Hi! It’s Tiffany and Danielle! You know, the #taudboss and director of communications! Fun fact. Did you know we’ve known each other for more than 20 years!? Ok, back to work.
You know we take the word “personal” very seriously. We make it personal, take our business personally and get personal with you all any chance we can get. And if you’ve been confused as to why we were running around NYC recently, read on to enjoy the get-personal goodness!
It was Thursday night, May 2, when we landed in New York City and went straight to our dear friend Dianna’s Williamsburg, Brooklyn apartment. She generously let us take over her space for the weekend. Exhausted and starved, we headed straight to eat and sleep. Well, we did manage to squeeze in some wine, too.
On Friday morning, still in pajamas and on our air-mattress, we prepped for the Mother’s Mercado lunch! Here's some background:
The Mom Economy is a non-profit and innovative movement that focuses on work-development programs for a new generation of mother entrepreneurs. Did you know that according to Forbes, about 30% of U.S. businesses are female owned, yet only 2% break $1 million in revenue?! So The Mom Economy partnered with e-commerce leader Shopify to find the most innovative mother-owned businesses and change the narrative of female-focused success stories. Enter the Mother’s Mercado 2019, a fun competition and mentoring program that culminated in one mompreneur winning a pop-up location at the coolest retail concept ever, Showfields in Soho.
Wait, what does this have to do with taudrey? We partnered with The Mom Economy to support the competing moms as they prepped for their big NYC showdown. Tiff even served as a mompreneur mentor! And on that Friday, we attended a celebration lunch and gifted pretties to all!
We delighted in the long and inspiring lunch at Bowery Road and loved the opportunities to get to know all of the excited mommas.
Following the lunch and a coffee-shop work session (just give us wifi and caffeine and we can run the world!), we met our Brooklyn #taudreygirl for happy hour at The Belfry (try the “alright, alright” cocktail!) and a delicious (and I mean seriously delicious!) dinner at Vic’s. We’re legit still thinking about the crispy sweet onions.
On Saturday morning, we were up bright and early for our second event with The Mom Economy! As part of the start of the Mother's Mercado competition, the team organized a media brunch event focused on encouraging female leadership and reimagining the retail spectrum. Guests were treated to an awesome panel featuring representatives from Microsoft, Chase, Motherly, and Shopify. And we were on hand to offer a live personalized jewelry station!
And before we left, we got to check out the competition set-ups for the Mother’s Mercado. And honestly, there’s nothing better than rooms filled with boss moms and their amazing businesses. You can check out the full list of the mom-owned companies here. And shoutout to the fabulous winner, TAJA Collection!
After leaving the Mother’s Mercado in Soho, we jumped in an uber and headed to Brooklyn for the grand finale, Create & Cultivate!
If you don't know about Create & Cultivate, let us just start by saying it's one of the best things ever and you need to learn more and get involved, STAT! Known for its focus on helping women "create and cultivate the career of their dreams," C&C is both an online community and traveling conference offering up everything you didn't know you wanted and needed from such. Each all-day conference features hours and hours of informative panel discussions, plus mentor sessions, networking opportunities, and endless activations, instragramable moments, good eats, bubbles, and most significantly, the best groups of inspiring women you'll ever find.
We had the chance to participate in sweet mentor sessions hosted by Francey Grund, the marketing guru for Chameleon Cold Brew, and Nicole Tollefsrud, who handles influencer development at ShopStyle Collective. Then, throughout the day, we learned from ridiculously impressive powerhouses, some of which we're naming below. We can't express how amazing it was to steal nuggets of knowledge from these rockstars. The word "inspired" just doesn't seem adequate.
- Kelsea Olivia Gaynor, the floral magician behind East Olivia.
- Bliss Lau, of her namesake fine jewelry line.
- Breezy Dotson, of our new favorite eyewear company, Coco and Breezy.
- Piera Gelardi, the star behind our long-time favorite, Refinery29.
- Shoe-designer legend Tamara Mellon. She started with a little company called Jimmy Choo.
- Jaime Schmidt, of naturals brand, Schmidt's.
- Powerhouse Deepica Mutyala, who is changing the beauty game with her all-inclusive brand, Live Tinted.
- Gwen Whiting, of eco-fabric-care brand, The Laundress.
- Anne Fulenwider, the editor of a tiny magazine you may know called Marie Claire.
- Oh, and some other gals you may have heard of by the names of Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Ashley Graham and Martha Stewart!
Not only did we get to hear from amazing women, many of which we've been following and admiring for years, but we even got to meet, greet and gift taudrey to some! These were major moments we'll cherish forever and for which we're endlessly grateful.
First up was Jaclyn Johnson, the fierce founder of Create & Cultivate. We're just in awe of all she's accomplished. We can't recommend Work Party (the name of her book and podcast!) enough, and being able to gift her a custom bangle and necklace was a dream. She also let us indulge in a few shameless selfies.
Then we got to meet and gift some custom stunners to Allure Magazine Editor Michelle Lee. We've been following her and worshiping her publication for years and it was truly an omg-is-this-really-happening moment. She was touched by the gesture and it was the best ever.
And then we got to chat with and gift taudrey to Designer Rebecca Minkoff. Considering we recently applied to be accepted to her Female Founder Collective, it was such a treat! She seriously could not have been sweeter.
We also had plenty of time to enjoy the conference's endless activations. We shopped, had aura photographs taken, delighted in freebies and beauty treatments, sipped rose wine beneath breathtaking floral installations by East Olivia, took a crazy amount of photos, and even had a video produced!
In our uber ride back to the apartment that night, our heads were spinning. And not from all the wine! Our minds were racing with concepts and inspiration. We felt proud, connected to a strong community of gals making moves, and excited to bring fresh ideas to life with taudrey.
The next morning, we stopped for chicken and waffles (shoutout to Pies -n- Thighs!) and headed back to Miami inspirationally refreshed and ready to churn out Mother's-Day-week craziness.
We work so hard to make this little business something great, and a thrilling weekend in New York City is just what we needed to get us ready to bring greatness to taudrey for the rest of 2019!
Thanks for your support of our journey and all the love!
xo, Tiff and D
