Have you ever just walked into a room and immediately felt inspired or excited for the future. Well, that's how I felt this weekend at the inaugural NABJLA Media Summit. NABJ stands for the National Association of Black Journalist and this is the Los Angeles chapter. The room was filled with black journalists, young and old, eager for opportunity and ready to network. This was the first event of it's kind here in Los Angeles and the first time I've ever attended an event like it.
It was a full day of networking and learning. The event started at 8 a.m and didn't end until about 6:30 p.m. There was a career fair with employers from various outlets like NBC, CBS, and Netflix. And there were so many sessions with topics ranging from broadcast journalism to public relations. I, along with my best friend Simone really took the opportunity to go to the sessions we really felt could help us further our knowledge and our skills.
But the session that impacted me the most, of the three that I attended, was the building your brand with Stacy Ike aka @onetakestace. She dropped some nuggets that I will be putting into practice when It comes to building my brand. For example, creating three words that convey the message of my brand, also coming up with brand attributes that I can use for an "elevator pitch", that moment when someone asks me what do I do or why should I work with you? Lastly, her definition of the grind really made me solidify that she is someone that I not only want to connect with for career reasons but also personally and pure relational reasons. She said "the grind is a game, a daily decision and the epitome of Faith it till you make it." She explained it beautifully in the video below.
Overall the event was so great. I went to two other sessions, one about an advance learning of the things Google can do, and the last about how to engage with your audience online.
I am so glad that I went to this event. One of the things I feel is my weakness is networking and this day I really stepped out of my comfort zone and connected with so many people. I was able to be unapologetically myself and encourage others in the process. Now that is what I call living life unLEESHed.
