I hate to throw the word “amazing” around too much (because I know I do) so the word I’ll use to describe our experience at Mom 2.0 Summit is “spectacular”. And I’ll also add on “life-changing”. Because I believe the after-effects of this conderence are going to change Emily’s and my lives.
It was just…so well done. Simple words that carry a lot of weight. So. Well. Done. The content was excellent, and effectively communicated! The people were fun, open, friendly, supportive. The venue was breathtaking!
We cannot think our generous sponsor, Lands’ End enough for sending us to represent them at this epic conference! We will have a whole Lands’ End fashion recap for you this week. We hope you enjoyed the photos of all our outfits over the weekend on our Facebook page!
A highlight of Mom 2.0 was making some new friends, Jenny and Rachel. They are AMAZING and deserve a whole post just about themselves, which we will deliver later in the week! But in the meantime click on their names and check out their blogs!
But let me talk a little about the content. Right off the bat, in Brene Brown’s keynote the first day, we were reminded to be vulnerable. There is power in being vulnerable! I have said before that we need to share each other’s hard stories. Those are the stories that we learn from, and that we benefit by sharing. I haven’t been sharing those with you for awhile. But I’m no longer afraid to or ashamed to. I do my best, I do – but I fail. And I’m tired of pretending that I don’t.
The first session Emily and I attended also had some brilliant and inspiring content. I was so excited because it was led by Kat Gordon of Maternal Instinct. I first connected with Kat a couple of weeks ago after my rant about the over-“mommifying” of us by marketers. Kat asked me to guest post on her businesses blog, (and I’d love for you to read it here if you haven’t already), so I was THRILLED to meet her at Mom 2.0!
Kat and her co-presenters did a great job at their session – it was all on how you can use social media to effect change. You guys saw Emily and I do that last year when we asked you – and you SO DELIVERED!!! – to help our friend E cover her cancer care expenses. (You guys, I got teary-eyed just typing that. YOU are so generous and amazing!) Emily and I want to to more of that – of using this blog and all the other media that go with it to support local businesses, non-profits, and women in business. So look for that, and thank Kat, Shelly, Kathlene, and Kami for inspiring us!
Speaking of inspiration – we got to see so many successful women speak at this conference! Raise your hand if you were CLOAKED in Liz Lange during your pregnancies!! We got to hear Liz speak along with Pilar Guzman of Martha Stewart Living, and Lee of GlassyBaby, and they were (there’s that word again!) AMAZING!
You know who else is amazing? Amy Clark of MomAdvice (she is also a human kitten. Meow!) We knew this already, but we LOVED the face time we got with her this weekend!
Mom 2.0 also had some generous and wonderful sponsors. Thanks SO MUCH to companies like Dove, Intel, ALDI, and LG for taking such amazing care of us, and for speaking frankly with us about how we can work together.
Ok, so – we learned A LOT! And we also had some FUN! The parties were a blast, and the company was superb! Here we are enjoying the white party with our new BFFs, Jenny and Rachel:
The party at Gianni Versace’s mansion sponsored by the spectacular INTEL was OFF THE HOOK! You guys would not believe this place! Here Emily and I are just chillin’ in Versace’s shower – like we do!
The “shower” was a circular, ornately-tiled room with several gold shower heads – nowhere near a sink or a toilet. I really do not want to know what actually went on there but it made for a great photo-opp!
Here are some other breathtaking sites from the mansion.
As great at allllllllllllll this was, let me tell you what my true *favorite* moment was. It was Emily, my buttoned-up cuz, getting goofy and silly over the Bloggess. If you don’t know who the Bloggess is, please smack yourself in the face, then go read her blog and buy her #1 New York Times best-selling book! She is the funniest, ever. The end. AND as we were heading out to Versace, there she was standing right outside the hotel! OHEMGEE!! So, in the spirit of celebrity awe, Emily PHOTOBOMBED her!
Seriously, THIS is my favorite picture EVER in the history of the world. I love it MORE than my children’s newborn photos. Feel free to judge. I can’t help it! I am going to frame it and put it on my desk for inspiration!!
Despite the fact that we are HUGE nerds, the Bloggess graciously agreed to have her photo take with us and Rachel in our red dresses (if you know the Bloggess, you know why the Red Dress is important to her!) If not, GO READ HER!
You guys. Mom 2.0 was the BEST conference we have ever been to! We can’t wait to share more about it with you, starting of course with our GORGEOUS outfits from Lands’ End. (Seriously, I cannot TELL you how confident I felt in those clothes!!) We also want to share with you ALL the wonderful women who attended the conference. So I am leaving a linky below for them to post THEIR Mom 2.0 recap posts, so you can all get to know them to.
More to come this week…leave us a comment about what you want to hear about, or what you enjoyed about this recap so far. We’re back and we LOVE you! We’re excited to make this here blog even better for you!
