Run the World (Girls)

What better way to spend International Women’s Day than with a group of bad ass influencers making things happen in their realms? My International Women’s Day turned into International Women’s Weekend right before my eyes! I had the pleasure of being acquainted with influencers of different niches from a fabulous fit mom to a natural hairista, event planner and everything between (A grief blogger too!). I literally had the time of my life! *squints* I think March might be becoming my favorite month of the year… Why random March you ask? Well, because… I did the Photo Walk Through The Gulch, again!!!

This year Christy and Abbey took us on a tour through a cute neighborhood in Nashville that’s been “developed” over the years called 12 South. This area is in South Nashville and inhabited by still lots of Nashville Natives, young families, musicians, freelancers and more! 12 South literally has something for everyone! There’s a ton of restaurants, bars, and shops as well as luxury living, wellness, and fitness opportunities.

We met at Frothy Monkey and chile it was cold, honey! And here I come waltzing up the sidewalk in a belly top and culottes *cackle*. Just like last year, we were split into two groups one with Christy and the other group with Abbey. It seems like every time I go to this event there’s some kind of weather thing 😭. We stopped by Finnely’s first and took pictures right outside of their store. Each influencer took turns having their picture taken at each destination; this is where it starts to get good. Starting from the very first the very first mural the girls started empowering and hyping each other up like we had been girlfriends for years. It was literally the most exciting thing I’ve experienced on a shoot.

Here are my shots from Finnley’s.

The next destination we went to was the first actual mural of the day. It was the “Hello Gorgeous” mural. It’s probably my favorite one. Shamelessly because in my former life I was the artist formally known as GorJESS. This pseudonym was literally my handle across all of my social media platforms once upon a time. Here’re my shots from that mural.

If you’re looking for some indoor and outdoor furniture you can most certainly find some at our third destination, Summer Classics Home Store. We took FULL advantage of the white wall outside their store. This wall makes for great posts with words or graphics because it gives the opportunity to kind of create white space for it. Here’s how I took advantage of the wall.

Next was the dope mural outside of Marine Layer, which is a new store to not only 12 South but Nashville too! Now, Marine Layer is slowly but surely becoming a brand that I like. My first time in a store was in Miami during Art Basel. My hat goes off to their visual merchandising department, they’re killing it!!! At this wall magic literally started happening among the group. We shared tips and tricks about content creation as well as how we use social media to tell stories about our lives. Check out my pictures.

Next we went to the striped wall outside of Draper James (Their flagship store), Reese Witherspoon’s boutique. Not only is Draper James a great place to shop they partner with organizations like Girls Inc. Nashville in the community. In the past they’ve provided internships to Girl Inc. students and also partnered with VSP to provide glasses for the girls and their families. Another really cool added element to the experience was having A Rose Balloon Co. there with a portal balloon installation we took to each wall. Here’s are my photos from the stripe wall.

The final mural we went to was the “I Believe In Nashville” mural. Right now, this mural holds a special place. Tennessee had a tornado that completely devastated parts of Nashville and Middle Tennessee just last week. We’re in a bad place physically, but we have the tenacity to be able to bounce back stronger than ever!

I think I had more fun this time around than I did the first. Maybe because it was my self-declared International Women’s Weekend or because of all of the energy I felt coming from the women around me. There’s something truly rewarding about community so, thank you Blogger Xchange for an amazing weekend. It’s Women’s History Month so, here’s to black women throughout history who were killing it worldwide!