Ah, BlogHer. It's one of those conferences that's so large, attracts such a diverse group, and has evolved so much that it's difficult to categorize.
And that's just fine by me. I see so many varied opportunities to meet with different people who write and organize from the political to the personal and everyone in between. (And that's been one of the most heartening developments for me, to see bloggers start out on one topic and then grow beyond it and allow their voices to grow and change. If they can, I can! We all can!)
The conference has already been so full of warmth and connection. Maybe it's because BlogHer kicked off this year in what I'll call the best way possible: with their Wine and Gyn opening.
Wine and Gyn (rhymes with, well, wine) brought together an OB-GYN, Dr. Jessica Shepherd, with SheKnows' Naama Bloom and author Sarah Brokaw to talk about "our bodies, our minds, and our sex lives."
At first, that struck me as a fairly intimate way to kick off a conference. Until I saw that the next day's sponsored event on women's orgasms was already COMPLETELY FULL.
Dr. Shepherd is the OB-GYN we all want. She clearly loves being a doctor, loves medical research, loves talking about how to talk about stuff we just don't want to talk about (but apparently DO want to sign up for).
She's so funny and brilliant and personable, and the conversation between the three women was so entertaining-- there was a lot of talk about mirrors and anatomy and things-- that I then recognized this as the genius conference-planning maneuver that it was.
Why break the ice when you can melt it?
And with that, I'm looking forward to the next two very full and fabulous days. Having already connected with some of the most amazing influencers, writers, and organizers out there (among them Morra Aarons-Mele, Elisa Camahort-Page, Reshma Gopaldas, Lorraine Ladish, Yolanda Machado, Angelique Roche, Cynthia Samuels, Jamia Wilson), I can see it's going to be a couple of nonstop days. If you're here, come find me!