Blogger. Influencer. Wife. Mom. Entrepreneur. Dayna Bolden.
When Dayna Bolden first mentioned that she planned to host a dinner meet up in Baltimore, I don’t think that she expected to break the internet! Hundreds of women including myself were glued to Facebook and Instagram anxiously awaiting when the tickets would drop. Hell, even I skipped my midday nap so that I wouldn’t miss my chance to RSVP.
When my phone alerted me that Dayna posted the link for her dinner, I immediately headed over to Eventbrite to secure my seat. To my surprise, everyone else was doing the exact same thing, at the exact same time, and here I was SOL without a ticket. For a second I thought maybe the link was wrong, or that the site wasn’t working properly…..oh nooo babyyyyy….Dayna Bolden’s dinner sold out in 4 minutes!!!! Talk about influence! DB was pulling in Beyonce numbers!
Fortunately me for, I contacted her humbly and was assured that I would have a seat at her event. As the day led up to #DinnerWithDayna, so many thoughts played in my head. Would I be nervous? Would she be open to having honest dialogue? Would I connect with the other attendees? Where would I sit? Would my pants fit? LOL
Once I arrived at The Elephant in Baltimore, I was thoroughly impressed with their decor. Very elegant….very regal. As the dinner table was being prepared, the guests gathered around the bar to mix and mingle. Within the first 10 minutes I connected with women whom I’ve seen at other events and who I follow on Instagram. It’s so refreshing to take the connections that have been made online and bring them to real life!
As we were seated, Dayna greeted and thanked us for being apart of this event. She shared her entrepreneurial journey and encouraged us to form relationships with the other ladies in attendance. It honestly felt like a highschool reunion with your girl gang.
As the night continued we shared laughs, tears, our short and long term goals and of course did it for the gram. One point that Dayna made apparent to us was the importance of networking across. The room was filled with bloggers, Youtubers, accountants, fashion designers, intellectual property consultants, content creators, make-up artists, and many more. Black Girl Magic for sure was in the building that night! To The Elephant and our amazing waiter Kyle, “If you don’t know... now you know”.
Dayna, thank you so much for this amazing event which provided us the opportunity to connect with like minded women within our community. I am most certain that we all left with at least one new friend. I appreciate you and am inspired by you daily. You are truly the definition of a Regal Lady and I can’t wait to see your continued growth!
Photocred: @reignnoire