Her Campus’s annual signature event, Her Conference, took place on Saturday, June 27 in New York City, and the event was a Gen Z career girl’s dream. This year’s conference — all about bringing young women together to empower each other and network their way to their dream jobs — had some spectacular stand-out moments, with keynote speakers Katie Feeney, Anna Cathcart, and Jordan Chiles taking the stage to spill the tea on their impressive careers. Outside of the keynotes, panelists also shared their top-tier career insight, and gave empowering advice to the 1,000 young Gen Zers in attendance. There were also tons of fun activations and gifts from brands like Rare Beauty and Hallmark that had my goodie bag overflowing by the end of the day.
As a national writer for Her Campus, I was so excited to attend the event and experience it in person (especially with a VIP pass, for some extra goodies and opportunities). My personal favorite moments were hearing from Jordan Chiles about her gold medal-winning career, and listening to the panelists for First Response speak so openly and honestly about women’s health. If you weren’t able to make it this year, here was my day in the life to motivate you to attend next year’s big event.
9 A.M.: The Day Begins!
Starting off the conference, I waited in line surrounded by other attendees. As many panelists later pointed out (including the fashion icon herself, Jordan Chiles), everyone’s outfits were on point.
9:30 A.M.: VIP Gift Bags!
After entering the space, I picked up my VIP gift bag — the goodies filled the entire tote — and I got to chat with some other attendees in line. This was the day after Love Island’s wild Casa Amor recoupling, so of course, we discussed the Titi vs. Trinity drama while we waited for our bags. Love Island references and conversations continued throughout the day in true girlhood fashion.
11:15 a.m.: Our Bodies, Our Timeline Panel, Presented by First Response
After an amazing panel with Her Campus alumni at the top of their respective industries and a keynote with ESPN social media correspondent Katie Feeney, I got to listen to a talk with three open, well-spoken women — TV host and model Kamie Crawford; CMO of Progyny, Dr. Janet Choi; and brand marketing lead for First Response, Amala Ifediora — about their experience in advocating for themselves and others in the women’s health space. This was such an important talk for young women to hear because we are so often dismissed in the medical field as patients. This panel really encouraged me to speak up for myself.
12 p.m.: Keynote Speaker Anna Cathcart
Hearing from Cathcart was so inspiring. She’s just a year older than me and already so successful, but hearing that she also deals with impostor syndrome made me feel extra connected to her. She gave the advice to fake it till you make it, which was so cathartic.
12:35 p.m.: Brand Booth Time
Between panelists, I had some time to check out the activations from brands like CoverGirl — I picked out a Jelly Water Tint in a bright red that I’ll be wearing all summer — and Carolina Herrera (where I was able to pick up a perfume sample that might just be my new signature scent. I got the full-sized version in my VIP package, too). There were even opportunities to get temporary and semi-permanent tattoos from the HC Butterfly Collective, which looked so cute.
1:30 p.m.: More Brand Moments At The Gifting Bar
Just when I thought the gifting was over, I was able to check out the gifting bar for all ticket holders and grab a blue essie nail polish that I’ll definitely be using.
2 p.m.: Lunch & Coffee Break
After traveling to NYC the day before and waking up early for the event, I was beat by this time, so I grabbed a quick lunch and coffee at Pret A Manger right around the corner from the event space. Then, I made my way back to hear from more panelists.
2:50 p.m.: Meet HCM’s Longform Community: The Common Thread
Hearing from these inspiring women about creating longform content in their respective niches on social media was so fun. I was so excited to hear that Her Campus is launching its longform community: The Common Thread. Despite what many people say, us Gen Zers do want to consume more than 15-second TikTok clips — especially Gen Z writers who are in love with storytelling, like me.
3:25 p.m.: Keynote Speaker Jordan Chiles
Finally, the moment that we were all waiting for: hearing from Olympic gold medalist Jordan Chiles. You could feel the energy in the room lift the second Chiles stepped onto the stage. Chiles spoke about her love of fashion, her fearless, boundary-breaking moments in gymnastics, her time on Dancing with the Stars, and more. It was next-level.
5:00 p.m.: Post-Event Activities
As a recent post-grad, I spent the night in New York City with friends, and even got to see my first-ever production of Rocky Horror. I’ll now know some of the famous callbacks for next time! I can’t wait to travel back to NYC for Her Conference 2027.