Hello, from the Big Apple! I arrived on Friday and it’s been a whirlwind ever since! I had intended on writing and publishing this post before I left but I didn’t get around to it, so here I am now. I thought it may be fun to share how going to Fashion Week even came about since I got quite a few questions about it. Let me just start by saying that if this has been a dream for you, then you’re in luck because ANYONE can do it! It just takes a little bit of research and some serious ability to let go and see where the wind takes you.

As I mentioned previously, going to NYFW has always been on my bucket list. To be honest, I still can’t believe that I'm here! I never had the guts to go, even though my Dad lives right by NY and I have a free place to stay! But I also think the timing just wasn’t right. Up until about a year ago I never really took my blog seriously and going to fashion week as an “influencer” was still a fairly new concept. I always envisioned myself going there as a Buyer at a fashion brand, but the fact that I’m going for myself and representing my own business is an even more incredible feeling!

So how did this all come about?

In March, a few local blogger friends and I started talking about how much we wanted to go and let’s be honest when you have a tribe, it’s a lot easier (and cheaper) to pull the plug and do it! We talked about it for months and still nothing was happening, and finally one day, I was in the salon getting my hair done and my stylist was asking me if I had booked my trip to NY yet (I had mentioned in our previous sessions how much I had wanted to go). I told her no, that life was busy, I hadn’t had time to think about it and with everything going on financially with the house, etc. it probably wasn’t the most responsible thing to do. Wes and I were also talking about taking a big trip just him and I before we started trying for baby #2 so I had some serious reserves about spending money on a trip for myself. But as I babbled on, she finally interrupted me and said, “Jenna, you have to go! Life is too short! You have been talking about this forever - just do it. You won’t ever regret going”. She could not have been more right! Why not!? Wes was 100% supportive and on board, and actually, it made our decision to go on a trip even easier since we were already halfway to Europe with me in New York. He is meeting me here with Tayler on Tuesday and we are leaving her with my Dad while we go explore Mallorca, Spain! Everything was coming into place!

so then what…

Well, I booked my flights and talked to the girls who were considering going. They were on board and so later that week, we found a hotel and started talking about how we could get invited to shows. This is where it was a lot more accessible than we thought, but way more time consuming than we anticipated. There is an entire website dedicated to all things NYFW, with a list of PR contacts, showrooms, shows and the schedule {you can find it here}. You can’t actually see the time schedule of the shows until about 3-4 weeks out in which case you can’t really start reaching out to press contacts until that time. Basically, you have to book your hotel and flight and wish for the best! This is where taking a leap of faith is something you have to be okay with! Once the shows were released, I reached out to everyone that was having a show on the days I was there and emailed the PR contact with info about who I was, my blog and audience statistics. There is also a website/app called GPS Radar that lists all shows and you can actually use that to request invites to shows without having to find the contact manually - genius! After a while, emails starting flooding through that I had been invited! Of course, I was not accepted into any of the big designers showcases, but I wasn’t expecting to, and honestly I’m more excited to see the smaller/unique designers. And what I'm really excited about is the opportunity to meet new brands, bloggers and designers! The networking power of this trip will be insane (and lots of champagne will be flowing to help). I was invited to the Liketoknow.it rooftop party on Saturday and I can’t wait to spot some of the bloggers that I have been admiring since I started blogging almost 7 years ago!

All in all, I am so happy I made the decision to come and experience this first hand. Not to mention, it will be so fun to get to know my fellow Seattle blogger babes even better - and meet some new ones who I’ve never actually met before but whom I’ve gotten to know through Instagram. I love how this community has a weird way of bringing us all together.

Stay tuned for all the happenings of my trip coming soon! And in the meantime, you can follow me on Instagram to keep up with all the fun that's been going on!

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