"Discovering Mas" & Embracing My Latino Culture

On Saturday, November 6, 2010, I had the honor to attend the very first Los Angeles Latina Bloggers "Discovering Mas" Luncheon hosted by Monique creator of Blogs by Latinas, Curves and Chaos, L.A. Latina Bloggers. The event was held at Callendar's Wilshire in Los Angeles, CA.

The purpose of the event was to bring 40 creative and influential Latina woman together to socialize and network. I was excited to be in a room full of strong and empowering Latina woman. It really brings me back to my roots and reminds me how wonderful the Latino culture is. Sometimes it's easy to forget because of how modernized everything has become.

The decor and arrangements were beautiful. You could tell that Monique worked extremely hard on putting this event together.

The flowers were gorgeous. I wish my camera phone could have given them the justice they deserved.

The event started with a "Meet and Greet". As each woman arrived, we were told to fill out a sticker badge with our name and blog address. It would be a way for us to introduce ourselves and show everyone our blog. I met a few bloggers and several had business cards to hand out. It was REALLY interesting to see how many Latina bloggers were out there. Each interesting and unique in their own way. Some woman wrote about family. Some woman wrote about the Latino Community. Others wrote about food and some about fashion! I could honestly talk for hours with each of them! Unfortunately , there was not enough time to meet and greet all of them. I hope that I can get to know more of them in a later event.

As we all socialized, we were presented with GOODIE BAGS!! O-M-G!! The bags were AMAZING!

Not only did we have one bag full of goodies, but two bags of goodies! The second bag from Avocados From Mexico!

No! Wait! Three goodie bags! The third one was a Bali bag with Leggings and a few goodies! I can't wait to try the leggings on! These bags seriously need their own individual blog....WOWZA!!

When we were done with the first part of the event. We had lunch thanks to Monique and the wonderful sponsors that contributed to this event.

Cid from Cid Style File and Plus Model Denise Bidot both sat next to me. It was fun sitting next to these girls and getting to know more about them!

Cid and I couldn't decide what to order. EVERYTHING sounded good. We decided to share the Turkey Foccacia Sandwich and Roasted Vegetable Linguini Pomodoro. 

The food was delicious! I would have to say that the sandwich was my FAVORITE!

When we were done with lunch we had two speakers, Jennifer Vides and Wally Sabria, give us tips and advice on how to make our blogs better and more successful. Jennifer Vides spoke about "How to Brand and Market ourselves as Bloggers."

Wally Sabria gaves us information on, "Optimizing Your Social Media Presence with Creative Design and Compelling Content." . Both speakers were extremely helpful and informative to everyone in the room. I plan to incorporate everything that they taught us in my blog.

Throughout the event there was a raffle with amazing prizes!

I won movie theatre passes for two!!! Woohoo!!

Here are a few of the 40 Latina woman that attended this special event...

It was so much fun getting to know them!

Thanks again Monique for hosting such a wonderful and special event!

I can't wait for the next one!

Thank you Monique! Thank you Jennifer Vides and Wally Sabria! Thank you sponsors!

Que Rica Vida (General Mills)- Avocados From Mexico - Proctor and Gamble (P&G) - Saul Vasquez - Do My Jeans - Palomaya - Cafe Media - Carolina Pad - Kurvee - Wet N' Wild -Chinese Laundry -K'Nex - Bali - Payless Shoe Source - Macy's - China Glaze - Ardell - Arlene - The Other Side of the Tortilla

(Photos Courtesy of Ray from rx2lab.com as notes on pictures)