Girl Powered: My Five Career A-Ha! Moments From SXSW

I thought I was going just to speak on a panel A panel with five other powerhouses at the place for all bizminded girlamp8217s girls the Ipsos Girlsamp8217 Lounge at SXSWInstead I went and got my life changed for the better on and off micHere were my five biggest career AHa moments of the weekend plus one extra for good luck1 True success is inclusive The thing that blew me away most about everyone at The Girls Lounge was how open and downtoearth they were It was truly like talking to close girlfriends aunts cousins sisters etc The breadth of success in the room every single day was nuts weamp8217re talking major VCs CEOs CMOs experts in their field it was like a reallife lovechild of one of those 100mostinfluentialwomeninbusiness lists and one of those 30under30upandcomingentrepreneurs listsAnd yet there was no ego or hierarchy I realized that success doesnamp8217t put you above anyone else It allows you to connect with others on a very deep level When youamp8217re not trying to prove your worth or status itamp8217s really attractive to others amp8211 and moreover it fuels your own selfrespect No matter where you are in your career if youamp8217re inclusive and not exclusive youamp8217re already succeeding amp8230 even if you donamp8217t realize it yet2 Forget networking focus on friend netting I spent almost all of my time at The Girls Lounge because the women I was meeting were people I was bonding with on a very real level about things that barely had to do with business Like really does attract likeIamp8217ve got to be honest I donamp8217t attend a lot of typical amp8220networkingamp8221 events No I donamp8217t stay home and play Friends roulette with a bowl of kettle corn in my lap at least not every night but my time and freedom are two of my most valuable assets And itamp8217s because most of the time I donamp8217t feel like my time is best spent fakingittillImakeit on a purely superficial level It reminds me of the times I would want to get amp8220inamp8221 with the popular girls at school but they ditched me once they found out I was you know humanMy boyfriend Jeremy is my same personality type and is a whiz at what I used to think of as networking One day I commented amp8220Youamp8217re a genius at this How do you work this magic of yoursamp8221 And thatamp8217s when he introduced me to the world of friend netting viewing amp8220businessamp8221related conferences and events as a place to discover new friendships Instead of focusing on talking to the amp8220rightamp8221 people or amp8220enoughamp8221 people friend netting is about having those one or two really authentic conversations with people you feel like youamp8217d actually hang out with in real life Because surprise good people like to do business with other good people not with their good business cards or resumes3 Its okay to stay in and recharge even if everyone else is out and about SXSW is kind of like that week before you start college and all the events organizations and parties are happing simultaneously and at full force Imagine that but bigger Much much bigger There are panels conferences workshops concerts screenings happy hours dinners and things I donamp8217t even know how to start to describe going on until like 3 amWhen you find yourself in situations like this when seemingly everyone is socializing and there seemingly is opportunity everywhere itamp8217s so easy to pressure yourself into running around like a banshee banshees that run to attend every single point of interest and meet as many people as possible Iamp8217ve fallen into that trap before and was determined not to let it get the best of me this time around Turns out staying in reflecting and getting a full nine hours of sleep made it possible for me to bring my Aplus game to every interaction I had over the weekendWhen you take the best care of yourself for you you can be your best self for others Everyone is different the trick is being honest with what kind of selfcare you need to bring your gameface to the world You will meet who you are supposed to meet and be where youamp8217re supposed to beNetnet thereamp8217s nothing wrong with spending the night with a Whole Foods salad bar box on your bed and a Kevin James movie marathon on TV4 Authenticity is worklife balance The very first question Amanda asked all of us was amp8220What is the one quality that makes you your most authentic selfamp8221 A deceptively tough question What is it that makes Katie Katie no matter where she goes or what she does What is my personalityamp8217s through lineMy most authentic quality is that my soul is 72 but my spirit is 7 My authentic self is unbridled deepreaching enthusiasm Iamp8217m playful on the outside soulful on the inside Young in my heart but old in my bloodIamp8217ve been told in many instances I amp8220needamp8221 to tone down my enthusiasm or play it cool but by navigating those instances and tapping into the nuances of why Iamp8217m the way I am Iamp8217ve developed a life I love that feels balanced to me at least at this point in time I say yes to where I can be me and no to where I absolutely canamp8217tSome people might define worklife balance by the external things working a job and being a mom having time for hobbies and taking care of your health stuff like that But what I realized this weekend is that no matter what your external looks like if youamp8217re acting from your authentic self at all times your own personalized version of worklife balance will fall into place5 Share and share alike success isnamp8217t built on being stingy The mastermind behind this entire shindig Shelley Zalis one of the most well respected women in business today I got to bond with women Iamp8217ve admired for ages meet new sources of inspiration and friendnet all kinds of new genuine friends No matter how incredibly successful these women were they were all open about their process at the ready with advice and took othersamp8217 words of wisdom to heart Everyone had something to teach and everyone had something to learn The more externally amp8220successfulamp8221 the person the more of an open book they wereOf course we all have a threshold and Iamp8217m not in any way advocating being without boundaries The main point is Success is built on collaborative generosity We are all so uniquely different and if we can help lift each other up then thatamp8217s when we can make real change As Shelley said on one of the panels amp8220If weamp8217re all the same then why does there need to be so many of usamp8221 We can all fight for a collective cause yet itamp8217s the nuances we bring to the table that are actually going to change the worldOh and the Girl Scouts Well at the very end of our panel a troop of Austin Girl Scouts hung around to chat Out of the blue one of them stopped me on my way out and exclaimed amp8220Ok I just gotta say you are like really beautiful Really really beautifulamp8221Besides my heart melting right onto the floor hello emotional puddle of love what struck me was how eager she was to compliment me If sheamp8217s instinctively uplifting others at fourteen years old imagine what sheamp8217ll be doing once sheamp8217s twenty Or thirty That to me was the biggest AHa of them all That change is happening right here right now The more we give the more we getThe opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaBizBloggerscom management or associated bloggers MediaBizBloggers is an open thought leadership platform and readers may share their comments and opinions in response to all commentaries

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Girl Powered: My Five Career A-Ha! Moments From SXSW

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