BPW

This weekend was a busy one. The NC BPW conference was held in Raleigh this year so I attended that on Friday and Saturday. I had a really good time and the trip was something I really needed. 

BPW, which is Business and Professional Women, is by far the club I enjoy being a part of the most. Everyone in the club is so supportive and nice and I enjoy being a part of the organization. It's the one place I feel I can be myself. The conference, which was attended by BPW clubs from all over NC was fun as well. Most of the women go and it's great to be able to go somewhere where there are lots of women and everyone get along and have fun. There are exceptions though and there were a few catty women at this year's event. But it was easy to ignore them with everyone else there. 

Last year, I was nominated to represent the Nashville Club as the Young Careerist. It was a scary thing but I was honored they chose me to represent them. I had to do a speech and interview and in the end, I didn't win. But I didn't mind. The girl who won truly was the best woman out of us all. I saw her again this year and I was reminded of why she was the winner last year. She's such a great, inspiring woman!  But this year's winner was our very own member. That was exciting! And she certainly was deserving of the win as well. I'm so excited! It was the perfect ending to the weekend. 

But more importantly than the conference was the fact that I feel like I made new friends and that's hard for me to do so I feel extremely blessed. It's really hard to have friends in the newspaper business but I've tried to put that aside. I have a job to do and sometimes my job may mean pissing someone off. I try to make friends that understand that. It doesn't mean they'll always agree but I know they respect that. I have a hard time making friends anyway. I just am not a very outgoing, social person. So this weekend was a stepping stone for me, just as last year's was. I think joining BPW was perhaps the best thing I've ever done for myself. It's made me a better person. 

Anyway, I finally got the scholarship letter from the woman. I think it looks good so hopefully this week, I can start getting things ready to roll and get some of these letters ready to be sent out. I'm hoping I can make some progress this summer on Jennifer's scholarship. I would like to have a good chunk of the money raised over the summer. 

I have a busy week ahead of me but I feel good about it. And I'm so excited to have Jennifer's scholarship going so well. I hope the money part goes well too!