We kicked off the Xpo right Friday night on George Jones Rooftop. Saturday morning was the BIG day! We held the main Xpo at redpepper. This was the perfect venue as it was where we held our first 100 person Blogger Xchange event in February. It was only right we bring 100 bloggers along with vendors and brand activations back to the venue for our inagural Xpo. redpepper is a creative agency that works with great clients such as Cracker Barrel and Kirkland’s. They also host great networking and learning events in their space.
We started the Xpo off with breakfast provided by Rush Bowls and coffee provided by White Bison. Rush Bowls are fresh, all-natural fruit and acai bowls. They are so declicious and they’re big so you are full. I recommend the Beach Bowl. White Bison is based in TN with several locations around the city. They just opened a beautfiul 12th South location with a wonderful rooftop. During breakfast, attendees were able to expereince our activations, visit our vendors and mingle.
We had activations from Cracker Barrel that set-up a old-country store front and Forever 21 that did a store window. Our vendors included HelloWellCo that sells essential oils, Crafted by Heart, A Mint Macaroon, Nash Collection, Juwon Enamel, Denor PR and Jad Marie Cosmetics. After some shopping and a great breakfast, Kay and I gave our welcome. Excited doesn’t begin to describe what I felt.
It was a beautiful moment to look out and see 100 bodies filling each seat and staring back at us. A special thank you to the ladies sitting beside us, our teachers. We had Ashley from Nashville Wifestyles, Jasmine Sweet, Tasha Dahl, Katie Soltas, Nikki Burdine from News Channel 2 along with Brittany Coleman from PocketsandBows and Melissa V. Ashley Northington of Denor PR did an amazing job teaching our Branding class. Thallen from Ladylunch Club and Ashley taught our legal and finance class. Our keynote speaker, Dr. Lauren Elise and the classes were certainly the hit of the day. We wanted everyone to have fun, but most importantly learn and grow. That was certainly accomplished from the feedback we received.
The icing on the cake for the day was a wonderful afternoon snack provided by Tiff’s Treats and Kinimi Kitchen. I can’t rave enough about the warm amazingness of Tiff’s Treats. They are delivered to you warm and it’s the best feeling for your soul. Kinimi Kitchen specializes in gourmet popcorn. My favorite is the Cajun Pop. I won’t say how many bags I had. Our attendees and teachers also left with great swag bags.
Thanks to all of our wonderful sponsors that donated to the bags to make them full and fun. In the words of our keynote speaker, “This is the best swag bag ever!” Also, thanks to all of our volunteers that showed up at 6:00AM Saturday for set-up and helped us to break everything down. A special shoutout to the redpepper interns and our amazing videographer team Karston.
2018 XPO SPONSORS:
- redpepper
- Industrious Nashville
- The George Jones
- Tiff’s Treats
- Macy’s Green Hills
- Google Bulletin
- White Bison Coffee
- Muddy Boot Wine
- Rush Bowls
- Lyft Nashville
- Taziki’s Nashville
- Chef Batts
- Deep Bay Spirits
- Kinimi Kitchen
- SugarCoatCo
- Cracker Barrel
- bartaco
- The Perfect Little Store
- Connie’s Cakes
- Aviate Brand
- Forever 21 Nashville
- Zen Gallery
- Grab the Gold
- Ivory Cotton Bar
- TravelSOUL App
- Urbanite
- Nashville Fit Magazine
- ODRD
- Litton Avenue
- Clemmie Jewelry
- Crafted by Heart
- Nash Collection
- A Mint Macaroon
- HellWellCo
- CEO
- Denor PR
- Juwon Enamel
- The NY Project
- Jad Marie Cosmetics
- My DJ World
- Authentic Photos & Designs
- The Visual Lyrcist
- Focus Outward
Be sure to read about Day 3, our Sunday Funday Xpo Brunch, on my next post. Want to learn more about the Blogger Xchange? Visit www.BloggerXchange.com and sign up for a social event or class. The 2019 Blogger Xchange Xpo is taking place Friday, August 23 – Sunday, August 25. See you then.
love,
Leigh
