SGG IRL: HASHBROWNS & HASHTAGS

It is safe to say that the morning of Hashbrowns & Hashtags was the best morning I’ve had since moving to NYC. It consisted of connecting with wonderful women, eating one of the best brunches ever, and getting life advice from some ladies who really know their shit. Organized Scarlett Stack of Brandsway Creative, Lee Tilghman of Indie Fork, Samantha Chin of Myriad Restaurant Group, and Alexandra Machover from Spur of the Moments, this brunch was tailored to fit the desires of the everyday woman trying to make it in both the digital and real world. Brunch was followed by a panel at the lovely Chalk Point Kitchen and Sad Girls Guide. I got the pleasure to go with fellow Sad Girls, Elizabeth and Kristen, and we had an absolute blast.

menu
i mean…just look at this menu

THE VENUE

Chalkpoint Kitchen is a Market-to-Table restaurant in SoHo that is one of the best brunch spots in all of Manhattan. There are windows on the street allowing the place to have gorgeous natural light and chalk writing all over the windows relaying the specials. There was a definite fall feeling to the table decorations, with lil cute pumpkins all over the place, along with hashtags cute out in cork (everyone was ogling over them). Some notable sponsors of the event were Lyft car services, Justin’s (peanut butter), VDKA100, La Columbe, and Califia Farms, so there was subtle advertisement for them all over. This isn’t a complaint though because it included free Justin’s Peanut Butter Cups on every table (#BLESS). The overall atmosphere felt very inviting and safe especially because it was all female, so there was zero chance of a fuckboi coming in and ruining it all.

foood

via @chalkpointnyc
via @chalkpointnyc

THE FOOD

Ah now it is time for me to get emotional over food. After living off of a meal plan consisting of cafeteria food for the last 2 months, this was a special treat for me. Personally I thought the best dish was the avocado hash with Yukon potatoes and eggs, but everything on the menu was an 11 out of 10 (lol the date was coincidentally 11/10). My one complaint was that my stomach was not nearly big enough to try all the wonderful things. Sadly, I missed out on the blueberry muffins that Elizabeth had major heart-eyes over. Everything was extremely fresh and healthy and I felt so full yet energetic when I left. There was so much #foodporn to reminisce about, I practically start drooling every time I see a picture of the avocado toast served as a starter.

panel

THE PEOPLE

The women who put on this event were brilliant and knew that since it was a panel about women in social media, the women in attendance would want to put it all over their social media accounts. They set up various hashtags (check em out on Instagram and Twitter: #ChalkPointKitchen, #HashbrownsandHashtags, #BrunchinWithJustins) so that the women at the event could be connected and easily find each others’ accounts. After the glorious feast, there was a panel of kickass women consisting of Cyndi Ramirez, Bevy Smith, Marlo Scott and Stef Skinner. They spoke about their past and current projects and how they worked their lil bootays off to get to where they are today. They all took very different routes, but are all killing in the social media world and more importantly, in the real world. One of the most memorable quotes of the morning was Bevy Smith (and like, makes everyone want to get into hip-hop world):

“If you’re apart of hip hop, you’re forever young,”

us

THE TAKE-AWAY

Maddy:

Yes we physically got to take away a goodie bag with Justin’s peanut butter cups, aloe juice, and various other items, but I think this event really made an impact on all of us. For me, I took away the fact that you have to pay your dues in corporations and internships to get anywhere and TO collect information and contacts from all your jobs to use in the future. Since I am an art student and I’m interesting in design, my favorite quote from the panel was “Design a product that’s packaging is Instagrammable.”

Elizabeth:

In general, I thought the event was amazing in that it was a room filled with smart women who love food and Instagram. Everyone there loved Instagram, which is refreshing because it is often seen as an unimportant or frivolous social media outlet. It was awesome because all these women used their Instagrams in a productive way as a networking tool. Also, avocado on toast makes everyone happy. Always.

Kristen:

“WORK THROUGH THE FUCKING FEAR”

Thanks to speaker/TV personality, Bevy Smith, and those five inspirational words at brunch, I actually got off my ass this week and decided to do something that actually scares me. But it’s more of an exciting adrenaline rush than a “get me out of here” feeling. Fear can be a good thing—it forces you to grow and learn to do things that you didn’t know you could. Hell yeah, I’m terrified of this new venture, but Bevy’s talk got me thinking, I don’t want to just sit around feeling comfortable. Plus, she promised that when you get through all that scary stuff, it’ll feel like NBD in retrospect. “Work through that fucking fear”—and when I do, I’ll find something else that scares me. Bless you Bevy for that girl power talk.

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