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| Image via Altitude Summit |
It's been 4 years since my first Altitude Summit and so much has happened since then. If you had told me at the time that in a few short months after giving birth to my son that I would be relocating to Portsmouth, NH then returning to Boston 2 years later I absolutely wouldn't have believed you.
Here's a quick rundown of what my first Alt Summit was like...
First, I was pregnant with Grayson:
Second, everything was so colorful and creative - my eyes weren't ready!:
Third, it was engaging - from connecting with fellow bloggers and brands, everything was about building relationships:
Now on to what I'm up to at this year's Alt Summit...
I've returned to co-lead a session today on Courageous Conversations: Speaking Up for Social Change at 3:45PM PST with my co-panelist Fostermoms. The inspiration for this session came out of the Women's Convention in Detroit and the viral session on Confronting White Womanhood. Beyond the fracture that's happened between black and white in the midst of the feminist movement, we considered some other challenging topics that have dominated social media in the past few years and have found many influencers are unsure of how to engage in dialogue on their platforms. Hearing Shay Stewart-Bouley founder of Black Girl in Maine and Debby Irving, author of Waking Up White, recently model a cross-racial conversation was such a great learning experience into how these conversations can take place thoughtfully and productively.
As an influencer it's important to me to use my platform to make an impact (shout out to Luvvie for her challenge to us influencers in I'm Judging You). That doesn't mean having your content being overrun by "hashtag activism," but it does mean that as a conscious mom in a troubled society I refuse to sit idly by sharing tone deaf posts on social media while there is work to do (for more on that alarming trend read this excellent piece in the Washington Post). And as I've shared before, YES! It is possible to walk and chew gum: I can be woke and still be excited about the latest Marvel movie (and post a cute pics of my kids). It's about balance and responsibility.
When you know better you do better.
Wanna join me? Follow #like2action, my session's unique hashtag while at Alt Summit. And if you're reading this and attending Alt Summit, please say hi! I come to conferences to meet people so I would love that.
Also, if you're curious about some of the other projects I'm working on check out my "Quiana in Action" post. It's a great starting point.
Let's do the work...
