Early this year when I launched my blog, I wanted to strengthen my connection in the blogger community. Far more than just a marketer who can collaborate with a blogger but as one – it only made sense. But to my disbelief, it is quite hard to find the ones in Toronto and even worst in the west-end of Toronto (For those of you who do not know that is where I am from!). So I thought, how about finding them and bringing them all together? Hey, I know our friends down south who do this regularly. You would be surprised how many meetups they do weekly or even daily!
When this idea came to mind, I only thought of one amazing and wonderful woman, Chanèle McFarlane from @dowelldresswell, to make this idea happen. On Saturday, August 6, 2016, it came true for both of us!! We successfully hosted our first-ever event. I won’t take all the credit though, Chanele truly made this idea come to life! The great thing about our bizfriend relationship is we both compliment each other. It almost feels like a perfect marriage.
Chanele and I met at a blogger conference last year and built an instant connection. Besides we have tons in common! I encourage you to check out dowelldresswell.com for career and style recommendations.
What is idEATe?
i·de·ate (ˈīdēˌāt/) v. form an idea of; imagine or conceive.
idEATe is a bi-monthly networking event in Mississauga for young professional women working in the marketing and social media space. We come together for an intimate and lively discussion about our careers and side businesses to share ideas and experiences, form collaborations and of course, eat a delicious meal.
Share ideas. Eat. Build your network. (Get where the idEATe name comes from now?)
Take a peek of our last sold out Eventbrite page.
The Most Awaited Saturday Morning
We decided for our first #ideate Networking Lunch will be exclusive and we hand-picked eight amazing women in the west-end area to be in the same wrong together. Little did we know that it was just the beginning! At one way or another, I felt like they all knew each other in the past or maybe our experiences in marketing and social media space brought us all closer together.
For this event, we chose the topic of work/life balance. It is a topic that we all share, bloggers or not. To start our #ideate events on the right foot, it’s only fair to talk about what work/life balance is about. The ladies shared their ways, tips, and even pains. We all get the late nights, early mornings, non-stop work and of course, asking for a table near the natural light so our photos come out in the best quality (I’m guilty of this. This is also the reason why we picked the Breakwater Restaurant as a venue!).
Love how we all got up & took photos quickly. We did not feel weird at all – it just felt normal and I food did not turn cold either..
Pedicure in a jar. Talk about work/life balance. How do you treat yourself to a relaxation?
For about two hours, we were all family. Chanele and I were so inspired by each and every one of the attendees and felt as though we were able to have such meaningful conversations. Each of us brought something unique to the table.
L-R: @Jennifermjoseph, @mahoganeyjones, @nikitafra, @dowelldresswell, @jemcastor, @hackingdigital, @ellaprettyblog, @navneetr, @nellecreations, @dee_sik
The Future Holds True…
We learn from our first-ever networking lunch and hope to build it in a more exciting way. We aim to open this up to more marketing and social media individuals in the west-end area, and hopefully connect a larger group together.
Who knows maybe we can have restaurant or gift bags sponsors in the future. Really, though, for those of you who are interested in that, be sure to reach out to us!
We look forward to our next event soon.
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