I am back from Alt Summit, a conference for bloggers and creative entrepreneurs that takes place annually in Salt Lake City. In the photo above, I'm on the right, dancing in the dark with three new friends, who, you can see, could hardly take their eyes off of my Elaine Benes dance moves.
As business conferences go, this one rocks. In Friday's blogpost, I'll be recapping trends and predictions that I gleaned, some of it quite fascinating. But today, I'm waxing lyrical about something else. Actually, someone else.
Her name is Tina, she's an architect, and in the photo above, she's on the left. I don't mean to put her on the spot. We only just met and here I am thrusting her onto the stage of my little blog. But her instant friendship made an enormous difference. She and I connected the first night and she pulled me into her orbit for the remainder of the conference.
Alt Summit is attended by women mostly in their twenties and thirties. They love Tina. They love her energy, her curiosity, her easy laugh, and most of all, her confidence. In French, you would describe Tina as someone with 'la coeur ouvert à l'inconnu'.
Watching Tina interact with younger women gave me an idea. I'll be writing more about that idea in the future. It is an exciting direction for me.
Not only did Tina inspire a new idea, but she and her friends adopted me without checking my credentials. We had more fun together than what seems legally allowed in the state of Utah. I crashed on the plane like a 1985 sorority girl traveling home from Padre Island. And Tina? She and her partner Brooke flew to Los Angeles to lead a 3-day "design crawl."
See what I mean?! Founts of energy!
For more information about Tina and Brooke's design crawls, click here. Or follow Tina here on Instagram. She's a prolific poster with mad photography skills.
From left to right, Brooke Hatfield, Paige Lewin, me, and Tina Dhillon. Photo via Alt Summit.