In January I embarked on a new little adventure. At that time I mentioned briefly in this space that I joined LuLaRoe as a fashion consultant, but I haven't talked about it much since then. Life has been busy! Basically it's a clothing company that makes wonderful modest, on trend, affordable, comfortable clothes for women and girls -- skirts, dresses, tops, and leggings. I have a huge inventory of those clothes in my house now (thank goodness for a spare bedroom!) and I bring it to ladies' homes where we have fun parties trying on the clothes and shopping. I need to write another post about the details of all that, but for now I wanted to share my recent experiences at the LuLaRoe National Convention 2 weeks ago.
For 3 days we gathered in Southern California for learning, inspiration, networking, and fun! And oh boy, those LuLaRoe folks sure know how to have fun!
I loved getting to visit the Home Office. They moved into this office in May and the big LuLaRoe sign went up on the building just 1-2 weeks before convention. Isn't it lovely? I went on a tour of the office and got to see all the great people who work there and encourage us over our weekly home office calls. The vibe running through the place is SO upbeat and positive I can tell it would be such a fun place to work everyday.
One of the best parts was getting to shop in the warehouse and pull my own order! Normally I order styles and sizes but I don't get to pick my prints because they are constantly changing! Here we were given 10 minutes (10 minutes!) to go through and pull as many pieces as we wanted. It was crazy - another 5 minutes would have been awesome - but it was so cool to see how the warehouse works, and especially to hand-pick the prints I wanted in my inventory. And a few pieces for me, of course. This neon pink number is making it's way into my closet.
That evening they held a pre-convention party / mixer and rented out a local amusement park. We had the place to ourselves! Cotton candy, thrill rides, go carts, mini golf, a carousel, photo booths. All kinds of fun!
The next two days were filled with classes and speakers. Lots to learn and to soak in. But around every corner there was some special detail or special touch that made it feel so inviting and fun.
One morning we started out with a dance party and learned "Awesome Tools for Being Awesome" from The Alison Show.
There was an instagram scavenger hunt going on throughout convention - you racked up points by completing assignments and posting them on instagram. One assignment asked you to take a selfie with someone you have never seen before. I grabbed the nice lady next to me in Styling class to take a selfie, and that evening at the gala dinner she was announced as a new member of the President's Council! I would have never known that she was so "high up" in the company because she was just as pleasant, friendly, and conversational as anybody else in the room. That's one thing I love about the LuLaRoe culture -- is this feeling of positivity, support, and overall love.
Here is Mark and Deanne - the founder of LuLaRoe - getting teary at the beginning of convention. She is such a fabulous woman and the heart and inspiration for everything that happens here. And her kids are just the kindest, most genuine people. (Most of them work for LuLaRoe).
There were several new styles released at convention and we each got one of those for free so that was awesome.
We got dressed up in our best LuLaRoe for the gala dinner on Saturday night. I loved it! I had bought myself some bright lipstick and new mascara (thanks mom for the Ulta gift card!) and a glitzy necklace to go with my outfit. So much fun to dress up!
See those puffy things hanging behind us? Clouds! Love the details!
A quick photo with Deanne before the party started. The other two ladies were my roommates for the weekend. Christine (left) lives in central California and and I was her sponsor when she joined LuLaRoe just about 6 weeks ago. It was so nice to get to hang out with her and get to know her better. Alleen (in black) lives right here in Vegas and in the team hierarchy of things she is my "grandma". :) She and I drove down to convention together which was also a great opportunity to get to know her better. These are both great women!
Hands down, my FAVORITE part of convention was the beach party. They picked us up on charter busses and drove us an hour to Huntington Beach State Park where the most beautiful beach party was awaiting us. I just about died and went to heaven. The set-up, the lights, the ocean backdrop, the live band, the sand on our feet . . . all kinds of HAPPY! Can you tell?
We ate great Hawaiian food, roasted s'mores, watched the sunset, danced under twinkling lights, and just basked in a wonderful, unforgettable evening.
After a week home I tried to pinpoint what made the week so special. So invigorating. So uplifting. There are many reasons but what it came down to is this . . . I felt like myself again. Unburdened, light, happy, playful, as if there were endless possibilities, and everyone I spoke to could have been a friend if we had more time.
A year ago I did not ever picture myself selling skirts. And even now I don't think of myself as a saleswoman. There is a lot of work involved but for what I do I feel like I get to be a provider of joy. I bring these skirts into womens' homes and watch them positively light up as they feel beautiful all over again (or maybe for the first time in a long time). And for this weekend I got to be a receiver of joy . . . filling up my bucket, just enjoying. It was a gift. And I am so thankful I got to experience it.
Want to know more about LuLaRoe? Shoot me an email at [email protected] or check out my Facebook page and Instagram feed (@lularoeshannonbrown)