I Attended Selfmade Summit 2023 & Left Feeling Empowered & Inspired
Aleena Malik is a freelance writer specializing in entertainment and pop culture stories, shopping and style trend reporting, and food and recipe hacks. Aleena has written for publications like Brit + Co, Screen Rant and We Got This Covered and has worked for The Walt Disney Company and Estee Lauder. She is an avid reader, a passionate consumer of entertainment, and a total coffee connoisseur.
As women, it's so important to have a community behind us that supports us in our hustle and goal-chasing. After attending Selfmade Summit 2023, I learned that this community not only exists, but it's also even better than I could have imagined. The experience was truly transformative for me and my fellow attendees, as we were reminded of the power we each hold and gained invaluable knowledge and insights from successful women who truly have it all.
At the summit, we were given the opportunity to hear from Brit Morin, the driving force behind Selfmade and founder of Brit + Co! A mother of three and a true self-made entrepreneur, Morin spoke candidly about her journey to success. She shared that she fell in love with technology at just 9 years old (!) and carried that with her throughout her career.
Throughout her conversations with the group, she dropped a number of pieces of wisdom that really stuck with me. Two standout things that she shared were:
- Self-made isn't about figuring it on your own.
- Women supporting women makes the world a better place.
While being a "girl boss" and trying to climb the ladder of success can feel like an isolating and lonely experience, Morin made sure to remind her listeners that it doesn't have to be. Building your village and then leaning on it is actually one of the best things you can do for yourself and will pay off big time!
This idea is actually reflected through the very essence of Brit + Co, too. She briefly touched on her inspiration for the name, explaining that she wanted it to be a place where "a woman named Brit is teaching you things." but there's also an entire community of women who are there to share their experiences and life learnings as well.
We also had the chance to hear from a special guest, Danyel Surrency Jones. She's the Co-Founder and former CEO of a company called POWERHANDZ, which provides athletic gloves and sports training equipment. She shared her inspiring and remarkable journey and how she leverages technology for her and her company's success. One of my favorite Surrency Jones noted was that we are all "only as strong as the community and network we make," truly bringing everything from the event together.
An extremely impactful part of the day for me was hearing from the Selfmade Pitch Day winners. Their stories of how they applied the principles of business growth and learned from the women who came before them were inspiring to say the very least. They shared practical insights and strategies that felt applicable to my own life and journey and my fellow attendees shared the same sentiment.
Finally, we wrapped up the day with a mini-workshop from Verizon's Small Business Digital Ready program. It was very engaging and gave us all the opportunity to speak up and apply what we had learned that day.
Throughout all of the learnings from this summit, my key takeaway was that success is not a one-woman game. Being willing to put in the time to find a support system and be the support system for others is crucial. As women, we need to be our own biggest allies and build each other up, so that we can all accomplish our goals and pave the way for future generations.
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Header image via Selfmade
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Aleena Malik is a freelance writer specializing in entertainment and pop culture stories, shopping and style trend reporting, and food and recipe hacks. Aleena has written for publications like Brit + Co, Screen Rant and We Got This Covered and has worked for The Walt Disney Company and Estee Lauder. She is an avid reader, a passionate consumer of entertainment, and a total coffee connoisseur.