I’m finally getting back to real life since my annual event. It was full of love, sisterhood, self-care and networking…..just what the doctor ordered 😉

Our media and blog partner was The Lux Blog, and they blessed us with a recap of the event. I have a free prize for the first person to repost this blog post, including the Lux Box from the kind folks at The Lux Blog (owner Kimberly Knight). It includes A The Lux Blog t-shirt, a journal, and a complimentary ticket to The Lux Blog NC Blog Conference & Mixer on Saturday, June 29th.

Go for it!

Abeba A. Goes To DocSwiner’s New Year, New You 2019

Written By: Abeba A.

Photo Credit: Lynette Lee of Write Productions

I kicked off my first conference of the year at an annual women’s conference created and hosted by physician and author Dr. C. Nicole Swiner (“DocSwiner”) on January 12th at the American Underground in Durham. In creating the event, DocSwiner said it was important for her to create a safe space for women to network , learn and relax. As an author, her book titled How to Avoid the Superwoman Complex, is a twelve step guide emphasizing the importance of self care, balancing mind, body and spirit.

Event Coordinator Raven Herndon said, “A lot of times we feel like we have to kind of carry the whole world on our shoulders. So what she is saying is, we can reject that whole superwoman complex, we don’t have to do that we are wonderful in who we are”.

On its fourth year of success, the New Year, New You conference featured speakers from different backgrounds sharing their story, music by DJ Big Fella and a special treat for attendees with Spa Utopia, a luxury mobile spa company.

The featured keynote speaker for this year’s event was the founder of MESS in a Bottle Kalilah Wright. Opening up about her journey, Wright began her entrepreneurial path while working as an architect. She said the first takeaway for anyone trying to start a business is, “don’t hustle backwards.” Wright realized this important step when she started her first business making custom baby furniture. She said it was to much labor and not enough profit. Later, she started another business painting on baby clothes. After a few inquiries from people wanting the designs on t-shirts, she had another realization, the t-shirts weren’t taking up to much of her time and she was making money. As she was spending more time planning her business, she had to make a choice between architecture and her new found business. In making this difficult decision, she gave herself a year to make it work and if it didn’t she would go back to being an architect. Looking back now, she said her architecture background has helped her throughout the designing process. The entrepreneurship journey hasn’t been easy for Wright but she continues to persevere. A few takeaways from her inspirational message to start the new year:

Don’t be afraid of the process
To level up, just start
Don’t hustle backwards
Be unapologetically you
Trust the process

If you have that business idea or something that has been on your list for a while, start it without hesitation. New Year, New You is the perfect way to start the year with some amazing women. Sometimes we all need that extra push to get started , relax and congratulate ourselves with each step.