stardust☾

What it is:

Last week I had the privilege of attending Her Conference on behalf of one of my favorite department store brands, XOXO. If you're not familiar with Her Conference, it's an annual gathering of female entrepreneurs, bloggers, and influencers and it's focused on the college-aged demographic. They hold one in New York and one in LA, so they've got their coasts covered. Each year there are several keynotes and panels. This year's main keynote was by Jessica Alba, who gave us a super candid (and funny) look at her experience as the founder of Honest, a company devoted to offering safer consumer products. Her talk actually inspired me to start looking into the chemicals that are in my everyday belongings and I'm beginning the extremely overwhelming task of detoxifying my apartment/life (more on that to come!)

What I wore:

A few weeks before the conference, XOXO allowed us to choose a several pieces from their collection. The dress code for the conference was business chic, so instead of choosing something I'm used to wearing all the time, like a jumpsuit, I decided to go for a blazer & pant combo. I chose the coral blazer because I'm obsessed with that color right now, and I just got blush from Glossier and a lipstick from Jafra that I knew would go perfectly. I was immediately drawn to the white pants because of their unique open front and ruffle detail. The whole ensemble was my ideal combination of boho and minimalism, and I honestly felt like Solange all day.

What it's like:

The conference starts pretty early (9am) and goes allllll the way to 5pm. Jessica Alba's keynote went overtime so the rest of the schedule ended up being pushed back a bit. The panels I was most interested in (one on female startup entrepreneurs and an influencer panel) were in the morning, so I ended up leaving after lunch because the introvert in me was ready for a long nap. In addition to the panels you also get a swag bag full of essentials from the conference's sponsors. Some of my favorites were a balm from Honest Beauty and a Morphe highlight palette.

XOXO was one of the sponsors of the conference and they had an awesome activation site where you could have custom t-shirts pressed right in front of you along with several racks of their latest collection. I didn't know before I visited that they also have way more than just clothes (think fragrance, home accessories, you name it). You can see what else they offer here.

I left the conference feeling super inspired and excited for this next generation of women graduating school and starting their own businesses. So many of them were asking smart, interesting questions and have the confidence to bring their dreams to life. I was definitely getting distracted from my goals before the conference and it was the perfect setting to re-charge and plan out more concrete actions. If you have any interest in starting your own business, blogging, or being an influencer, I highly recommend going to the conference, at least once!