On July 27th, 2013 Her Campus hosted its second annual National Intercollegiette Conference in New York City. Sponsored by Intel, the conference is a chance for Her Campus team members from all over the country (and overseas!) to meet up and witness a handful of workshops and panels led by inspirational individuals. This year, our chapter’s founder Suzzette Martinez, and I attended the conference and had a great time, not to mention an unforgettable experience.
After running in heels to catch the subway, Suzzette and I made our way to Convene at 730 3rd Avenue in Midtown, where the conference was to take place. Upon arrival, we were shocked to see a couple of hundred other Her Campus team members from chapters nationwide. After registration, we were handed awesome goodie bags with free stuff from the conference’s sponsors including Amtrak, LeSportsac, Josie by Natori, Merck, BCBGeneration, Fossil, and Intel.
It was already 8:30 am, and it was promising to be a great day ahead. We walked over to the breakfast bar and had yummy croissants, pastries, fruits and yogurt, along with coffee and juice. The day was to be divided into panels, keynotes, and workshops. We heard from designer Josie Natori, founder of Josie by Natori and Jackie Livindini, CEO of Livindini and Co. During lunchtime we heard from Fran Hauser, President of Digital, Style & Enterntainment and Time, Inc. Our afternoon keynote speaker was Nikki Nash, Manager for U.S consumer campaigns at Intel.
The panels our chapter attended were “Jobs in Marketing and PR: How to Break In”, “Does the Devil Really Wear Prada? Life In An Entry-Level Position” and “Mapping Out Your Future: Plan It Forward”. The best part about these panels was that it felt like they were speaking to us one-on one: they gave us words of advice, encouragement and pointers on how to plan our lives, from everyday things to long term goals.
Apart from the panels, we were treated to some more yummy food at lunchtime catered by Chiptole! We munched on tacos and salads, raided the BCBGeneration sample sale and bought some more goodies at the HerCampus shop kiosk. We got the chance to play around with some Intel Ultrabooks, and became a part of the Merck Campaign, promising to Plan It Forward.
During the afternoon, we attended a workshop led by Brittany Lewis called “Content and Cupcakes – Chapter Building 101” where she gave us pointers on how to create the best chapter possible. At the end, she surprised us with some delicious cupcakes from Magnolia Bakery!
Afterwards came a screening of ‘Girl Rising’, a moving film about the lack of education and hardships girls have to struggle with in third world countries. And then, before we knew it, the conference was over. I would definitely say one of the top highlights was being able to introduce ourselves to Windsor Hanger, Annie Wang and Stephanie Kaplan, the founders of Her Campus as well as to Taylor Chartier, Brittany Lewis, Michelle Lewis and Grace Cho, members of the Executive Team.
All in all, I can say for sure that the Her Campus National Intercollegiette Conference was an amazing experience shared with a wonderful group of talented ladies. Can’t wait for next year!
*The pictures were taken from:
Her Campus Intercollegiette Conference Album
Ana M. Báez Facebook Page