My body and head are still reeling from my
short and sweet but jam-packed weekend in New York City for the 4th
annual Her Conference.
If you didn’t know that I write (and run social
media) for Pitt’s Her Campus chapter let me tell you… I write for Pitt’s Her
Campus chapter and run the social media. And if you don’t know what Her Campus
is… WHY???
Her Campus is this wonderful and amazing online
magazine that spawns from a national site, and branches out to chapters all
across the world at different universities. After (attempting) to start a
chapter at John Carroll (which they now have, yay!) I dove headfirst into HC
Pitt my sophomore year… and I couldn’t be happier.
Not only have I met the most amazing girls
on the team, some, whom I’m lucky enough to call my friends, I’ve really
adjusted in my writer’s skin. I was able to toy with different voices and
styles and have them read and absorbed, without receiving a grade. Now that’s a
good deal. Before I even graduate, I can say I am a published author. How cool!
So, we packed up and drove from Pittsburgh
to the Big Apple on Friday for my first ever conference, and the 2nd
trip to the city that tugged on my heartstrings the last time I left it.
The conference itself was SO COOL.
I attended panels like, “Does the Devil
Really Wear Prada?: Life in an Entry Level Editorial Position” and “Freelancing
Fiends: Life outside the 9-5” and “Beyond the ‘Like’: Careers in Social Media.”
The panelists were smart and loved their jobs and really helped us get a good
look at their careers.
I listened to speakers like Neha Gandhi, VP
of editorial strategy of Refinery 29, who gave us tips on how to progress our
careers and navigate ourselves to success.
I sat amazed listening to Terri McCullough
of No Ceilings, as she sentence after sentence encouraged us to take a stand
and support each other to have feminism reach a global level of equality.
I was lucky enough to attend a panel where
one of my favorite Cosmo writers, Amy Odell, was a panelist. Amy completely
revolutionized Cosmopolitan’s website
and I even wrote a piece on it last year. She’s what you can say are my
#careergoals. It was my mini star-struck moment of the weekend. (Sadly, no
Vanessa Hudgens or Taylor Swift sightings, the OG Queens of New York.)
I even met Carly and Nessa of Girl Code, both hilarious and
absolutely, teeth-achingly sweet.
Women are amazing. Every woman that spoke
left my heart beating fast and my hands twitching, wanting to start moving
forward, to hit the ground and sprint towards the top of my career. My notes
are a scrambled mess of purple lines zigging and zagging around the page
haphazardly because my pen couldn’t keep up because I wanted to write down everything they were saying. Their words
are my bible.
Entertainment and media is a tough field.
You need to hustle. You need to work. You need to strive to be the best of the
best... but sometimes it’s not enough. Lisa Arbetter, editor of People StyleWatch told us, “Some people
are just smarter than you. They just are.” And you need to accept it and move
on. Life is going to keep moving.
I learned so much this weekend. I gained so
much insight on the careers potentially ahead of me and how to get there. I
learned tricks and techniques to make me stand out in a crowd. But most
importantly, I learned about my self-worth.
Being surrounded by these influential and
smart women that are my age and are willing to improve themselves and the
world, made me feel so inspired. I want to write more. I want to improve
myself. I want to be the best version of myself.
I want to thank Her Campus for giving me
the opportunities that they have, without even knowing.
I
cannot wait for my future. And I hope you’ll come along with me.
Always,
abby
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