Across Town for Some Leadership and Equality
Disclaimer: Everything below is a mix of what I observed and heard during the event. The goal isn’t to pinpoint "who exactly said what," but to share (usually) an outsider's view and overall perspective on these industries. I’m not here to act as a definitive firsthand source—readers should do their own research. I hope this inspires you to attend events, explore new industries, and hear what leaders are presenting. These notes combine my observations with thoughts on how things could run smoother and how ideas connect (IMO). I’m not an expert, you know? Just hanging out in the room with them. Enjoy!Topics: Women Entrepreneurs, Leadership, Workforce, Empowerment, Inspiration.
No idea what to expect from this event except that it will likely be very inspiring and lots of use will come out of it. Directly inspiring!
Why attend: I love this nonprofit and have appreciated almost every event I attended that they hosted. Except the last two I went to of theirs… one was online and kinda dull, and then they recently had a ribbon cutting ceremony but it was literally just that. So, I want more.
Photo Collage and Commentary:
NOTES FROM THE EVENT
Okay this event is off to a bad start - my fault. I missed my first 2 bus choices, then I walked to the train station. Then I got off at the wrong station cause I was too confident that I knew the location (wrong location) so, I arrived 1 hour late hahah. Geeze. But what do I always say? When you’re late, be great!
Okay so the event I’ve walked into is about entrepreneurship. Creating your own work, your own job.
So she’s talking about how you need to evaluate your business idea.
Overhyped ideas
Reinvigorating stale ideas
The classics
Good ideas for modest income
Dialing in for a great idea.
BTW the snacks tehy have here are hilarious. Granola bars, candy, chips… like elementary school snacks. - I got some wavy ruffles with sour cream and cheddar.
And there are SO many name tags of people not here. Seems a lot of people didn’t arrive.
Okay now she has us doing a handout.
The handout is about brainstorming “bad ideas” - which I don’t like this very much…
why do I want to spend time thinking about bad ideas?
I want to work on my good ideas! I don’t have any bad ideas hahah. I want examples of how to raise my bar…
This is funny, too, teh worksheet looks like a business model page. But a really good looking one.
Her “bad idea” is starting an aerospace plane company. I’m not taking the best notes. Cause so far this isn’t capturing my attention.
They’re just having the audience brainstorm bad ideas and why its a bad idea (like flipping houses without design experience… or you dont understand permits…
Okay, I’m running late, yes, but this speech has been going on for 30 minutes and all she’s talking about is like “bad businesses”)
They’re just talking forever about house flipping is a bad idea…
Temporary housing…
Hostels….
Poorly build town homes…
They’re spending like froever just talking about examples of bad homes??
- I’m getting no value from this conversation so far… I think I’m going to pack up and go to another talk.
Okay this next speech (happening at the same time) is already 100% better vibes. Some guy came up to me, handed me a pen, told me where we are on the worksheet -
they’re talking about “clarity” and not having too much “hope” which is literally waht they were talking about in the last blog/event.
Don’t lean on hope… you must take action.
Okay the task is to pick one word to say how you are in your career: aligned, decisive, unclear, or misaligned.
WHICH WORD? I feel I’m aligned and decisive. North East
Now everyone is just talking about themselves and passing hte mic.
And the woman I’m talking to has her dog sleeping in a stroller.
What are you working on? What are you afraid of? What do you know? What are you protecting?
Do teh best you can with who you are and waht you know at the time.
This is everyone.
So write your career story as you’ve been telling it - then rewrite it where you own your role. Take back your agency
Oaky my story is that I lived in Shanghai for a few years, realized I could do anything when people give you a chance, the I moved back to hte USA - made a BUNCH of money trading stocks, could afford to work for free for another woman, so I did, I partnered with her and worked unpaid for 4 years trying to build a brand. Then she passed away right as we finally were building traction… and then… now I’m just running my own business. Had been doing that for a while a bit secretly and not trying to show it off, but then lately I’m actually workign to build a team and succeed.
I need to ask AI how I’d rewrite this to “own my role” I dont even get it. How to “flip the narrative” as she says. Okay, let’s see what AI says.
“I moved to Shanghai with no plan and discovered I could build anything when I bet on myself. I came back to the US, made real money trading stocks, and used that freedom to partner with a woman whose vision I believed in. I worked unpaid for four years — not because I had to, but because I was building something.
When she died, her husband shut it down. I could have walked away. Instead, I fought for years to protect what we'd built together. That fight isn't over — I'm still waiting on a resolution.
But I didn't just wait. I'd been building my own business the whole time. First quietly, almost like I wasn't allowed to want it for myself. Now I'm done with quiet. I'm scaling intentionally. I have five interns confirmed and I'm building toward twenty. This is mine.”
Okay. Hahha. I don’t get this but let’s see what other people talk about and if it makes more sense.
Let’s see waht one person says -
She says hers is probably one a lot of women go through. She held back on her career till her children were at an age they didn’t need her as much. She sat back and held back even thighs he wanted so much more.
All while her husband never stopped and kept growing.
When her kids were at an age she felt more comfortable, her career built fast.
The woman said she doesn’t need to flip her narrative.
See. This is confusing hahaha.
Next girl: she said some of the same reasons, she always says she’s reinventing herself and this built her an authentic network of relationships.
One girl says she’s “just a teacher” instead of proud to be a teacher.
Now her girlfriend speaks and stands up for her, saying her girlfriend is amazing. Advocating for her.
Now review the toolkit: reflect, assess, and take action.
Build self trust through honest reflection
Take action on an action that is part of your plan.
Be consistent
Her speech is over. Her thesis is just like to be proud of your story. Idk. Okay. Hahahah. I’m not getting much out of this yet. But, excited for lunch.
She said love yourself fiercely.
They said the lunch line is long cause they had to do a last-minute pivot with food - so thanks for understanding.
Now they’re starting with lunch presentations. Like presentations during lunch.
Its funny cause when I was in the elevator, a woman in the elevator with me said she was speaking on the same panel as me - and I was like I’m not in the panel, but she was like, oh, you’ll see, the woman I’m on teh panel with looks liek you. I see her on the stage now. .. yeah, we look decently similar hahahaha. Same color hair. Both white ladies.
This next speaker is talking about using AI to build your resume and give yourself an unfair advantage that you deserve. This doesn’t apply to me exactly.. it does and it doesn’t, but I feel liek it’s going to be an AI 101
Nope. It’s AI 101. They’re teaching “what is prompting” lol.
She said. You need “CRAFT” framework:
Context
Role
Ask
Format
Tone
What impact are you driving? Recruiters are interested in outcomes, not activities.
She said she hasn’t written her own linkedin post in over 2 years.
Omg. Gross.
Okay, I need to step away to go tutor/teach a class… but I’m thinking I may just leave this event early? Idk. I’m just getting nothing from it so far. Is that crazy? I feel like I’m confused who is the demographic but I don’t think this is for someone like me - whatever that means? But IDK who is benefitting from this overall.
I wish these talks hadn’t been all at the same time. I’m sure that some of these talks were good… but you had to just get lucky with which you sat in on. Plus, this company has a new venue that is bigger than their old one… so hopefully they host more events in their venue. I’d like this to be more intimate and focused. Idk. this vibe is off.
The afternoon talks remaining talk is on “owning your story” but the exercise we did earlier showed me that I own my story? Idk.
But I will say what’s sticking with me is two days in a row now, professionals saying to remove the word “hope” from your vocabulary. Take action.
