Where do we begin to describe this unbelievable event?! The Hammersmith Support team had an absolutely amazing time at the TN Women Connect LIVE event – it was exciting to participate in our first event in Tennessee since opening our Nashville office earlier this year. You may remember this event from our post highlighting TN Women Connect founder, Lucy Miller, and now we’re excited to share all of the fantastic details with you!
Loveless Cafe Barn
We would be doing a huge disservice if we didn’t first highlight the location of the event! The Loveless Cafe has an absolutely stunning barn that has been converted into an event space. Goodbye straw and horses, hello rolling doors that open the entire side of the barn to the lush landscape just outside! And the food…the food! There are not a lot of women’s conferences that would be brave enough to serve fried chicken, biscuits, and homemade cobbler, but we are SO grateful they did! Everything we ate was amazing, delicious, and the perfect Nashville welcome.
Speakers
The theme of the event was Fearless, and wow did the speakers deliver on that theme!
Britney Campbell
Britney Campbell of HER Bank, a division of Legends Bank, emceed the day. Britney shared how seeing female small business owners struggle with the banking system while trying to navigate the tedious and complicated world of the Paycheck Protection Program during the early days of the pandemic led her to create a division of the bank dedicated to doing business with women.
Gigi Butler
Gigi Butler, the founder of Gigi’s Cupcakes, was the keynote speaker. Gigi shared her story of how she created a business that she eventually sold for upwards of $6 million. Her story started with aspirations of being the next big country music star and how she cleaned houses to make ends meet. One day she overheard a client’s daughter singing – she was incredible! It was at that point that Gigi realized she likely didn’t have the talent or treasure to make a career in the music industry work.
With an idea from her brother, Gigi leveraged every available dollar on her credit cards to open her own cupcake store. Against all odds – including a landlord who refused to rent Gigi her dream location and the bank not wanting to loan to a cupcake baker – Gigi’s doors opened daily to a line around the corner! The business grew to include franchises around the country and eventually sold, giving Gigi the springboard to go on to the next big thing. While that “thing” is still to be determined, Gigi shared that the only way to do something great is to trust in God’s plan and be fearless in your pursuit.
Oh, and the client’s daughter who was the amazing singer? Just happened to be Taylor Swift….!
Social Media, Podcasts, Photography, and More
We also loved hearing from Csilla Muscan of Speak to Scale talk about public speaking as well as how to “speak” through your business social media. Brooke Webb of KB Styled and Shop Kristen Brooke discussed selling and marketing through social media. We enjoyed the process Elizabeth Evans discussed for time management, productivity, and podcasting too. And the entire event was photographed by Amy Allmand Photography, who we had the pleasure of meeting when she shot our Nashville office and team!
Hammersmith Support Booth
Not only were we excited to hear the speakers at TN Women Connect LIVE but we also hosted a booth at the event as well. It was fun meeting many of the attendees and connecting face to face to share what makes Hammersmith Support great! In addition to some fantastic branded lip shimmer giveaways, we were excited to raffle off a gift basket from Thistle Farms. This fantastic Nashville nonprofit creates and sells a variety of candles and body care products to facilitate housing, care, community, and more for those who are victims of abuse, trafficking, and prostitution. It was wonderful to be able to support such an amazing organization and bring some of the decadent products to the women at the event!
The new TN Women Connect membership program was launched at the event and Hammersmith Support is excited to now be a member along with many amazing women! We are thrilled to be a part of the Nashville community and can’t wait to grow our network of friends and business partners.