Skip School

Women amaze me. This last week, I got to skip school and hang out with the cool kids at Rock What You Got. These badass women banded together to throw an amazing Expo to connect All Things Women. That blows my mind. Event planning has not been, nor ever will be, my cup of tea. So much so that when planning my wedding, I tried to elope without telling my ridiculously large family (another blog, another day). Yet these women organized and coordinated with a diverse and breathtaking collection of women that not even the iciest Minnesota roads could stop.

Rock What You Got

For two days, I witnessed women celebrating other women, their gifts, their accomplishments, and their struggles: Buffie Belsi of We Spark Growth, and her Team, threw this amazing event, which magnified years of social capital and friendships. These women connected on a level that surpasses any kind of business norm. It’s an interdependent, interconnected system of sisterhood. I saw and heard Chastity Brown up close and DAMN! I couldn’t stop laughing between Khadijah Cooper and the 2 Sugars Show. Jearlyn Steele, enough said.

I saw women’s organizations band together to embrace their collective power: MN WIN Theresa Thomas, National Association of Women Business Owners Mary Quist-Newins, Academy for Women’s Empowerment Kristi Hemmer, Team Women Katy Burke, The Women’s Business Development Center – Minnesota Mercedes E Jaime.

Diana Pierce was there; she tells the stories of women over the age of fifty, who are revisioning their careers–because they can! Amalia Moreno-Damgaard’s business intersects and educates others about her culture through food. Elaine Rasmussen connects investors and underestimated entrepreneurs across Minnesota. And neither last nor least, I witnessed the brilliance and truths of Sue Scott with Ann Bancroft & friends! Live Podcast Recording. Her show, “Island of Discarded Women,” is everything I’ve needed for the last ten years, and I have a feeling many others need it too.

The Future Is Female

The icing, for me, was the thank you that Buffie sent out after the event; she thanked her family first. I admired that, and thought, what else would happen if we allowed a more feminine economy to flourish? So, cheers to our humanity, our interconnectedness, our interdependence, and our sisterhood.

Missed the event? The next Rock What You Got gathering is September 13-14, 2019 and details are on MAIA’s Events page.

Below you’ll find a sampling of the women-owned businesses that participated at the expo: