MENT Conference
My dear friend, Carmeon Hamilton slid into my DM on Instragram and asked me would I be interested in attending the MENT Women’s Conference in Oxford, TN. She was offered 5 free tickets to the Saturday conference events to invite 5 women entrepreneurs of color. I am always humbled when people think of me to be a part of something. As I navigate these waters as a new business owner, I am eager to soak up as much information as possible. So without hesitation, I said yes I would love to attend.
I woke up early to drive the 75 minutes to Oxford. I was joined by Andrea of In Search of Our Gardens as we entered the building to check in and receive our swag bag. Breakfast was next on the program which was provided by Grit. We sat with Carmeon and Kim of KP Fusion. We were soon joined by the rest of the Memphis crew that consisted of Alison Manning, Cristina McCarter of Walking Plate and Feast & Graze, Tierra Dishmon of Collections by TDish. Alison coined us the Bad Bosses of Memphis. I will take that!
The Bad Bosses of Memphis
Sara Smythe of Lagniappe and Anne-Marie Gordon of Cicada created this conference to bring women together as a pathway to grow their mindset around their respective businesses. There were 5 topics on the main stage at Lyric Theatre that ranged from Career DevelopMENT, MENTal Health, Brand EnhanceMENT,and InvestMENT. There were several panelist that discussed their experiences with each of the topics. The information that was shared will help each person to further navigate their career paths.
Anne Marie-Gordon of Cicada
After lunch, we headed for our breakout sessions. I decided to join Carmeon to hear more about her advice around social media. She discussed how to grow your followers, how to get brand endorsements, etc. The knowledge she so graciously shared was immediately put into practice. It was an intimate setting where we could ask questions freely.
After the breakout sessions, I participated in one more panel discussion before heading back to Memphis for my dad’s 60th birthday dinner. This was truly a great experience to be able to network with other like-minded women. I am looking forward to next year’s conference.