Dinner With Dayna- Baltimore
I am still on a high from this weekend! #DinnerWithDayna Baltimore edition was simply amazing. I started this dinner meet up for the first time last month when I had a quick impromptu business trip to Jacksonville, Florida. On my IG stories, I asked my community if anyone in the Jacksonville area wanted to meet up with me for dinner and I was surprised to get over 20 women to show up! The Jacksonville meet up was received so well that I started to receive a ton of requests to do the meet up in other cities and of course, my own city BALTIMORE was next up!
To be completely honest, meet-ups give me anxiety. I always wanted to do a meet up but I was always scared that no one would show up. Would folks really care to meet me? Would I be left sitting alone at a dinner table? Will people bail on me at the last minute? These are all fears that crept up inside of me last year when I wanted to do my first meet up, and honestly these fears crippled me from hosting my own event until now.
Seeing the success of my first meet up, and now my second one in Baltimore was confirmation to face my fears and DO IT ANYWAY!!
When I put the post on my Instagram stories for the #DInnerWithDayna Baltimore event, the event literally reached capacity in 4 minutes! I was stunned, shocked, and filled with so much joy! I even opened up a wait list shortly after the tickets sold out, and by the end of the day, the list was filled with over 150 emails-SHOOK! I couldn’t believe the amount of support I was getting for this event. This was God showing me that I need to continue to do this, and even go BIGGER soon.
#DinnerWithDayna Baltimore blew my expectations. Of course, I was nervous going into the event, because I started to get the social anxiety of “will people show up” but they did! Thirty women filled The Elephant, which is a beautiful restaurant space in Mount Vernon Baltimore. As all of my guests entered the space, I greeted them with hugs, smiles and of course pics!! Everyone mixed and mingled at the bar until we finally were seated at the table.
I started the dinner by standing up and welcoming everyone. I briefly shared my journey to Baltimore, and my career in blogging story. We then each went around the table and everyone introduced themselves. I love doing this at my meetups because this allows for everyone to briefly get to know each lady and it breaks the ice.
These meet-up events are so special because for me, it is all about building sisterhood and connections. I shared with the ladies that it is not always about networking up to see who can reach down and help you, often times it is about networking with your colleagues and ladies right next to you. These are the women that can help you the most! There were so many women in that room from accountants, wedding planners, makeup artists, stylist and each of these women offer something unique. But we all had one thing in common; women’s empowerment and wanting each other to WIN! Building these genuine connections with the women right across from me is so refreshing and necessary.
We all ate, laughed, shed a few tears and really got to know each other during this dinner. I felt like I was completely myself and I opened up a lot about some personal struggles I had recently and how I had to take a step back in some aspects of my business to regain myself and self-care.
Being in a room of like-minded women is the absolute best. I am so thankful for all of the women that came out to support and build! I can’t wait for my next #DinnerWithDayna!!! If you would like to attend, get on my exclusive invite list. This list will let me know what city you are in so when I DO come to your city, you will get an email invite first!! Space is limited for each stop, so you definitely want to get on this list!
I am excited to see this grow. I am even more excited for the opportunity to connect with my community in a much more personal and authentic way. This is what it is all about for me! Thanks again to all of the ladies that came out!!
Images By:
Shannell B
@reignnoire
With Love, Passion & STYLE,
Dayna