisingly, there was already a long line forming for access to the ballroom.  It was pretty cool to stand in line with some fellow obsessed Scandal fans.  I hung out in line with several awesome ladies I met while I waited in line to buy Arianna’s book.  When the doors to the ballroom opened, all of the women in line rushed the stage to find the perfect seat.


Photo Credit: Danielle Tsi 
During lunch, we were also treated to a performance by a band called The Mrs. The band came to the BlogHer '14 conference to debut their new song, I'm Enough. I’m Enough is an empowering song that tells women to embrace themselves as they are. The band performed live after playing an inspiring video about how women feel when they look in the mirror.  If you have a chance check out the video (here) – it will move you to tears. 
We also heard from, Morra Aarons-Mele and Luuvie Ajayi, the two 10x10 speakers scheduled to take a look back at what the blogosphere built and to take a look ahead to where we’re going covering 10 years in 10 minutes.  Morra started first and then the conference organizers said that they were going to change the schedule up a little and have Kerry come out before Luuvie.  During Luuvie’s performance, she joked about change in the schedule and mentioned that she was so happy that Kerry Washington opened for her.  

When Kerry Washington finally came out on stage, the crowd went crazy.  Kerry wore a Floral Cluster Popover Top from Kate Spade, a pair J Brand Jeans, not sure which fit but some type of skinny leg, and from what I can tell a pair of Christian Louboutins. She looked just as flawless as we’ve seen her as Olivia Pope in Scandal as well as on the red carpet.  I also loved that Kerry sent out a tweet about her outfit for all of her fashionista fans – check it out here. 

Demetria Lucas, the author of A Belle in Brooklyn: The Go-to Girl for Advice on Living Your Best Single Life and the creator of the personal blog, A Belle In Brooklyn had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Kerry Washington.   Kerry talked about how she keeps her personal life private, Scandal, social media and fashion.  I pretty much lost my mind when she came out.  I must have taken over a dozen pictures of the duo to make sure I had one perfect shot.  I even walked up closer to the stage to take pictures and I ended up sitting the floor until the end of the interview. Kerry she was so down to earth and she even took a selfie with the crowd, which was pretty cool.  Unfortunately, I didn’t make the picture even though I was right in the front row.  You can see me in my pink skirt trying to make the shot.  If you want to watch the whole interview, then click the link here

Photo Credit: Danielle Tsi 

Photo Credit: Danielle Tsi 
After the interview, I attended the Style Mini-Conference. Out of the entire break out sessions offered, I was most excited to attend this one. The discussion leaders for this 2.5 hour session included Jane Park, the CEO of Julep, CeCe Olisa, from Plus Size Princess, Monica Barnett from Blueprint for Style, and Natalia Simmons from Ma Nouvelle Mode. I really enjoyed learning some helpful tips from these experienced fashion bloggers.

Finally, I attended the Closing Keynote, which was titled The Intersection of Race, Gender, Feminism and the Internet along with 2 more 10x10 speakers.  The panel of 6 women of color included Feminista Jones from FeministaJones.com, Grace Hwang Lynch from HapaMama, Kelly Wickham from Mocha Momma, Kristen Howerton from Rage Against the Minivan, Natalia Oberti Noguera from Pipeline Fellowship and Patrice Lee from Generation Opportunity.   I was so impressed by the diversity and activism on the stage and blown away by their courageousness. If you like, you can watch a clip of the session here.  During the day I also got to meet Stacey Ferguson from Justice Fergie in person. Stacey was one of the closing 10x10 speakers and she shared her experiences and information about the Be Blogalicious community and conferences that celebrates diversity among women in social media.  


Photo Credit: Danielle Tsi 
Later that night, I danced the night away at the official closing party hosted by McDonald’s.  I’m definitely not the biggest McDonald’s fan in the world.  I mean if I had food options, 9 times out of 10, McDonald’s wouldn’t even be on the list.  But I would be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy a happy meal every once in a while.  So it was a nice treat to be offered various happy meals, side salads and their fruity smoothies during the party.  McDonald’s transformed an empty parking lot into an outdoor lounge, complete with lanterns, couches, and tents.  They even hired Rev. Run of the legendary rap duo Run DMC to get the party started.  Rev Run had everyone at the party singing and dancing to his old school mix of 80s and 90s hits.  I didn’t realize how loudly I was singing until I woke up the next morning and I barely had a voice.  Overall, the closing party was the perfect ending to the conference. 

I have to say that I’m very happy that my first blogger conference was BlogHer ‘14. This conference was exactly what I expected it to be and I couldn’t be more pleased. I heard from some veteran BlogHer participants that the conferences in the past were bigger and better than this one, but I would never know the difference.  I connected with some fabulous ladies and learned a lot about blogging and I that’s what I wanted. So if you’re wondering if I would attend another BlogHer conference.  My answer would be yes, absolutely!

Have you been to a BlogHer conference in the past? Were you there at BlogHer ‘14? What did you think? Have you ever been to a blogging conference? I’d love to hear about it!

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