Hi lovelies,

This past weekend I had the pleasure of being a panelist during BlushCon, an LA based celebration of all things youth and beauty featuring the best cosmetics brands from the United States, Asia, and beyond. Beauty lovers were able to listen to panel discussions and meet their favorite beauty influencers and brands.

My panel took place on January 13th, and the topic was, “How to Build Your Audience and Monetize It.” While prepareing for the big day, I knew that there were three that I needed to do in order to make my session a success. Please check them out below and let me know what you think!

#1: Prepare. Prepare. Prepare.

The first thing I did was go over the panel questions that I was sent prior to our session. I wrote out my answers on paper and then practiced saying them aloud. This way, once I was on the panel with the crowd and all of the lights, I would still feel confident and prepared because I would already know the talking points and message that I wanted to get across. There’s no substitute for preparation to build confidence while public speaking.

#2: Comfort. Comfort. Comfort.

Sitting on stage in front of a large crowd with cameras and lights can be a bit intimidating, so feeling confident in my own skin is super important when it comes to public speaking. That’s why I wanted to make sure that my outfit made a style statement while still being comfortable.

I opted to wear a vintage sequined jacket because I love, love sequins and paired it with a Up To No Good Distressed Tee by Tobi in white. Of course, I wore my signature Kate Spade black tights and brought along my Sandy Lisa Amalfi Shoulder Bag in beige to carry all of my stuff.

#3 Connect. Connect. Connect.

I made sure to not only connect with the audience and the people in the crowd, but I also made sure to connect with the other panelists. We laughed and shared stories prior to our session so we were able to work as a team while on-stage.

We also started following each other on Instagram and tagged each other when we posted about the event to make sure that we were supporting each other. It’s important to see your peers as collaborators and not as competition.