I honestly don’t even know how to begin this post. This post makes me emotional and I have so many thoughts that I want to get out effectively, but I have so much to say and its coming out like word vomit…so, I’m just going to go with it…. Starting with this:
Last weekend was seriously a dream come true.
Last weekend I attended the first ever Rebelle Con, a women empowerment conference for entrepreneurs who are looking to chase their goals. The conference revolved around four topics- wellness, money, community, and creativity. The conference embodied the women supporting women movement and I am truly honored to have been in attendance for this powerful melding of the womanly minds to lift each other up in an supportive community, and to rally each other on to be our best selves.
I was invited to the event by Sydney Lester of Chic Stripes. Sydney is a personal stylist in Richmond, VA, and I have been following her on Instagram now for some time. Sydney made the introduction to Shannon Siriano Greenwood of Lemon Umbrella, who was the mastermind of the event along with Anika Horn of Social Ventures. These powerful women saw the need to bring like minded women in a room to break that glass ceiling that has been hovering over women for so long. I believe this would be a great time to drop the line- The Future is Female – because that is all I can think about since leaving the Rebelle Con last weekend.
With Sydney of Chic Stripes
The conference took place in Richmond and consisted of a one-day general session, which covered speaking engagements on the four main topics. For wellness, we had the amazing opportunity of hearing from Jessamyn Stanley, which inspired me to get back into yoga, a practice I used to live for, but fell off when I was not in a good place with myself and my career, right before I started BITD. She reminded us that in order to be successful with our businesses, our mindset needs to be right and wellness and health is a big factor of this.
For money, Tonya Rapley spoke about her finance journey, which made me realize I am not standing up for myself when it comes to finances. My action item from now on is to be bold and ask for what I am worth, and to stop second-guessing myself when it comes to my business rates.
For community, there was a panel discussion with Pineapple DC, Black Girls Run, and The Broad. This topic hit close to me, as I run the Bubbles & Bloggers community here in DC, and it left me inspired to build our influencer community and make it better than ever. I have plans for B&B coming up, and I have this session to thank for that.
The final session, creativity, was definitely a highlight of the day. For this topic, Christian Siriano spoke to the group, interviewed by Kelli Lemon. If you know me, you know that I have followed Christian Siriano from day 1 of his time on Project Runway. I still remember watching every episode with my Aunt when I lived with her right after college. He is the modern designer I admire the most, and I praise his work. His craftsmanship and brand has always spoke to me, and I can still remember watching the videos from the fashion show of his collaboration with Lane Bryant and being moved to tears that he was championing body positivity and size inclusiveness that I had never seen another designer do in such a beautiful and classy way. Seeing Christian first hand, and being able to ask him what his proudest moment as a designer was, is something I never thought I’d be able to do in my wildest dreams. In the interview, he reminded me that we should never look to someone else’s successes to value our own, and to do what is best for us and not always listen to what other people are saying we should do. Can you believe he was told to not collaborate with Payless? He did it because he believed in making his fashions accessible to everyone, and now he has an empire with that brand. His words made me bring focus back to myself, and reminded me to stay in my lane….for there is no traffic when you are in your own lane.
The second day of Rebelle Con was focused on breakout sessions. I attended the Instagram session hosted by Sydney and Kaytee Lauren, which turned out to be the best course I have ever attended on Instagram. The class was extremely well taught and planned, and some of the attendees were fellow bloggers, which made for engaging conversation throughout the course.
I do not have enough words to express my content with the Rebelle Con. The Rebelle Con not only left me inspired and ready to kick ass and take names in 2018, but it literally made my dreams come true. This conference reminded me that we must be true to ourselves as women, and we must always remember to invest and believe in ourselves and be our own best champion. If you aren’t your own champion, then who WILL be your champion? That said, while we should always celebrate ourselves, we should also celebrate other women and cultivate relationships and community to support ourselves as females.
A very heartfelt thanks to Sydney and Shannon, for inviting me to be a part of this moving experience. May you ladies be amazingly successful in all aspects of your business and life. I am rooting for you and for all of the women out there who are ready to REBELLE.
XOXO
Blonde in the District