I've been to a couple of conferences since starting this blog (IFB in '11 and LuckyFABB in '13). Might as well attend another one, right? (Whoa. And it seems I go every 2 years, as well. *mind blown*)
 |
| Dress: Simply Be Jacket: Simply Be Belt: City Chic Heels: Simply Be Not Shown: Calvin Klein Bag Once again, not realizing I was a walking advertisement. This time for Simply Be. Also, one of the few photos of myself. Oops. Can we talk about how I brought my camera, made sure it was charged and everything and yet...AND YET...I left it in the hotel room. D'oh. |
 |
| "How to be Stylish at Any Size" Ty of Gorgeous in Grey (far left) was the moderator. She did a wonderful job. Panelists: (l-r) Kellie of And I Get Dressed, Chasity of Garner Style, Gabi of GabiFresh, Gospel singer Kierra Sheard of eleven 60, and Rochelle of I am Beauticurve. Kierra was hilarious! |
 |
| "Rock Your Confidence: From the Bar to the Boardroom" Marcy of Marcy Guevara was the moderator. Panelists (l-r): Sarah of Styleit, Chante of Everything Curvy & Chic, Rosaliz Jimenez of People Style Watch, and Nadia of Nadia Aboulhosn |
 |
| Chasity (l) and Cece of Plus Size Princess (r) with Keynote Speaker, Amber Riley (m) Amber was funny and insightful. When asked when did she finally learn to accept her body, she answered, "Last year." She turns 29 this year. I really liked her response because, truly, it really is like something just clicks in your head like, "Oh. I am fabulous." Yes, you can listen to so many advise and so many encouragements but it's still up to you to figure yourself out. No matter how long it takes. |
 |
| Team Mixed Prints and Stripes Me with Sarah. |
 |
| Team Stripes Me with Assa of My Curves & Curls |
 |
| My DC area blogger friends having a good laugh with Gabi. (l-r) ChiChi of Supple Chic, Ola of Road to Fashionable, and Elle photo c/o Road to Fashionable |
A fan of fashion/style, she follows as many blogs and Instagam pages as I do. We have that in common. I can definitely say she was excited more than I was about The Curvy Con, a conference celebrating plus size women. The one day event boasted of informative panel discussions and a 'shopping mall'. Good times to be had. But entering the room, her excitement quickly dwindled. Honestly, she wasn't impressed. At all. She didn't understand why there were only shopping booths and nothing more. She didn't understand why beverages and food were not given or even to buy (Shit. I was, too. Not even water. Hydrate us, tho.) And, above all, she definitely didn't understand why there weren't enough seats for other ticket holders that weren't VIP (There were three types of ticket holders: General, Teal, and VIP). She later explained to me that quite a bit of money was spent for a weekend stay in NYC + this conference. And to be standing the whole time? She believed the whole event catered more towards the VIP ticket holders and she just wasn't having it. After thirty minutes in the room, my friend bounced. I was seated in the reserved section (bought the VIP ticket), when my phone buzzed. I looked down to see a series of messages pretty much stating that she's leaving and contact her if I decided to do something afterwards. I tried my best to make her stay but she made it very clear that she just wasn't having any fun.
Her frustrations were understandable. Do I wish she could've sucked it up a bit and stayed? Sure. But I'm a firm believer in that if you're not having fun at a party/conference/wherever, just go home. Don't stay there with negative energy, y'know? So it was the smart move to leave. And she made some pretty good points, as well. There's a reason why I have photos of only 3 discussion panels in this post. Because, a girl was hungry. A group of us left after the 2nd panel discussion to go search for something to eat (s/o to Gotham West Market and Genuine Roadside!) We made sure to come back in time for Amber Riley. I truly wished I was there to see the other two panel discussions but as Snickers tries to warn folks, "You're not you when you're hungry". Satisfying my hunger and thirst comes first.
Her frustrations were understandable. Do I wish she could've sucked it up a bit and stayed? Sure. But I'm a firm believer in that if you're not having fun at a party/conference/wherever, just go home. Don't stay there with negative energy, y'know? So it was the smart move to leave. And she made some pretty good points, as well. There's a reason why I have photos of only 3 discussion panels in this post. Because, a girl was hungry. A group of us left after the 2nd panel discussion to go search for something to eat (s/o to Gotham West Market and Genuine Roadside!) We made sure to come back in time for Amber Riley. I truly wished I was there to see the other two panel discussions but as Snickers tries to warn folks, "You're not you when you're hungry". Satisfying my hunger and thirst comes first.
Also, having both the shopping mall and the discussion sections in the same room didn't help. The noise from the mall carried over to the discussion. And no matter how many times the moderator pleaded with folks in the back to quiet down, it just wasn't going to happen. The folks at the mall are there to shop, network, and talk with their friends. If they wanted to hear the discussion, they would've moved closer to that area, right? Right. So why should they lower their voices?
Anywho, can't leave on a bum note, though. The VIP swag bag was stocked with great items including a coupon for a free Curvy Couture bra, NYX Cosmetics products (!!!), a PurseN jewelry case, Eloquii sunglasses, Allegro yoga capris from Soybu, and lots of VIP discount codes from online shopping sites (already used the discount code from Ideel). Also the bag was personalized with my name. It's the little things. As a VIP ticket holder, I had access to the lounge where I got to mingle with the speakers, moderators, and fellow VIP ticket holders. But the cool thing was that all of the speakers were walking around in the shopping area so I'm pretty sure people got selfies with them. And, finally, the shopping! Some nice brands to choose from but I ended up purchasing items from Fashion to Figure. Can't go wrong with Buy One, Get One Free.
Anywho, can't leave on a bum note, though. The VIP swag bag was stocked with great items including a coupon for a free Curvy Couture bra, NYX Cosmetics products (!!!), a PurseN jewelry case, Eloquii sunglasses, Allegro yoga capris from Soybu, and lots of VIP discount codes from online shopping sites (already used the discount code from Ideel). Also the bag was personalized with my name. It's the little things. As a VIP ticket holder, I had access to the lounge where I got to mingle with the speakers, moderators, and fellow VIP ticket holders. But the cool thing was that all of the speakers were walking around in the shopping area so I'm pretty sure people got selfies with them. And, finally, the shopping! Some nice brands to choose from but I ended up purchasing items from Fashion to Figure. Can't go wrong with Buy One, Get One Free.
Oh! And before I forget, we stayed at the Yotel, a very futuristic-slash-minimalist hotel in Hell's Kitchen. While settling into our room, we got a light knock on the door. On the other side was a very cute guy handing us a lovely welcome card signed by the creators of The Curvy Con, Chastity and Cece, both a pleasure to meet. Additionally, I made sure to use the $20 credit from Munchery. Also, a small gift from The Curvy Con. Once again, it's the little things.
Will I attend the next Curvy Con? Maybe...if it's in LA. *wink wink*
Will I attend the next Curvy Con? Maybe...if it's in LA. *wink wink*
