10 Things I Learned at the Smart Girls Conference + Review

A few weeks ago, I attended the Smart Girls Conference hosted by the Smart Girls Group. I became a member of this online group some time in 2012. The group empowers young women to network with each other, help one another, and ultimately live a well-rounded "smart" life. There is no membership fee for joining the group, all they ask is you to contribute your passions and interests to benefit the group as a whole. My contribution is writing for technology column on their blog called the Smart Girl's Loop. I enjoy writing for their blog and reading articles written by other girls just like me. 

This group was only a virtual network I was a part of until I decided to attend their very first self-hosted conference. The conference overall was an awesome experience! It was the first conference I ever attended and it exceeded my expectations completely. 

There were several interesting guest speakers ranging from media, blogging, fashion, and career, keynote presentations, lots of food and snacks, and incredible gift bags. Speakers such as Stephanie Ruhle from Bloomberg news, Makenzie Horan from Design Darling, Carly Heitlinger from The College Prepster, Kayla Webley from Marie Clare, Renata Mutis Black from Empowered by You, Lauren Lally from RewardStyle, Brenda Berkman the first woman firefighter of NY, Arthur Woods from Imperative, Shiza Shahid the CEO of the Malala fund, Soraya Darabi from Zady and many more! 

All these speakers and presenters had great things to offer over the course of the 2-day conference. I learned a whole lot (10 things in particular that I would like to share) from the presenters and attending the event itself. 

1. Saying I can't do this because (I have a family, I go to school, I have a job)... is not an excuse. You can make time for anything that is important to you.

2. Work hard on yourself, don't be hard on yourself. I took personally to this lesson because I am one to always be hard on myself, but it shouldn't be that way. We are all here to progress, not to finish the race.

3. Don't compare yourself, your brand, your blog, and your company to others.

4. Be sweet and kind to everyone, all the time, in every way.

5. Finding your purpose is a continuing process.

6. Take a vacation away from work, travel, and relax. Don't worry about work changes and deadlines while you're gone. When you come back, everything will be where you left off.

7. Traveling into NYC is not as hard as I thought it would be. I traveled to and from NYC both days of the conference and the second day I even found myself knowing where the nearest Starbucks was in order to pick up some coffee before the conference. 

8. Becoming a grown-up means tailoring your professional decisions according to who you want to be as a person. 

9. Media gives you the perception that success happens over-night, but you don't see the seven years of hard work that happened before the success.

10. Networking is hard to do. It's not easy approaching someone you don't know and making a good enough impression to hand out a business card that leaves them remembering who you are.

It was a great experience, I was able to meet so many of the people I e-mail and network with online, in-person. I even met the founder of the Smart Girls Group, Emily Raleigh. She's a wonderful inspiration and a very strong leader. Plus, she's only a couple years older than I am and she managed to create this community of hundred of girls striving to be successful! 

I am certain I am attending next year's conference and you should too! If you do, send me a tweet and we'll exchange business cards!

P.S. This gift back was awesome and I love the Day Designer Planner by Whitney English!

It Happened...I Graduated

Graduating high school may not be such a big accomplishment to many people since hey, it's just high school and all you really have to do is graduate with a sub-par grade point average, just enough school credits, and a decent attendance record. If you ask me, it's really not a hard thing to do. I am not celebrating the fact I graduated in this blog post. I am celebrating the fact that I was able to push through the finish line these past four years, did what I needed to do (regardless of what was going on around me), performed better than most academically, and was able to learn and grow beyond what what was being taught in school.

These past four years I was a member of our school Marching Band, member of the Future Business Leaders of America and then eventually President, someone acknowledged by teachers and faculty as a student with outstanding potential, and most importantly known as a well-rounded person. Graduating high school isn't an accomplishment to me, but that is. 

I am very grateful to have found myself in various instances in which I was tested to see if my true character would advance. It really is a great feeling knowing that instead of simply graduating and leaving high school, I left behind a little trail where I hope many of the people who I have come to know through those years will one day follow and celebrate even bigger achievements with me that I hope to have accomplished by then.

Here's to a new stage to advance from or in my best friend's gaming language, a new level to clear. 

Links I've Stumbled Upon v.3

I have been missing in action from my blog lately, but I am back and I figured a great way to start blogging again was with another addition of "Links I've Stumbled Upon", the series of blog posts in which I share some interesting articles and blog posts I have found all over the internet! 

♥ If you have any of these 5 characteristics than you're probably an entrepreneur! 

♥ Ever wonder what happens to your social network accounts after you die? Although, it's a scary thought, this is pretty interesting. 

♥ Become a millionaire by 30. Read all about it here. 

♥ Did you know your Gmail account comes with multiple e-mail addresses you didn't even know existed? Check this out!

♥ Are you familiar with the virtual currency of bitcoins? Well, did you know you could buy a Dell laptop in exchange for them? Find out more.

♥ Start your day off early and you'll actually find yourself to be more productive. Here's 5 reasons why.

It has not been easy this past month for me and I am still trying to get things together. I work at a new job which I am not exactly excited about every day, I have not been able to complete anything I set out to do this whole time, and although I always considered myself a night owl, I think I have been in need of a timely sleeping schedule. How has your summer been? Are you getting things done or barely holding on?