This year, UNCW hosted the 2nd Annual Women’s Conference on Saturday, February 27. There were around 70 ladies in attendance. The conference opened with Keynote Speaker Melissa Jordan (follow her on twitter here). Jordan’s number one priority is helping college students discover their passions, make plans to achieve their goals, and realize their true selves. Her session was a great start to the conference, allowing for lots of laughs and an environment where all in attendance felt comfortable asking questions and making comments.
After Jordan’s opening, attendees had the choice of four sessions for their next destination, including “Bitches Who Brunch: Challenging the Way We Think about Food and Our Bodies,” “How to Get Noticed for the Right Reason,” The Anatomy of a Paycheck,” and “The Cool Girl in Leadership.” I elected to attend “Bitches Who Brunch” because I am most certainly a bitch that loves some brunch. The session covered body positivity and principles of mindful eating. The group participated in a mindful eating exercise where we were challenged to really enjoy a piece of (amazingly yummy) dark chocolate, appreciating the way it tasted and made us feel. Since this session was right before lunch, I went into the lunch area ready to eat my veggie wrap mindfully, and I did. I also mindfully inhaled the giant chocolate chip cookie included with my veggie wrap and a Diet Coke. It’s about balance.
Following the first session and lunch, we were given four more options, which were “Give Me Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Car Maintenance,” “High Heels and a Briefcase: Women in the Professional Workplace,” “Public Speaking: A Major Key to Success,” and “Treat Yo’Self 2016.” As a fan of treating myself and Parks and Rec, I headed over to “Treat Yo’Self 2016,” a workshop about self-care. The session was very discussion-based, and we all suggested different ways we practice self-care–ideas for taking care of our bodies and minds, ways to improve our lives, learning to rest, connecting with our inner selves and finding peace, and ideas for simply feeling better. Treat yo’selves, ladies!
There was one more set of sessions to choose from before we met up again with Melissa Jordan for her closing session. These included: “Culture of Comparison: The Role of Social Media,” “Lessons Learned in the First Five,” “Roofies, Restraints, Rape Whistles, and Other Lies Law & Order Told Me,” and “Scatter Happiness Inside and Out.” By this time in the day, I wasn’t feeling the greatest, because the non-stop social interaction was toying with my anxiety a bit, so I went over to “Scatter Happiness Inside and Out,” hoping for a chill, mindfulness-based workshop–and I got exactly what I wanted! This session was presented through questions, asking our group if we ever talked to ourselves negatively (*raises hand*), if we ever second guess ourselves (*raises hand*), and if we ever acted without thinking (*I kept my hand in the air at this point*). If you struggle with your inner voice being an overly sassy little bitch sometimes, ask yourself, “Would I talk to a child the way I’m talking to myself right now?” Probably not. We ended this session with 10 minutes of guided meditation, and if you’ve never tried that…you need it in your life.
The conference came to a close with another session from Melissa Jordan. Although there has only been one other conference like this one at UNCW, I’m still sad I missed that one! Overall, it was a great experience, and I’m glad I was invited. Anyone interested in next year’s conference can contact CARE, or conference director Katie Vance.