Create & Cultivate NYC Recap
Exactly 7 days ago, Flourish landed in NYC ready for a weekend jam packed with growth, excitement, fun + real-life engagement. Create & Cultivate was back in the city with the most Instagram worthy creatives/entrepreneur conference.
Before I go into more details here is a FAQ about Create & Cultivate.
ANYONE can attend! You don’t have to be a blogger, entrepreneur, small business owner, designer. Anyone can sign up!
The Conference isn’t always held in NYC. They have popped up in Miami, LA, Austin, Dallas, etc. You can sign up to be notified when the next city and date are announced on C+C website.
The conference lasts one day. It’s a long day—12 hours—but so worth it. There is typically a kickoff happy hour the Friday night before.
Each conference has two tracks and panels and mentor sessions for each track run simultaneously. Flourish had Track 1 —it was geared towards entrepreneurs and small business owners.
This Conference was full of inspiring speakers and even more incredible attendees. Throughout the day, I networked with an incredible amount of fellow women creatives and brands! We got to hear from some of the entrepreneurs and industry leaders that have been killing it for years (i.e. Martha Stewart, Tezza, Ashley Graham, etc.)
It may be cliche, but my favorite moment was obviously Martha Stewart.
She is the ULTIMATE boss woman. Martha is the epitome of ICONIC. As the first woman billionaire, there are unlimited reasons as to why Martha is an inspiration to many of us. What I mostly love is her is the “NO BS” attitude. During the panel where Founder of Create & Cultivate, Jaclyn Johnson asked, ‘Have you ever experienced Imposter Syndrome?’ and Martha answered ‘No, no! You shouldn’t even know that exists.’ Martha never let anyone or anything stand in her way and that is very clear in her success story.
Connecting with brands was also a highlight of the conference. The Flourish team met each sponsor individually.
From long-time favorites like LaCroix, Moroccan Oil, to brands that were new to me like Mural Cerveza and Ketel One. With every turn I was finding new beauty products, apparel companies, beverages and more. Below were a few of my favorites:
The primary reason I attended Create & Cultivate was to connect with other women and new brands hence using my networking skills. I consider myself a friendly and approachable person. Networking comes natural to me whether I’m introducing myself to a brand or attendee. Below are ways that I was able to find success throughout the day:
Keep initial script the same! Know in your mind how you’re going to start off the conversation beforehand. Ie: Hi! I’m Diana, what’s your name? Oh cool! What’s your company? Simple as that. Natural conversation will begin to flow after the first little awkward moment. Once you practice it so much, it won’t be awkward at all.
Exchange business cards. Business cards may be a thing of the past, but it is definitely a tell tale sign of someone being actually interested in a longer-term relationship. Key is to TAKE THEIR CARD. Establish as many connections and follow up immediately after the event. This will show assertiveness and professionalism as well.
Make it intentional.This is the most important. It’s not about how many people or companies you network with, it’s WHO you network with. Remember, quality over quantity.
Clearly it was a pretty busy weekend and it took a day or so for everything to sink in! Similar to Create and Cultivate, Flourish Media hosts an annual conference for women in business here in Miami FL (Feb 21-22). What makes us different is that we, welcome minority business women, provide investment opportunities, and award business scholarships! If you’d like to experience the same thing we did then make sure to snag your early bird ticket now!
