Hi guys! Hope you are all doing well.

Today I wanted to talk about one of the best workshops I have been to, some of you might be familiar with Max Connectors. If not, they are essentially a digital media company who connects brands with influencers. They specialise in this and by doing so they have created quite a reputation. Among bloggers, influencers and Youtubers, Max Connectors is extremely well know, so you could say the Kim Kardashian of the social influencer world and we all know everyone knows Kim Kardashian.

I have been following Max Connectors on social media platforms for quite some time, I love the content they post and I love keeping up to date with what the amazing influencers they have signed are up to. Max Connectors had posted that they were holding their second Talent Lab (Blogger Boot Camp) In this Talent Lab workshop the attendees would learn about all the different techniques that can be applied to get the maximum of their social platforms. Also hearing tips and tricks of the trade from the industries best.

Now, how did I get this opportunity you ask?

Well it was just like any other night…

I had my feet up, dressed in my fuzzy pjs, sipping my hot Ginger and Lemon tea, and my hair up in a bun (well more like a nest) I was scrolling through Instagram when I came across a post that Max Connectors posted. It said “Talent Lab 2017, calling all beauty creators, If you are an ambitious Youtube, Instagrammer and/or Blogger and are looking to make it big in the industry, we would like to invite you to an intimate workshop with Max Connectors.”  An admin email was also attached so you were able to email them your interest.

I nearly spilt my hot tea after reading “If you are an ambitious” because if I’m anything it’s ambitious! After putting my tea down before I got brunt, I grabbed my macbook and I straight away emailed my expression of interest. While emailing I had so many thoughts, I kept putting myself in self doubt, but regardless I continued my email. I typed everything I wanted. It was now or never, if I did do this I would either be selected or not, if I didn’t I would have kept wondering. I just thought.. “What would Kanye do?” and then it was quite simple, I clicked the send button.

Now was the wait // 1-2 Weeks LATER

It was in the evening, I had decided that I wanted to dye my hair, oh come on we all love spontaneous fun?! I sat down to leave my hair for 25mins, I had a big old t-shirt on (must have been my dads from the 80’s? who really knows) I checked my phone and I had received an email from Max Connectors, I thought to myself “Now prepare yourself, if it’s an email that you got rejected, it’s ok you can try again next time” I totally gave myself a pep talk. 

I opened the email and there it was! I was invited to attend the 2017 Talent Lab! I couldn’t believe it that yes… I did do a happy dance (mind you, I don’t EVER dance, so only you can imagine my dance moves lol). My sister looked at me and said “what is wrong with you? Did the smell of the hair dye make you high?” I said no but look at this email! So I emailed straight away, but because I was so excited  (BLOODY iPhones with their autocorrect) It made me sound so stupid. It was one of those moments but I couldn’t unsend it so I pretended like I didn’t do that.

ON THE DAY

So I had a fun trip to Sydney with my friend and my sister. We got there a bit earlier so we thought…hmm what can we do for 2 hours? WE WALKED 45 MINUTES TO FIND NANDOS. YES. YOU READ CORRECT. We walked for so long that I was like damn is Nandos really worth it and yes, yes it was. It was so yummy, but mind you, we were eating at 5:40 and I still had to get dressed and be there before 6:30PM (because I’m so punctual lol) I ate my chicken tenders with chips so quickly and my sister looked at me and said “don’t stress you won’t be late!” I was like yeah right!

I said I AM NOT WALKING BACK. We got an uber and it took like 10 minutes, by this time it was already 6:10pm I went into the car and changed my clothes (I was not willing to wear that outfit for a 3 hours drive) I retouched my make up and then I made my way to the office. The girls gave me my name tag which I put on, but if there was any time that I felt so nervous, it was when I walked in and I saw all these amazing influencers all mingling. You know what else I saw, GOODIE bags! Yes from Sephora!

 

As the workshop began I sat with a couple of girls whom I actually knew of from Instagram (P.S both such lovely girls) For the first part of the workshop, there was four Youtubers whom had been signed by Max Connectors, they answered questions we were all dying to ask, they also gave all the best tips and tricks. My favourite part was when they were speaking about how they deal with the negativity, It really put in perspective for me. The girls were so down to earth and lovely.

 

As for the second part it was more of tips and what they look for when searching for influencers. I enjoyed the addition of that part because as influencers we can only understand what we do, not necessarily what brands look for and guess what.. it’s not always number of followers. I think that’s why for me I always stay authentic to myself and just give out as much positivity as I can, because if you take away the followers I still want to be the person people look up to.

The Talent Lab was all I had hoped and even better. For me it really gave me that boost of remembering why I started. Sometimes (not all the time) life gets in the way and we forget how truely grateful we are and we forget that on social platforms there is a reason why people follow us. I am not just beauty based. I want everything I do to be something I can share with my followers. I want to stay RAW, TRUE AND MYSELF.

I am driven, I am ambitious, but whether this takes me to the heights of the world or nothing happens and I’m still in my 30-40’s writing blog posts and working a 9-5 job. I want to stay true to myself and my followers.

Thank you so much for always supporting me.

 

Much Love – Dusk Avenue