TEEN VOGUE SUMMIT DAY ONE

Hello!!! It's been just about two weeks now since the Summit and honestly it's been difficult to even put it into words it was that fabulous, I wish everyone could go and see for themselves! I highly encourage you to if you can. I really do have so much to day about the summit, but for the sake of this post I'll keep it relatively simple so you don't lose interest...
Day one let's go!

The Teen Vogue Summit was a two day event in Los Angeles for girls, young women, and femmes. It was a career oriented summit, each attendee was able to choose their own schedule and go to the work spaces of the companies they chose (from the list online).

The first morning, I woke up, glammed up, and went on my way to the TOMS Headquarters where day one was held but was way way too early..... as always. Before being able to enter I mingled a little bit with some of the other girls waiting, I made some friends almost immediately and already felt so in my element.

When we were finally able to go inside, I was TOTALLY overwhelmed (in a good way) by everything that was there. There was a juice bar! Pastries! Teen Vogue magazines that haven't even come out yet, EVERYWHERE! Places for photo ops! A SLIDE! And most importantly a few hundred incredibly well dressed women on a mission to make change and be unstoppable! 

One of my favorite things about the summit were the people that attended. Going into it I was somewhat nervous thinking, "oh crap, I'm going to LA, these tickets weren't cheap, it's going to just be a bunch of people trying to climb to the top competing to be better than one another. Oh geez I am not ready." But BOY WAS I WRONG! Every human there was so fabulously supportive, genuine, and caring. Even though we had just met and were still practically strangers, these girls would give it all to support one another. That connection, that love and passion to see each other succeed is one that I've never experienced before, and it really makes a difference and means a lot. Those are the people I want to grow up with and bloom beside in my career, constantly lifting each other up and being proud of each other when we do succeed at something. 

If you don't know who Elaine Welteroth is, look her up because she is worth knowing. This superstar of a woman is the new editor-in-chief of Teen Vogue. She is a creator, innovator, and an activist, she is #WOKE if you know what I mean. She is passionate, funny, strong, and has the power to make such a difference for todays youth. Seeing her, meeting her, and being led by her was amazing. The job that she has right now is one that I've dreamt about my whole life, so seeing her in real life was just a reminder that, "hey, that is obtainable, you can do that, follow your dreams because they're real and tangible,"

Anyway, Elaine hosted the whole Summit, gave us a warm welcome and sent us off on our journeys for the day.

The way day one worked was everyone chose a Werk Immersion Track, where you'd go to the selected offices and companies to learn more about what they do, maybe you'll do an activity, maybe you'll hear an interview or a panel discussion, it was pretty much up to the company as to what went down. I went to United Talent Agency, Girlboss, and Clique Media Group.

also I swear I ironed my dress that morning, it just LOVES to wrinkle :')

and Olivia Jades boots are from Forever 21 if you're wondering, she told us.

Our first stop was United Talent Agency, where I got to hear Olivia Jade (YouTuber) in conversation with her manager Ally, talking about her career and online presence. Olivia was super sweet and chill, I know that's not a great word, but she just was. I got the chance to ask her a question about fighting failure and how you keep going when the going gets tough and she gave me a pretty great response. 

Their main points of advice that they kept harping on were: do what makes you happy, find your passions and run with them, and be consistent, hardworking, and tough- don't let the haters get to you...

Next up, we headed to Girlboss where I got to meet Sophia Amoruso and her stellar team. I absolutely love Sophia, I've read her book numerous times, watched her show, followed her, followed Girlboss forever, and just think she is a super cool chick in general. Similarly to meeting Elaine, seeing Sophia irl and being able to talk to her and seeing that she is human really solidified for me that I seriously can do anything, that if her dreams came true, she followed her passions and got to where she is today, so can I. 

At Girlboss, they mainly talked about going after what you want in life. Talking about how you have to take risks, see where you land and go from there. That failure is good, and almost more important than success, because without failure you aren't getting anywhere. Go for what you're passionate about, because if you don't no one is going to for you. You are the creator of all your success, so you have to put in the work in order to succeed. 

Lastly on our adventures outside of the TOMS Headquarters, we went to Clique Media Group. You've probably definitly heard of Clique, but didn't know you had. Clique Media Group owns Who What Wear, Obsessee, College Fashionista, Byrdie, The Thirty, and My Domain. They are all over the internet and highly successful.

As far as our meeting went, we got to hear CEO and CoFounder, Katherine Powers speak about how she started her company, she spoke about leadership and teamwork. We then split off into two groups, of about 25 or so (each Werk Immersion group was only about 50-60 people) Here we did an activity in which we used teamwork and creative thinking to come up with new ways to advertise and market certain things. Mainly this was important for me because I took advantage of showing off. I spoke up when I had an idea, and made myself heard. This really made me stand out and show the leaders (higher up employees at Clique) that I was passionate about the work and ready to do it. I later then spoke to them afterwards and gave them business cards. Ya girl was trying to make the best impressions and get noticed (sos I need internships)

But honestly I cannot say this enough, making connections and networking is so so so important. At both Girlboss and Clique I gave my information out and showed interest in possibly working together. And I then followed up with emails a few days later thanking them for allowing me into their space and sent resumes. Later, Sophia Amoruso requested to connect with me on Linkedin (YEAH THAT HAPPENED) and the people of Clique responded saying they were interested in continuing a relationship, that if anything comes up they'll keep me in mind. Following up and showing interest is so important y'all.

That night, we headed back to TOMS where we had a little party full of delicious food and more mingling and friend making. Elaine did a little interview with the Founder of TOMS, who's name actually isn't Tom believe it or not hahaha... And then they announced the 21 Under 21 girls and femmes. 15 of the 21 were there that night. They spoke a bit about themselves and what they are doing, and let me tell you, it was incredibly inspiring. If anything it just proved that age is just a number and seriously means nothing. There were girls who are ten years old making change, creating and inventing new things to help others, it was seriously fantastic.

But it doesn't stop there, Elaine invited a few of the girls and femmes back on the stage to ask them one last question, "What would you do with $25,000?" They had answered this previously during their interviews for the 21 Under 21 issue, and Elaine just wanted us to hear their great answers. Blake (the founder of TOMS) came back on the stage and said, "Well you know, you all are just the type of people we like to invest in here at TOMS, so.... we'd like to give each of you $25,000 to make those dreams possible." I cried. This was my favorite moment of the day. I absolutely CANNOT wait to see what they do and how they grow their work. SERIOUSLY YOU GUYS! INSPIRED!

Overall day one proved (at that time) to be the new best day of my life. However, that was before I had lived through day two..... Stay tuned for that post coming soon... It's a lot!

Thanks for those of you who read all the way through this, I know it was long and what not.
The Summit was the best two days of my life, and I am so happy and SO GRATEFUL that I could have experienced it, and also so happy I can share my experience with you all!! Be on the look out for my day two post soon. Until then... xo, O