What I Learned at Her Conference

Each summer, Her Campus holds a national conference in New York City. The conference gathers successful female speakers to empower hundreds of college women. Here’s what I took away from Her Conference 2018.

“Don’t let someone else’s scar tissue determine what you do in life.” – Jen Welker​

Jen Welker was my favorite speaker at Her Conference 2018. Being the first-ever female coach for the NFL, it was so inspiring to hear about her journey and how she got to where she is today. She spoke on the idea that if someone’s advice is to not follow a particular dream of yours, it’s probably coming from their place of pain and disappointment. Jen urged us to stop talking and “let the play” do the talking for us.

“Make better mistakes tomorrow.” – Keltie Knight, from The Lady Gang

The Lady Gang is a podcast with Becca Tobin, Jac Vanek and Keltie Knight. The trio invites celebrity guests to come speak on their podcasts to give the full truth of what their lives are like as a celebrity. These ladies spoke on their hardships and gave us so much advice. The Lady Gang wanted to empower women in anyway they could, so they decided to start a podcast for women, by women.

“I’d rather have you throw 1,000 darts at the wall than have you sit and plan for one dart.” – Samantha Fulgham​

I also attended quite a few panels where we had speakers from top companies come and talk to us about their life and how they got to the job they’re at today. This particular panel was how to kickstart your career in marketing and the panel was asked about how risk-taking can pay off.

“Every woman needs a ‘fuck off’ fund.” – Samantha Barry, Editor-in-Chief of Glamour 

Samantha Barry told us all about getting to where she was today, and how her position at Glamour isn’t just an editor job, it’s more of a social job. Samantha also spoke about how the May issue, “The Money Issue”, was important to her, and how every woman should have money set aside – because, let’s face it, we do not need to rely on men.

“The best thing I have done [on Instagram] is unfollow Instagram models and start following dogs.” – Jac Vanek, from The Lady Gang

The Lady Gang spoke about how they keep their self-esteem up while being in such a competitive business with so many beautiful women. They told us how it’s hard to be positive when you are constantly comparing yourself to other women on your social media – so Jac told us to stop following all of those accounts that make you feel bad and start following some dogs. Best advice? I think so. 

The conference is such an inspiring and amazing experience. If you haven’t been to it, girl, what are you doing?!

HCXO!

Image Credit: 1, 2, 3

• hc at iowa
• hc at uiowa
• HCXO
• her conference
• life lessons
• new york city