As a midterm stress reliever, a group of six girls from Her Campus at UCI decided to attend Stylecon Orange County 2016. From my experience, I had an amazing time. When we entered, we received our swag bags which had make-up products, sunglasses, snacks etc. But, I would like to share with all of you two stories about women empowerment.
To give you heads up, I was tired of all the walking around we did for about an hour. So, one of the girls and I decided to sit down. Minutes later an influencer went up to speak. I couldn’t recall her name, but her story was inspirational I wanted to share it. As soon as I got back home from the event, I had to search her up on the Stylecon page. Her name is Twila True.
The moment she caught my attention was when she mentioned that she came from an impoverished community. She recalls that she wanted to get out of that community, but it will take hard work to reach that. So, she knew that being an entrepreneur was the quickest way she would be able to rise. Also, she provided one statistic that surprised the audience she mentioned that by 2018 1/3 of businesses will be owned by women. She gave millennials a piece of advice to not focus on relationships or dating because all that will come later. Instead, we should set goals.
Then, we started walking around getting free stuff which was great who doesn’t like free stuff. After an hour or so, we wanted to take a break. The host Melanie Bromley introduced the next influencer Sarah Herron, who is known for making appearances on The Bachelor. I’ve heard of The Bachelor but never watched it. It was quite interesting knowing that someone who appeared on a reality TV show was at giving a talk at Stylecon. And, I was there to witness this moment.
Sarah Herron explained that her friends nominated her to appear on The Bachelor. At first, she wanted to go and find her love. She then realized that the purpose was not to find love but to discover self-love. She shares that the show helped her overcome her biggest insecurity due to her physical disability. Sarah shared a story that she was afraid of going skiing because she felt that she was being judged. Now, she feels confident that people tell her how its impressive that she skis or does activities with one arm. Afterwards, she comments that she didn’t expect to be big after she appeared on The Bachelor but many girls were relating to her story because of her physical disability. So, Sarah felt the need to do something for all these girls.
She came up with an idea to start a nonprofit organization, SheLift. This organization empowers girls who lack confidence or have insecurities. Sarah was excited to share that a group of five girls and five mentors will be going on their first retreat. And, she is planning more retreats for the upcoming years.
I’m happy that I had the opportunity to listen to these two wonderful ladies speak about empowerment. However, I do regret not taking pictures to capture this special moment. I hope I get to go again next year. I will be better prepared to take notes and pictures.