HI APW!
We just (I mean JUST) got back from the first Summer Alt Summit in Salt Lake City. Alt Summit started as a blogging conference, but over the years it’s turned into something I’d describe as a women’s entrepreneurship conference. This time in particular there were a lot of serious businesswomen in attendance (and I don’t just mean Martha Stewart). In fact, during lunch with Martha Stewart, someone got up and asked her a question about growing a business, mentioning that she started as a kitchen table operation a few years ago, and they currently have fifty people working for them. If that doesn’t make you sit up and take notice, I donno what does. I also got to take a class in entrepreneurship from the amazing Susan Peterson. A few years ago we were roommates at a conference, and she had made branded leather business card holders for all three hundred attendees, as smart publicity. Now she has ten staffers, and is just killing it in the most amazing inspiring way ever.
I’m still processing everything I learned in two short days. As anyone who’s been paying any attention to online media knows, business models are changing these days, and changing fast. As a result, the halls at Alt (which is where all the best meetings happen) felt pretty electric. Getting to sit down with smart businesswoman after smart businesswoman and talk shop was the most fun I’ve had in… a while.
But mostly, Alt Summit is just my magic place. It’s the only place I know of where motherhood is so seamlessly integrated into business life. I took my baby to his first Alt when he was eight weeks old, and this year the halls were packed with scrunchy babies and pregnant ladies. In the middle of Martha Stewart’s talk, she suddenly looked around and said, “There are a lot of babies here. I love that.” But all those babies didn’t mean that there weren’t hardcore business deals going down. To be in a place where people are talking about dolla-dolla-bills, and also passing out breastfeeding advice, means the part where pregnant ladies mention how feminist they are is almost unnecessary. Because we’re already living it.
I’m off to think a whole lot about what I learned this week, and leave you guys to your open thread.
With Love, Hustle, and Glitter,
MEG
Highlights of APW This Week
Recovering from an eating disorder and planning a wedding.
All our best How We Did Its are currently coming out of Long Island, and this is one of them!
Behind the scenes at APW, aka the return of Meg’s thoughts on entrepreneurship!
Because a Mexican wedding is not the same as Mexican + Wedding.
Talking about the wedding details that got left on the cutting room floor.
A gentle reminder to all the overachievers out there: getting married is not quite like studying (cough, cramming, cough) for a big exam.
Link Roundup
Pantene’s newest #shinestrong video came out yesterday. And they want you to know they are #sorrynotsorry about it.
Not new, but still charming: a single dad and his unlikely college roommate. And an update to their story.
Why do we care about weddings?
Fuck yeah, Texas women!
A new generation of Golden Girls are embracing communal living as they get older.
“Instead of focusing on my decision to perform in porn to pay my tuition, let’s start paying attention to what got me here: artificially inflated demand for college that pushes tuitions sky high.”
Now, off to spend the weekend napping and practicing our donut-caking abilities.
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