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| Picture from Create & Cultivate Website |
I bought my tickets back in July, when I was stuck in a place where I needed some serious inspiration. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with my life as a new college graduate and I had a hard time dealing with that. Hearing from women who took their lives into their own hands and turned it into what they wanted it to be was what intrigued me to do this. These women didn't fit into the "mold" that we're told to fit into and that's what I needed to be inspired to do - to take control of my own life. I ended up going with my mom since she was also looking for some creative inspiration. It's not as lame as it sounds though because my mom is "like, a cool mom" (Mean Girls quotes for the win!). I love doing things with her so we were really looking forward to experiencing this together.
By the time the conference rolled around in October, my life had changed a bit. I was 2 months into a full-time job and I had made great strides in taking control of my life and turning it into what I wanted. In fact, 2 weeks before the conference is when Tara and I decided to start this blog! I was very excited about the future and relatively satisfied with where I was currently at. So my inspiration for going to the conference had changed slightly. I was still looking for the life inspiration but now, I was also looking for tools on how to grow this blog and get feedback on how to make it successful.
So let's talk about what actually goes down at the Create & Cultivate Conference. There are 2 Tracks that you can be on, each consists of different panels about different topics. Your day is mostly spent in these panels and is broken up with breaks where you can go around to the various pop up shops that they have around the area. You also have the opportunity to sit in groups with a mentor to ask them questions and learn from their experience. When you buy your tickets, you have the option of 2 different types, General or VIP. The benefit of VIP is that you get to choose your own track and you get to choose which 2 people you want to sit with in the break out groups. Because both my mom and I were looking for very specific types of information we chose to go with the VIP tickets for this reason.
The day of the conference, we arrived around 9am to check-in. When we pulled up to the building we were a bit put off. It was in an arts center that was located in a business park literally right off the highway. In fact, there was a highway surrounding the whole outside area! We walked up and were given a very nice notebook with our schedule in it. Then, we walked to the side of the building where the VIP area was. It was nicely set up with beautiful furniture and a private bar, so we got a drink and perused the pop up shops that were set up on the other side of the VIP area before our first panel. They had some breakfast options, like biscuits, that we tried but didn't love.
Throughout the day, we sat through four panels that were determined by our specific track, two Mentor Power Hours, and three keynote speakers. The panels were about the intersection of food and digital, how to create dynamic content, how to create a thriving brand and the Multi-Hyphenated Millennial woman. Each panel consisted of women who can speak to these different topics based on their experiences. Ayesha Curry just launched a food blog and her own cookbook so she spoke on the Food panel and Jessi Malay from My White T is a blogger, singer and YouTuber, so she was able to speak about women doing and being more than one thing, hence being a "Multi-Hyphenate" woman.
There were two locations for the panels - one was inside and one was outside. After each panel, you would switch locations for the next one. It was terribly hot outside - definitely not right for what was supposed to be "fall weather", so sitting outside was brutal. Of the four panels, the ones I found most useful were the ones about creating dynamic content and how to create a thriving brand. These panels dove a bit more into the technical side of creating content that I found helpful. They mentioned apps they use to edit photos, what they use to keep themselves organized and how to keep your moral up. The other two were good, but did not really give a lot of technical guidance as it gave more generalized lessons like, "you have to hustle". That type of advice is nice, but in a way it's things I already knew.
The way the panels worked was that there was one person facilitating the discussion topics. This person would bring up a topic that they think is relevant to overall theme of the panel and ask the panelists to comment on it based on their personal experience. That meant that the things that were discussed were in the hands of the moderator. In the hour long session, 45 minutes were for the panelists and then there were 15 minutes for Q&A. Some of the best answers from the panelists actually came from audience questions, but we rarely got to more than 2 questions.
It was very cool to get to meet and hear from some of the bloggers that I have been following for a while. I've been a big fan of Courtney Kerr and her style since she was on the Bravo show "Most Eligible Dallas", and Caillie and Sam, the twins behind Beckerman Blog are super cool and very inspirational to me in terms of how they embrace who they are and how they have turned their passions into such an awesome brand.
By far, the best part of the day was the Mentor Power Hour. Like I said before, as VIP guests we got to pick our mentors. Create & Cultivate provides a guide to all the possible mentors and even says they would be a good mentor for certain topics, like Public Relations, Social Media, Strategic Partnerships or Fashion. So you could pick your mentor based on what you wanted to get out of it. I picked Jessy Fofana, who is the founder of LaRue PR and Rachel Martino who is a New York based blogger and YouTuber. I thought the point of picking your mentors was so that you would get a spot in the small group that you wanted. However, this was definitely not how it worked. We got to the Power Hour right on time, but the area was already packed with people sitting in circles with their mentors. Some groups were huge and some were very small. It was very difficult to find my first mentor, Jessy, but once I did I was shocked to find that the group was awkwardly formed and was already 2 rows deep around her. It was also so loud in that room and I was so far back that I couldn't hear a single word she said. Others around me mirrored my frustration.
I debated if I should stay and try to hear her or if I should move to another group. I realized that I was paying for this experience and just because this was who I picked didn't mean I had to stick with it. So I got up and moved to a much smaller group. It's a very good thing that I did because I ended up in Jessi Malay's group. As I sat down she was already discussing what she does, but she stopped immediately and said hello to me, shook my hand and asked me to introduce myself, the name of my blog/business and my favorite cocktail. I told her all about Sincerely Unfabulous and then told her my favorite cocktail was a margarita (duh). Being in the smaller group was much better and the group itself facilitated a great discussion. After that, we switched and I went to Rachel Martino's group. She's similar in age to Tara and I so I felt like I was talking to a friend which was so great. She had great information about how to start a blog and get it off the ground.
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| This was Jessy Fofana's group. As you can see my view was definitely not ideal. I mean look at that pole. |
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| Picture from Create & Cultivate website |
Overall, my experience at Create & Cultivate ATL was a good one. It was great to be in an environment surrounded by women who were all trying to do their own thing in the digital space. Everyone was very friendly and open which made the vibe around the conference amazing. But it was a long day - 12 hours to be exact - and really by 5pm I was done. I guess as an introvert being around all those people and trying to make contacts really drained my energy. I hadn't had a substantial meal since the pizza I'd had the night before and I was in desperate need of some cookies. It did give me something that I needed though - inspiration. It inspired me to continue on this blogging journey Tara and I are on because I saw how it turned out for these amazing women and I though - why not me? Why not us? Why can't we achieve what they've achieved? I'm glad I went, and I'm glad I had my mom there with me. Would I go again? Probably not. But it was definitely an experience I'm happy to have had. And I got to see Nicole Richie so that's a win that will last me a lifetime!
Have you been to a Create & Cultivate Conference or any other conference that inspired you? What did you think?
