INBOUND Conference Recap (aka that time we breathed the same air as Michelle Obama)

Last week, Michelle and I posted up in Boston to attend INBOUND, a massive marketing conference lead by HubSpot. The point of the conference was for us to learn more about HubSpot, grow our skills, and apply this new knowledge to our own HubSpot projects. However, in a surprising twist, the focus of the conference was actually on girl power and authenticity. Here’s our INBOUND conference recap.

While the majority of our days were spent in breakout sessions with marketing experts, the INBOUND team had an impressive lineup of keynote and spotlight speakers. We kicked off the week with Brené Brown, author and researcher on the subject of courage, vulnerability, empathy, and shame. She spoke on the importance of vulnerability and belonging, and how most of us need to reframe our idea of what belonging actually means. Despite wanting to conform to feel as though we belong, she emphasized the idea that we need to be true to ourselves to experience true feelings of belonging. To see what she’s all about, check out Brené’s TED Talk on vulnerability.

We also got to sit in on a conversation with Issa Rae and Brit Marling, who were interviewed by Josh Horowitz. Both Issa and Brit have created amazing shows that depict women in ways that often aren’t seen on TV. Although they’ve had different experiences getting to where they are, they both had the same approach: to be unapologetically themselves and to fight for their creative dreams. Hearing about their different paths to success and both of their commitments to staying authentic were super interesting.

Other great keynotes included Andy Cohen, Mario Batali, Jen Rubio (the founder of Away luggage), and Billie Jean King. We also got to enjoy some standup comedy from Tiffany Haddish and Judd Apatow. While very few of those people had anything in common professionally, and even fewer had ties to marketing, one common theme could be found through all of their presentations: authenticity. Regardless of their goals or current professions, each one of those people touched on how they stayed committed to their dreams and values while finding their way to success.

Now, any one of those people would have made this conference amazing. But the main event was Roxane Gay’s interview of Michelle Obama. We were only five rows from the stage (!) so we got to see both of these amazing women up close and personal. Michelle Obama was just as insightful, intelligent, and compassionate as you would expect her to be.

HUGE crowd for Michelle Obama

Michelle (we’re close personal friends now) spoke about her time in the White House with her family and how both she and Barack tried to make sure that their new address didn’t change who they are. Despite the incredible pressures and responsibilities of being the First Family, they placed a lot of importance on staying true to themselves. She also commented on how hard they worked to make sure their girls, Malia and Sasha, grew up as normally as possible, and part of that was making sure that the two of them as parents were as authentic as they could be.

Waiting for close personal friend, Michelle Obama, to show up

Of course, living in that environment would cause anyone to crack under the pressure. But, Michelle said that the challenges and hard times have taught her grace. Every misstep or mistake she has made in her life has taught her who she is and what’s important to her, something she encouraged all of us to strive for in our own lives. Honestly, we could have listened to her speak for the full three days and it still wouldn’t have been enough.

Literally, every one of the keynote and spotlight presenters touched on the importance of being exactly yourself. It was so inspiring and a reminder of how we should be developing ourselves both professionally and personally. So, moving forward, don’t be surprised to find us leaning into our personalities and quirks even more. We’re hoping to learn from our mistakes and use those experiences to become even more unabashedly ourselves.

Share:

More Posts

Attaching a wood fence to a chainlink fence

As I mentioned in my last fence/gate update post, I helped Erika attach a wood fence to the chainlink fence in her backyard. The process was similar to when I converted a chainlink fence to a wood fence, except in this case, we left the chainlink fence intact. This method is a good option if you want to add a little more privacy to your yard or camouflage a chainlink fence while you wait to save up for a completely new fence. 

Gift Guide: Indoorsy

Struggling to find gift ideas for your favorite people? We’ve got you covered with our And Then We Tried gift guide! First up: your friends and family who are decidedly indoorsy. While we can’t claim to be experts on much, things to buy people who like to stay inside is definitely in our wheelhouse.

and then we tried obsessions 10.19.18

Obsessions: 10.19.18

You wanna know what we have been decidedly NOT obsessed with in the past month? The blog. Womp womp. We’re hopping back in this week, but we’ll be posting a bit more sporadically for a while. Here’s hoping you all loved getting caught up on Michelle’s driveway gate plans yesterday. See what else we’ve been obsessed with in this week’s And Then We Tried Obsessions.

Fence Updates and Two-Panel Wood Driveway Gate Plans

Hellooooo, I’m thinking about fences again! You all had the pleasure of following along as I moved and rebuilt the fence in my backyard and then converted a chainlink fence into a wood fence along my driveway, and now it’s finally time to build that driveway gate. Of course, I can’t just build a driveway gate and leave it at that, I’ve also decided to cap the entire fence to cover up the dogear pickets and give everything a cleaner and more finished look. HOORAY!