Last weekend at Blog Brulee was amazing and truly life changing. I felt incredibly honored to be invited to this amazing event, in the in the company of these fabulous influential ladies!
- Alanna Waldron, RD – Eat Real Food
- Emily Hein, RDN, LD – Zen & Spice
- Lisa Lin – Healthy Nibbles & Bits
- Katie Oberwager – 24 Carrot Life
- Whitney Reist, RD, LMNT – Sweet Cayenne
- Selena Sharpless – The Nutritious Kitchen
- Amee Livingston – Amee’s Savory Dish
- Alexandra Caspero, RD – Delicious Knowledge
- Vicki Shanta Retelny, RDN – Simple Cravings. Real Food.
- Jennifer Pullman, MA, RDN, LDN – Nourished Simply
- Lauren Harris-Pincus, MS, RDN – Nutrition Starring YOU
- Sara Haas, RDN, LDN – Sara Haas, RDN
- Katie Sullivan Morford, MS, RD – Mom’s Kitchen Handbook
- Emily Cooper, RD, LD – Sinful Nutrition
- Anne Danahy, MS, RD, LDN – Craving Something Healthy
- Deborah Davis, MS, RDN – Dietitian Debbie Dishes
- Dana Artinyan, RD, LDN – Art of Nutrition
- Marisa Westbrook – Uproot From Oregon
This was a full and fun 3 day event, that was made possible by some amazing women, who desired to foster a community, where healthy food bloggers and entrepreneurs like myself would gather, grow and learn together. And I believe they accomplished their goal. The information and knowledge I gleaned was priceless, and will allow me to continue to build a business and incredible community women who want to live a healthy, beautiful, full life. The #possibilities are just so exciting.
But because I can’t let you peak into my head, I will condense my learnings into the top 6 most valuable lessons I learned at Blog Brulee
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A Beautiful photo is worth 1000 words.
I am a very visual person, and really love art and beauty. Part of what I do on my blog is take pictures and create “art”, but until now, my photography skills were limited…to say the least. Going into this weekend, I had no idea one of the biggest things I would take away is a new excitement and enthusiasm for taking beautiful pictures of my recipes and other activities. One of the speakers gave a talk on the art of photography and it was awesome And she made it seem much simpler than I had imagined. I was super excited to try out some new skills, started was wondering when I would find the time. Well, Lisa D’Agrosa, M.S., R.D, assistant editor at CookingWell Media group, about writing well crafted succinct articles. And I had a Ah, ha moment. Shorter (no more step by step pictures) more succinct posts with more crafted pictures. SO don’t be too surprised if my post are a little different from this point forward.
2. Don’t be afraid to Try something New!
I have only been blogging for a couple of years or so and so I still feel really green and unsure of my steps on the blogosphere stage. And so as with most things in life, I am always in a state of figuring it out. I love food, nutrition and wellness, but I also have many other interests too, like fashion, home decor, party/event planning, travel, and art. And up until now, I have been a bit unsure if I could or should incorporate these things in my blog. But sometimes you just need take a chance and try it out. And actually, I have some evidence this approach working pretty well. I mean , this is how I started writing my Feel Friday Posts. These are my “deep thoughts” posts where I talk about happiness, joy, breaking through limitations, seeing your value and finding your path. These are the posts where I really express my passions, missions and life purpose. It was really scary for me to start posting these heart songs, but I felt a calling and I the response I have recieved has been so unbelievably amazing and inspiring! It’s like #Magic
So, my focus will still be centered around happiness, health and wholeness, but don’t be surprised if you start seeing some new stuff on here too. 🙂 (Eek, just saying this makes me excited and scared at the same time…so I know I am on the right path!)
3. Sometimes It’s Worth the Hustle
Starting and growing a business is hard work. It takes a lot of time, energy and sacrifices. And sometimes, (when waking up at 4:30am especially), I wonder, is it all worth it? In the beginning years of a new adventure, like this, I feel you put way more energy into it, than you get out (both monitarily and emotionally) and that can be hard. But as Siggi Hilmarsson from Siggis Yogurt said “When you are doing something you love, you get less afraid of failure” and you start to see the process as a reward, not just waiting for the result to come. Also, after seeing the amazing careers, good works, value and community built by so many of the presenters, founders, and my fellow attendees, I am super excited for the potential of my own business and amazing Joyful Warrior tribe.
Yes, it will take lots of hard work, and yes I will have to make sacrifices, but it will be worth it and so unbelievably satisfying. I know this is my purpose and path and I can’t wait to see what the future will bring.
4. We are all the same. We are all different.
This was a pretty small conference with a limited number of attendees, but it was still amazing to see the beautiful variety that exists in a group of women! We are all doing similar things, on the same online stage, but we are all doing it differently. And this is what makes us all so beautiful and what we produce so impactful and amazing.
It was our similarities as dietitians and healthy foodies and bloggers that brought us together, but it was our differences in style, direction, passions and personalities that was so inspiring and transforming. And it’s this inspiration that will be the catalyst for our future growth and expansion, into better bloggers, entrepreneurs, and women.
5. Friendships and Support Create greater Success
Ahhh, competition, it can be such a creepy little goblin.
It’s so easy to be competitive and allow the fear-based thoughts of look at what they are doing; they are taking my piece of the pie, I could do that better;there will be nothing left for me… it can get ugly, right? This scarcity mindset is an easy default for many, and is it limiting. In fact it’s not only limiting, it is contracting and misery-making.
But is there is one theme that was apparent at the Blog Brulee, is was that we are all better working and collaborating together. We do our best work, working together and supporting each other, because nothing truly great ever happens alone. We as women crave and thrive in communities, but unfortunately our society and world has created a very competitive atmosphere for and between us. But to thrive, expand and be change-makers, we must work together. We as we work to lift each other up, we will be lifted too. Together we rise! (#mission #heartsong)
6. Always be Authentic
Holy S-word, were my bears creepin’ on me this weekend! I got it into my head that I was a bit of an imposter going into this conference. And this created a lot of unease and self-doubt and robbed me of the full enjoyment of the first day. I was simply trying too hard and not fully being authentically me ( more about this in my post next week). But I was able to regroup and open my mind and heart to the full experience and surrender a bit.
So this being authentic stuff, it’s tough! It’s tough, especially when we are feeling vulnerable. I mean, it’s easier and less hurtful to pretend to be someone else, because if/when the haters come, it will be someone else that are hate’in on. But this is just yucky, both personally and to other people, because our essence craves authenticity and our intuition can detect fakeness in others. People can detect authenticity in person and online (this is why things like oversharing and certain posts are so irksome). For most of us bloggers, our blogs are a little window into our lives, and when we are living and showing ourselves authentically we will fly and bring other people along for the ride.
So I want to say Thank you to the amazing founders, sponsors and speakers for making this possible, sharing your time, knowledge and spirit with me. And I want to say thank you to my fellow attendees for showing up, and I know the connections and friendships I made this weekend has allowed me to continue to fulfill my purpose and show up in a bigger way myself. XO
With love,
