My Girlboss Rally Review
Brooklyn NY 2018
As one does when shelling out 1500$ for a Girlboss Weekend, you enjoy it with a healthy side of criticism.
Upon Uber drop off, I saw 50 shades of brown rust and felt a bit uncertain, as the location looked abandoned. Walking closer I see the white tents set up, making it clear the shabby building is part of the charm that is Brooklyn’s Knockdown Center.
I am arriving on time for what is the VIP entry. About an hour before general admission. Excited to get free breakfast and meet the other early risers, I see about 20 of us in line are just avoiding eye contact, waiting for the line to start moving. Everyone stylish and insta-ready of course. The first morning hiccup is a late start, maybe just 15 minutes of delay and we start being passed through.
My initial impression of the team is that it’s mostly volunteers, who seem to have been briefed only minutes ago on their responsibilities, hence the confused look on their faces.
Glossier style clutch in hand, full with a map, Girlboss pen and notebook, I walk in hungry and ready to check out the vegetarian options. Happily I choose a egg sandwich, along side the gluten free or meat eater options.
Looking for the coffee, I notice disposable cups and lids along side Smart Water bottles scattered throughout the open space. Call me Canadian, but in 2018 there is nothing smart about Smart Water Bottles. I get it, it’s a paid endorsement but still. I quickly realized there is no green, reusable initiative here. Even the lunch time salads were in plastic bowls with plastic utensils. Don’t get me wrong, I am not zero waste. And I know we still have to get through all the damn one time use stuff we have created in this planet before switching to reusable. But there could have been some cute incentives like consignment cups for the coffee, Girlboss branded reusable utensils or even a sign near the water fountains to Be Smart and refill you Smart Water bottle. Better yet would be a Smart Water fountain.
I opened by Stojo collapsible coffee cup to fill it with coffee and then filled my Swell with fountain water. Feeling concious and ethical, I bring it up to a few girls I ate with, they reply without too much concern,
Ya so weird, I thought they would give us some reusables too.
quickly moving on, I guess it is New York after all. Sitting around a coffee table we all introduce ourselves. Country and city of origin. I find it nice to finally talk, refreshing that instead of focusing on what we do for work, everyone expands on why they are here, followed by what they hope to gain from the weekend.
Some of us click more then others and decide to form a group until the Boss Shots. Which are the VIP headshots ! This was my first disappointment. To be fair we were in the first round and clearly there were technical difficulties. But the way they brushed off my concerns saying
No, it’s not too dark, you look great!
While I’m standing in a shadow of pink and blue light that was advertised as a fun new headshot to use on social . I quickly realized I will never use this, as it would lead to being unfollowed or not taken seriously if I posted it. All which is the opposite of the point of a Girlboss Rally. I try to email the photos to myself, only to realize the iPad crashed. I shrugged it off knowing they are useless to me anyway.
Again I brought up my disappointingly dark shots with sum attendees and no one seemed to be as frustrated as me. I am far from picky, but I do expect a certain level of professionalism seeing as this is organized by preachers of how-to business. Thankfully it ended well because I returned the next day and they let me retake it, in an improved set up. I also decided to up the ante n have fun with them.
The intro speech with Sophia was ok. The only part that gave me goosebumps was the demo of the soon to come Girlboss Community app/website. The most distracting part of her speech was listening to her widely known come up story. Maybe not everyone there knew it, but the strangest part was that she seemed to be reading off of the teleprompter.
It was completely strange to me that THE GIRLBOSS herself is telling her own personal journey and needs to read it off of a screen. Weird.
I let it slide, telling myself she is probabaly just over worked, or has her hands in too much of the event to focus on her speech.
Equally excited and critical, I am ready for the classes. Not one to spiral out of enthusiasm because of some less than perfect experiences. I have learned, it’s best to have no expectations, take what’s useful and let go of the useless.
The magic started as the workshops, panels and discussions began. Everyone scurrying to their respective rooms, The Girlboss Rally app was the perfect tool to sign yourself in and out of classes, check out other attendees profiles and leave a review on each class after you attended. It was immensely useful except that many talks didn’t bother to check if you were signed up or not, and they didn’t seem to reinforce the fact that Vip was supposed to be seated in front only. But honestly it barely bothered me because I knew then and there I could hop in and out of most classes and not worry about my registration. I think they were more rigid in the classes that had reached full capacity though.
Overall my favourite talks were with Ariana Huffington who so sassily called Sophia out, putting her in her place a couple times which was funny but embarrassing. She had a lot of wise words to share about balance and navigating this tech driven landscape. The creator of the Beauty Blender and part owner of Bumble shared my favourite room focused on marketing, growth and branding, where we heard from half of Outdoor Voices and SmallGirlsPr. I fully embraced a workshop on finding your story & how to sell it. I soaked up the talk with the smart, young and avant-grade founder of The Museum of Ice Cream and Rent The Runway. Both focusing on the importance of believing in your concept and proving it worthy! The one on one meeting with a Girlboss was nice because I got to chat with Girlboss’s director of growth, who was also the one moderating many of my favourite panels! Oh and the shop they had was a nice place to break and find out about up and coming female brands like Sweat, Shhhower Cap and more! Sadly I wasn’t fast enough to sign up for the Tarot Reading or Tattoo sessions available.
Overall I felt the two day event was a success and totally worth it for me even with the criticisms. Mainly because I registered to the classes most pertinent to me. I was there to learn more about marketing, pr, and branding. I got major inspo in the VIP LOUNGE thanks to Chillhouse and HeyDay. I also met a few amazing people in all the classes, and even before the event via Instagram hashtags!
The funniest aha moment was realizing that networking isn’t about exchanging business cards, Or trying to befriend people solely based on how they can benefit your career. It is about sharing where you are at, where your trying to go and being open to advice!
As someone who works hard for their money, my perspective is that this is an investment targeted for women who already own a small business or are in a decision making position within a larger company. I feel as though you wouldn’t get a full take from it if you weren’t already getting your feet wet. I say this because when you aren’t in it already, it all seems abstract, easy in theory, hard in practice. But already having a business it means I can ask the right questions and brainstorm how to implement and re organize vs needing to find a concept. That being said if money isn’t an issue and it interests you, there were many fresh out of school, or looking for ideas!
As a small business owner, this isn’t something I could afford to do yearly, probabaly every 2–3 years. When business needs a new focus or shift and I need some inspiration.
My biggest takeaways were this: the now of business and marketing is content creation. But with continuous content flooding all the eyes and ears out there, the future is fostering community. Attracting community through shared values, events and action plans that helps create change.
If you can clearly communicate your values as a business, you will attract your ideal community, then you need to engage them.
Sounds simple but i know it is not so easy! Regardless I find it quite inspiring because the future of business isn’t as dirty as it once was. It’s not all about money. If it’s about gathering like minded individuals based on values, then businesses really are and can be inspirational. If business can inspire consumers to make change and move mountains TOGETHER. Than that’s the kind of economy I’m proud to be a part of!
