This time last Friday, I was sitting at Pier Sixty in New York City at Alt Summit + The Riveter for the first Alt Summit since 2020. I've never attended their conference but when I saw the speaker lineup, the sponsor and attendee mix, and relative close proximity to home, I decided to go for it! I'm so glad I did.
Started in 2009, Alt Summit describes itself as "Alt Summit is the premier conference & community for thousands of creative entrepreneurs & influencers." And you know what? That's exactly what it felt like. This year they partnered with The Riveter to do a mini conference in one day - a teaser of what you'd get at the full 3 day summit that has been on hiatus for Covid but reappearing in 2023.
We had an opening panel with 5 speakers and a moderator to discuss The Art of the Pivot and the Rise of Anti-Hustle Culture. My main takeaway here, as it came up several times in different ways and from different panelists, was the importance of following your gut. I love this because... that's how I generally try to operate. It felt like a little reassurance that it's a good path.
Next we had Cyndie Spiegel speak on Microjoys: How To Find Hope (Especially) When Life Is Not Okay. She shared with us a doozy of a timeline that had her friends asking her if she was possibly cursed, but then how she came out of it realizing the importance of realizing and experiencing all the little things in life that bring you joy. Such a good mindset reset.
The last session before the morning break was with Alt Summit founder, viral tweeter, author, and probably 1000 other amazing things but I need to Google her, Gabrielle Blair. She was interviewed by Brittany Jones-Cooper about her new book, coming out October 18th, called Ejaculate Responsibly. Yes. Lots of laughs in that session but on a hugely important and timely topic. More about the the book here.
We then had a morning break for networking, snacking, coffee drinking. I met some wonderful women and took the best step to keep in touch in following them all on Instagram.
The morning keynote was Julia Haart, an author, designer and star of a Netflix show called My Unorthodox Life. She was interviewed by Lea Goldman,a former editor of Marie Claire and executive at Lifetime. The two of them had great chemistry and there were some funny moments as well as some mind blowing poignant ones. She's had a real ride of a life, wow.
Next was lunch and I, like many other attendees, took advantage of the unseasonably warm day and ate outside overlooking the river. This was the most challenging part of the day for me as I tried to avoid talking about my business while people were eating. The food was great, though!
After lunch, it went more choose your own adventure style and I attended the afternoon panel, The State of the Influencer — What Does Working With Brands Look Like Right Now? This was my favorite panel because I came away with some hard tactical knowledge that I've been able to take action on right away. Lots of smart ladies on different sides of the brand/influencer relationship sharing what they know - great session and great info.
Now we are getting to the part of the day where I started to remember that I had to wake up at 3:15am to make my flight. I heard there was cold brew coffee in the sponsor area and that's exactly what I needed - got a little pep in my step and met more creative ladies who I'm now pumping up on Instagram when I see them. I was flying high when I went to get a seat for the closing keynote and was met with a glass of bubbly - nice touch!
The closing keynote was Sallie Krawcheck being interviewed by Darcy Miller. Sallie is the CEO and co-founder of Ellevest and has been called the Most Powerful Woman on Wall Street. She was AMAZING. And Darcy was a perfect match for her. More laughs, some big points to think about, and a reminder of what we can all accomplish by supporting each other and working together.
And then it was time for me to get back to the airport. My Uber rides cost more than my flights but I loved my day in NYC. The only problem... and it doesn't make sense to me still, was... why isn't there any pizza in the LGA JetBlue terminal?
Cheers to the organizers who put together a seamless and inspiring one day event. If you want to see what they do with more time, the first Alt Summit in 3 years will be March 12 - 15, 2023 in Palm Springs, CA. There are a limited number of early bird tickets still available so if you're thinking about it, jump in now: Alt Summit 2023.
Here are some bad pics!
If you look reallllllly close, you can see the Statue of Liberty!
New friend Rachel!!
