International Women’s Conference

A few weeks ago, I was amazed, inspired, and excited by the stories of success of women as I attended the Women’s Business Association International Women’s Conference. This was my second time attending this women’s conference and this year’s panel discussions intrigued my interests a lot more than last year. I was especially looking forward to a panel on digital marketing. Call me a nerd but I’ve always loved self growth and learning. I love attending conferences being surrounded by likeminded individuals and being inspired by successful women, paving the way.  The Annual International Women’s Business Symposium  is hosted by the Women’s Border Business Center in El Paso, TX from 7:30 to around 3pm

Keynote Breakfast

The day began with a breakfast keynote speaker, Tina Aldatz, the founder of Foot Petals and Saavy Travelers, who gave us a major wake up call (pun intended) on how she started a business and became a self made billionaire by using her difficult past to her advantage and never giving up. She has unapologetically confident and brutally honest about working three times are hard a everyone else since she is a Mexican woman. She gave a reference of being resilient like a basketball- once a basketball hits the floor it bounces back with twice the amount of force as before. So when we are thrawn to  the floor, we need to bounce back stronger and faster than before.

Latinas in Tech Panel

Feeling ready to take on the world, I attended a Latinas in Tech Panel with Marcela Alava from Monarch Landscape, Carmen East from Prudential, Laura Gomez from Atipica, and Judy Torres from Altep. Who talked about the importance of diversity in the workspace. I was specially inspired by Laura Gomez who shared a story tear jerking story about her mom who immigrated to the US being so proud of her accomplishments in technology.

Blogging Panel

The blogging panel was one of the panels that I was the most excited to attend. The Panel consisted of local bloggers including Mariana Cantu, Lexi Johnson from The Style of Living, Mimi Sanchez and Jeannie Stringfield from Amongst Stringfields.

Key Takeaways

• When creating a blog it is so important to find a niche- find a problem that someone has and solve it. The more specific of a problem the easier it will be to resonate with your audience.
• If you want to start a blog the best thing to do is to just start, be fearless and bold.
• Content is the key to a successful blog, good valuable content that your readers will identify with and want to read.
• Always choose quality over quantity.
• Blogging is not easy, which is important to ask for help from other bloggers.

Digital Marketing Panel

The last panel of the conference was the Digital Marketing Panel with Lilia Castillo Jones from El Paso Times, Bianca Cervantes from Freedom Crossing, Tania Chozet from Metropia, Julie Summerfold from Hunt Companies, and Shana Whitener from Helen of Troy.

Key Takeaways

• When working in Marketing always stay curious. Marketing is an ever-changing field, so it is important to be adaptable.
• When creating a marketing campaign it is so important to understanding your audience.
• Make sure to measure each campaign, adjust and improve.
• It’s important to look at your competitors and how they are marketing themselves.
• If you work in marketing immerse yourself in the marketing world, take the selfies and use the filters!
• Create a culture of courage where it’s encouraged to try new things and it’s okay to fail.

This was such a great and inspiring conference watching women empower each other, feeling ready to take on the world.