What do you get when you combine love, sex, fashion, beauty, stress, and #careergoals? You get the colorfully curated Cosmopolitan FunFearlessLife day conference presented by Maybelline New York in partnership with #AcutallySheCan.
On Saturday, November 14, women from all over gathered at The Hearst Tower in New York City for a day long conference filled with motivation, style tips, and overall guidance to POWER UP, this year’s theme, your life. The second annual event rivaled its introductory year counterpart in the more exclusivity and intimate venue that felt more like a masters class than your standard suit and tie conference. Women from a variety of backgrounds and career fields united with one common thread: we were all there to connect and feel empowered. Both of which I’m sure was achieved.
This was my first year attending this year since I found out about it too late to attend the year prior. I will say I was pleasantly impressed by the caliber of speakers that spoke at this conference and the level of organization this event had. The day started off with Cosmo’s boss lady/Editor-in-Chief Joanna Coles welcoming us all to the event followed by a keynote interview with funny gal Chelsea Handler. She talked about leaving E! and knowing how to make the tough, and often best decisions, when it comes to your career. Next up, the girls of Fifth Harmony took the stage and gave career/life advice. For a group that seems so larger than life on stage I was shocked to see that they were so nervous to speak in front of the captivated group of women going to prove we’re all not so different as it seems.
The day continued with powerful testimonials from ‘Black Lives Matter’ co-founder Opal Tometi, Orange is the New Black actress Laverne Cox, YouTube Star and Fashion Designer Bethany Mota, and a lesson in branding from ‘Leave Your Mark’ author aka DKNY PR Girl Aliza Licht. Lunch followed the amazing morning of speakers. During the break guests were treated to make overs or make-up touch ups from the fab Maybelline New York team. Guests could get a fashion illustration done from Veronica Miller or Denise Elnajjar (hey Denise!) in partnership with #ActuallySheCan, you could get your own Cosmo cover, submit a confession to the mag, and so much more!
Following lunch, more speakers like Adam Rosante coached us all about being fit, Matthew Hussey shared tips on dating and love, style experts shared how to speak through your clothing, Stacy London spoke on the importance of powering down, Ivanka Trump talked being a boss in the boardroom, Alicia Quarles preached the importance of hustling hard, and Gabrielle Bernstein gave testimony on tapping into your authentic self. A day of fun ended with a tear-jerking performance from Rachel Platten (“Fight Song”) and a networking cocktail hour.
If you missed this year, or the year before, I strongly urge you to come to this conference. It’s a small investment in your future and you get so much out it, granted to do some work and work the room. You will leave this event feeling empowered, your focused will be realigned, and you’ll leave with some amazing contacts. It’s so worth the time
Take away quotes from #FunFearlessLife
“The great thing about being a fun and a fearless woman is that you don’t have to actually be fearless. You don’t have to be fearless because you can be brave.” – Kelly McGonigal
“The best things in life is radically simple” –Adam Rosante
“When you change your physical state you can change your emotional state. I always say this: motion creates positive emotion” –Adam Rosante
“Presence really is about power.” –Amy Cuddy
“If you want to be more approachable you have to approach.” – Matthew Hussey
“It’s not enough just to have standards. You actually have to exercise them with the men you like.” –Matthew Hussey
“If you’re comparing your everyday real life with somebody’s highlight reel from Instagram with filters, and Facetune, and Visco, and whatever other apps there are then you’re going to feel pretty crappy and that is not a way to walk around and be your best self. That’s not how you’re going to be fun and fearless.” – Stacy London
“A win-win is ok. A win-win is great because when people don’t understand the concept of win-win it’s often that they assume that the other person values the same outcome the same way they do.” –Ivanka Trump
“Whether you’re doing print, whether you’re doing TV, if you understand what the camera person’s doing, what somebody’s running .com is doing, don’t ever think that you’re too good to do something. It’s all skill set, it’s all learning. So I think that people see the glitz and glam but they don’t know you have to be really intelligent to have longevity.” – Alicia Quarles
“In the words of Rick Ross the boss, ‘hustle hard, hustle, hustle real hard.’ Nobody’s going to hustle for you like you, right? So don’t worry and wait for that boss to promote you, promote yourself. Work hard, do you.” – Alicia Quarles
“There’s no rules, you can do anything. You just honestly have to imagine it first and then you have to follow through and do the work and believe in yourself.” – Rachel Platten
“Use your breath as one of the most powerful tools to connect back to your authentic truth.” – Gabrielle Bernstein
“Allowing yourself to be in the experience that you are genuinely having gives you the freedom to let it go.” –Gabrielle Bernstein
“Embrace yourself and ask yourself the really hard questions.” – Joanna Coles
Check out some photos I snapped at the FunFearlessLife conference below. If you attended this year, please share your thoughts in the comments below.
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