Chicbusymom & ESSENCE Mommy Meet Up: The Debut

Where do I even begin? Well...a couple of weeks ago I sat down with several department heads at ESSENCE to discuss the possibility of doing a small intimate event that brought mommy bloggers together to discuss topics most important to them. The folks at ESSENCE also wanted to get to know the mommy blogger circle a little better--obviously I could help with that. Faster than you can click send on your email a partnership was built to create the first ever Chicbusymom and ESSENCE Mommy Meet Up.

It was my personal goal to make sure the event made the women feel comfortable and special instantly. First order of business...Cocktails! We got Svedka Vodka to come in and do a hosted bar with fun mommy inspired cocktails like, 'Who's Your Daddy?', 'Me Time', and  'Cuz I Said So' (the latter was the clear fan favorite).  I also ordered these awesome 'mommy' bracelets from Baubles by Meg (she did my chicbusymom bracelet that's currently my Instagram profile pic) for each of them, a delicious light lunch, and a cute gift bag. Next up, filling the room.

We created the invite with the #ESSENCEMoms hashtag and out it went. After one #superfail attempt to get everyone together due of course to busy mommy schedules we successfully gathered 15 (16 if you count me :-) of the top mommy bloggers from the Tri-State and DMV areas (#dustyourshouldersoff) for an afternoon chat.

One by one they descended upon the ESSENCE headquarters with the collective beauty, style, grace and fierceness of the women featured each month in the magazine's pages.  As they greeted me and each other with smiles and hugs it  became apparent that this was going to be a remarkable afternoon of sisterhood, sharing and learning.

It was so nice to meet many of the women I had been talking to on Twitter and Instagram for some time now. We talked about education, balance (or lack there of) and me time, handling mommy guilt, how important it is to have a network of mothers around to talk to, and making sure we don't forget our partners amongst other things. It was an intimate, eye-opening experience that left us all wanting to know when the next Mommy Meet Up would be.

Again, I thank you all for coming out and peeling back the layers. Of course being the social media mavens that we are we set the #ESSENCEMoms hashtag on fire via all our channels. Yesterday alone I got over 100 Instagram friend requests and of bunch of people wanting to know how they could join the conversation. Wow, can you believe it?!

Keep reading for a photo recap of this awesomeness (yep made that up but I do that sometimes). Special shout out to ESSENCE house photographer Michael Rowe for our group shot-thank you!!! It appeared yesterday on the @essencemag Instagram page.

These lovely flowers filled the conference room

Svedka Vodka menus featuring our mommy inspired drinks.

Signage, ESSENCE glasses and Svedka cocktails. 

I can't take credit for this shot, totally grabbed
it from LosingCity's Instagram. 

Gina from MommyPosh, and Scherrie of Thirtymommy
and myself strike a pose. Looks like happiness.

The 'mommy' bracelets become an instant hit. I
grabbed and collage these shots from Instagram.

I love this shot of SmartNSassyMom,
MomsNCharge and myself.

Sheree of SmartNSassyMom, Christine of MomsNCharge
and Tomika of My Mom's Neighborhood.

Name tags with everyone's name, website and Twitter 
handle made it easy for us to tag each other properly 
via social media and connect in the future. 
Of course I spelled Sheree's name wrong (so sorry!!!)

And finally, we closed the day with 
this awesome group shot. Beautiful right?!!!

Again to the fantastic moms, aunts, editors, photographers (@michaelrowephoto) and bar peeps (@ellenybk and @jasonlittrell you win!), I thank you.

#EssenceMoms Mommy Meet Up roll call:

@MommyFactor

@MMNeighborhood

@TheGetFitDiva

@SmartNSassyMom

@NYStateofMom

@OMGhada

@AfropolitanMom

@ThirtyMommy

@Sofamilyonline

@TraceyChambersVI

@IbiZoboi

@BeautyandtheBump

@MommyPosh

@MomsNCharge

@BklynActiveMama

Special thanks to: @Losingcity, @LangevineTres, @DawnieWalton, @Jladygirl, and @Creneh


Smooches,
Chicbusymom