SDH 179: Establishing Connections and Creating Careers with Sarah Boyd
Have you always been someone who promoted unity? Has being able to help others grow by sharing your wisdom and resources something that brings you joy?
During her years in fashion PR, Sarah Boyd's real passion was empowering other women, and helping connect newcomers with mentors or professionals who can help them maneuver through the industry. So she launched her brand Simply Stylist that features conferences and workshops that provide a platform, and space for women interested in the fashion and beauty field to come together. Through her brand, they are able to learn the nuts and bolts of the industry, and create and strengthen their networks. Simply Stylist also features Simply Digital Network, that acts as a management agency for celebrity bloggers.
The first leg of her brand began with the Simply Stylist conference in LA five years ago, when she quit her job at her sister's company. All she had was a concept, and absolutely no idea if it would actually work. However, she knew she that her time in PR had come to an end, and wanted to tackle her dream conference head on to see where it would take her.
She gave herself three months to get it off the ground, and worked her PR connections to get speakers and sponsors to participate and promote it. With panels full of established fashion editors, stylists, and up and coming bloggers, the conference was a hit with 750 attendees. The conference also showcased under-represented jobs in the fashion industry, in order to show newcomers that there were multiple opportunities and areas to explore.
After it's success, Sarah expanded the conference to Chicago, New York City, and Dubai; but attendees were still hungry for more of the valuable information and tools the conference provided. To meet this demand, she began launching monthly workshops in LA. The 3-hour sessions feature experts in the beauty and fashion world educating entrepreneurs on topics like utilizing social media for branding and advertising purposes, Photoshop skills, and monetizing their blogs.
Simply Digital Network takes monetization of blogs a step further by diving deeper into the concept with bloggers. The management agency provides one-on-one assistance in helping celebrity and new bloggers create a web team, digital strategy, content, and provides consulting tips to get them up and running.
Take a minute to learn more about the various ways Sarah helps build careers and give newcomers the savviness they need to become successful!
In this episode you will...
Know how to remain productive and on task with growing your business
Be able to locate your state's Small Business Association so you have guidance in beginning your start-up
Learn how to build a business worthy of acquisition in the long-run
Begin to develop a tangible takeaway and ROI from your business to promise to sponsors
Understand the benefits of having a business card when you're first starting out
Know how to effectively brand and market your business with an event
INSIGHTS
"I'm naturally that PR girl that's always trying to help other people and empower other women...I wanted to create a platform where I could do that on a larger scale. And also have all these amazing women I was connecting teach everyone their path to success and all of these different tactics that they've learned along the way...and I think it's helpful for them to use their voice and share with the influencers of tomorrow." -Sarah Boyd
"It's pretty surreal to see the growth and the support I've gotten in this industry, it's very humbling. One thing is that I've always been [is] kind and that's what we really pride ourselves in at our conferences...you can sit with us and let's empower each other...that's why I think I've found success." -Sarah Boyd
"...we've just got acquired two months ago by Nylon. The beautiful thing is I run it as I ran it before and I just have their support. They love my vision, my ideas, they're fully supportive of everything that I'm doing. I just have a 65 person team behind me now that's selling us and helping us with creative....and it' amazing, I'm so happy I did it." -Sarah Boyd
RESOURCES
