A few months ago when I was at New Orleans Fashion Week I had the privilege of listening to Tabatha Bethune speak about her experience building her brand.  She used a term Emotional Investor and it really intrigued me.  Essentially your Emotional Investors are the people in your life who listen to your ideas, help your brainstorm, look at your pictures and so so so much more.

They are likely the most important part of your business yet they may never make any money off of your brand.  They are there simply for you.  In her talk she said that sometimes it is so easy for us to forget how important these people are to your brand and that they need to be honored.  I immediately started drawing up a list in my head of who my emotional investors are.  There were 9.

Katy, my blog boss and the first person who encouraged me that I had something to say and should start my own blog.  Melissa, my photographer and the second person I started working with consistently for the blog.  Amanda, my sister wife and fellow boy mom who is never afraid to tell you she loves or hates something.  Karen and Kayla, I call them my lady boos and they are my brand experts and know how I want things to look and feel.  Abby, my stylist and fellow boss babe who helps me style almost all of my shoot.  She is legitimately my second pair of eyes.  Jessica, Whitney and Elizabeth, my cheerleaders and consistent supporters, the ladies I send bathing suit shots too before I put them up on the blog, my content brainstormers.

These are my people.  The ones who have backed me since day one.

I came up with the idea of having an intimate luncheon where we could sit and talk and get to know one another better.  While they are all close with me several of them had never met so it was nice to let them get to meet and chat too.

Most of my friends are busy moms with a lot going on.  Most of them have a job and then some type of side hustle too so it was the perfect opportunity for everyone to take some time to themselves.  I knew I wanted to do something very feminine and delicate which is why I initially thought of lemons.  Lemon is such a light and summer flavor to me and decorating with the bright yellow color is equally fun.  Adding the hints of pink and green were just the perfect compliments to the warm and welcoming color pallet.

I created my own cheese platter while I let Bobby Folse from Nans create a salad and pasta for me and Christy from The Little Things Cakes provided us with cupcakes for dessert and lemon cookies for everyone to take home.  Also, Kayla with Haus of Oils created a custom oil blend called empower that all my guests were able to take home in a roller ball.  Menu’s were provided by Andrea’s Vinyl Shoppe and the table scape was inspired by the Holliday Collective.

I wanted to make each person aware of the ways that they have helped me over this last year and I was able to do that by spending a few minutes talking about each of them.  It was special and I am so glad that I decided to do it.  I ended the day feeling like I had been able to create a warm and welcoming moment in my home with people that have become extremely important to me.

Such a special day and I hope that it is something I can recreate each year!

XO,

Tippy