I am still celebrating my first anniversary year and showing photos from the year that was in Social Media. Last Spring, we all came out of the woodwork, which made for a hectic social media season. Yes, all these people we tweet or chat with are really not imaginary!
My first invite came from the royal bloggess, Ronda Carman, of All The Best Blog for the Sferra Lose Count Party at Mrs. Howard’s in Atlanta. As most of us know, she is the brand ambassador for Sferra Linens . The charming Texan (based in Scotland) seems larger than life with her topping the blog charts and being privy to the lifestyles of the world's most admired style makers. When you meet Ronda, her unaffected charm will immediately draw you in and you will be delightfully disarmed by her graciousness. She has remained detached by the madness and trappings that come with being a celebrated blogger. Her class act transcends well to her writing and new venture, All The Best Portfolio , a brand building by design company, that she launched this year.
Ronda Carman
I was beyond excited to meet Atlanta's bloggerati.
Shameeka Ayers of The Broke Socialite, Blayne Beacham, Claire Watkins of CWID and High Gloss Blue, Christi Holcombe of Charm Home, Erika Ward of BluLabel Bungalow
Molly, Jenny Andrews of MFAMB , Erika Ward, and
Shani Gilchrist of Camille Maurice from Columbia, SC
I used to live near Mrs. Howard's in Charlotte and every visit was like a plush pick me up . Not expecting any less from the Atlanta outpost, I felt like I wanted to dress the part that day by juxtaposing high and low. I shopped in my closet and came up with a beautiful beaded top from Lesage that one of my best friends, Garrison Rousseau, gave me. I matched it with a Prada-esque lace skirt (inspired from Fall 2008 RTW) from Kohl's, West Palm Beach. A fab find to mark my first pop into the store. I completed the look with another new discovery this year, Kelsi Dagger, by the same designers of Pour La Victoire. I wore the heck out of them all Spring and Summer from High Point, New York, and Cebu. These plat heels rate high in glam, comfort, and price.
You can listen to, Aaron Stewart- Sferra's Creative Director, here as he unravels the thread count quandary. I have been a fan of Sferra and it was one of the little details that attracted me to the SNUG partner. His thread count knowledge counterbalances his penchant for wearing nice but sometimes, holey cashmere sweaters. Pro photos from All The Best Portfolio here. The photos below are from Mrs. Howard's website, the perfect setting for the Lose Count party.
A week after, we were invited by Dr. Richard Bennington, chair of the Home Furnishings and Design Department, at High Point University to be part of the Social Media panel. High Point University has been ranked as one of the top 610 colleges and universities across the country in the list, "America's Best Colleges," created by Forbes.com. This places HPU in the top 7 percent of the 6,600 higher-education institutions throughout the United States. Dr. Nido Qubein, president of HPU, credits the tremendous growth in academics and campus facilities. It is ranked by US News and World Report No. 5 among comprehensive universities in the South and No. 1 in its category among up-and-coming schools.
Dr. Richard Bennington
Leslie Carothers, of The Kaleidoscope Partnership, gave the keynote speech and a peek of What's Next in Social Media. Some of the tech information was bewildering for a tech challenged person like me to remember. Watching Leslie's presentation and how she weaves everything together further confirmed that there is no dynamo like her in the furniture industry when it comes to social media.
It is exciting to be part of this paradigm shift and apply these tools in our personal and business matters. I was part of the panel that she moderated representing furniture manufacturing, Wanda Horton of Interior Concepts by Wanda representing interior design, Christy Brown of FurnitureLand South representing retail, Nick Iauco of Brand Intelligence Group who does social media for other sectors.
HPU students gave the audience a quick 411 on the different Social Media applications
High Point Market is fast approaching...We started off with a small tweetup at the Soicher Marin showroom co-hosted by Tobi Fairley and Wanda Horton last Fall. There were about 10 of us, got too busy talking that we hardly took photos.
John Strauss makes these beautiful business card holders,perfect for gifts.
Last April, Designer Detective Shay Geyer (@designershay) of IBB Design Group and Good Morning Texas design expert, asked Wes Kennedy and I to co host the tweetup with her at Global Views. This time, there was more dazzle, just the way they do it in Dallas.
Shay Geyer and Erin
Remote Stylists Kelly (@kellyfallis) and Matt
Traci Zeller and Jackie Von Tobel
Wes, Shay and I
(and yes, I totally intended to blend with the interiors and
maxed out my fave turquoise and gold combo)
One of the most coveted invites last Market was House Beautiful's Southern Supper 2 weeks into Newell Turner's editorship. The invitation still stated, 'Stephen Drucker requests the pleasure...."
Barry Dixon and HB Publisher Kate Kelly Smith
heralding Newell Turner's birthday
heralding Newell Turner's birthday
Tobi's Mom, Interior Designer and HB March cover
Tobi Fairley, HB Editor in Chief Newell Turner
Barry Dixon, gentleman and interior designer extraordinaire
with the ladies
here with Thom Filicia
Withit Networking Party
Stephanie Lowder, Withit President and President of Rare Bird Creative
and Natura World's Communication Director Julia Rosien and fellow Withit board member
Cindy Williams, VP of Retail Strategy for Info Retail and
Withit VP for Membership
Lizzy Freundel, Director of Marketing Communications and Innovation
for Theodore and Alexander
Kathy Wall, President of The Media Matters and Withit Ambassador
Leslie Newby, principal of Brand Communications Inc with Stephanie
talented interior designer Julie Browning Bova aka @jbint ,
Lizzy Freundel, and I
Alright folks, I'm partied out recording everyone from Left-Right but I did this for 6 years at one point in my life. Hope the memory exercise will aid me through the years. A couple more anniversary posts coming up then I'm done celebrating :-)
