During Philly Tech Week 2014, I attended back-to-back nights of stimulating digital communications discussions held at two great spaces in center city. During Wednesday night’s blog, brand, biz & buzz, hosted by Philly Blog Love, a panel of entrepreneurs gathered at Brick American Eatery and talked about their use of social media to build awareness of their businesses and elevate their brands.
The panel included: Jesse Holeva {TrendHungry.com}, HughE Dillon {PhillyChitChat.com}, Andre Richard Baldini {andrerichardsalon.com}, Curran J. {Kings Rule Together}, Leah Kauffman {Philly.com/Rad-Girls.com}, Melony Roy [KYW News Radio], and was moderated by Chaucee Stillman [StreetsandStripes.com].
The next night I attended a launch party at the Philadelphia Art Alliance for Rad-Girls.com, a new website for women in support of women, founded by Leah Kauffman {@leahrkauffman}. This was a celebration for girls everywhere who are inspiring change within their industries while serving as role models for each other along the way. This panel included: Rakia Reynolds [Skai Blue Media], Gloria Bell, Hillary Sedgwick {oh-revoir.com}, Suzi Analogue {Suzianalogue.com} and was moderated by Leah Kauffman.
All of these panelists love what they do.
all female entrepreneur panel brought to you by rad-girls.com
caroline lathan-stiefel's "greenhouse mix" installation at the Philadelphia Art Alliance
I walked over to the Ritz post-event to grab a cocktail, relax and reflect on it all. As I sipped on my spring pear martini, I developed a list of my top 5 takeaways from the week centered around the "do what you love" lesson.
soaking it all in, literally
1. Remember that the best ‘you’ you can be is genuine and organic. Use that sincerity to establish your own point of view for your business or brand -- and your opinions will be valuable to others because they are uniquely YOURS. Pursue you passion and if you don’t know what it is yet, try new things and use process of elimination to find what excites you.
2. There are many people who fall down numerous times before they stand up. So don’t be defeated by hard times and failures. Use trial and error to your advantage to grow, learn and push yourself.
3. The no-brainer for a career in any industry is to use social media to drive a conversation, contribute to one and promote your brand. Be consistent across all of your social channels and make sure your content is clean, relevant and relatable. Share your expertise and share your story. Your passion will come through.
4. Support others who are trying to do the same things as you. Collaborate, engage others in the same field and join communities of interest.
5. Finally, be friendly, reach out and introduce yourself to people. That’s what I did last week and learned that there are really smart people in this city. And they are people who have an innate desire to make Philadelphia a stronger, diverse and progressive place to live. Listening to them talk about their respective paths was an inspiration, and a reminder to all of us that we can achieve anything we commit to. Yes, life is hard work and there are not enough hours in the day for any of us. But to be happy, you have to do what you love and most importantly, make life what all that you want it to be.
