This is blog post is WAY overdue, but I couldn't write it until now because of how surreal everything I experienced in New York City was.

A bit of back story, my life changed in 2011 when I joined Pinterest. Apparently, my love for the addicting social media platform had some love for me too. My following grew to close to a million, and since then I've been given opportunities to work with people and brands I never imagined I would have the pleasure of working with. Part of the reason why I have had such wonderful partnerships is because I have a firm that represents other pinners like myself.

HelloSociety is a Pinterest marketing and technology firm that matches tastemakers and brands to help promote great products to pinterest users. A couple of weeks ago, they sent me and about twenty other tastemakers to New York City to meet with brands and have a roundtable discussion on best practices of Pinterest, as well as how we can help these brands have their products seen by pinterest users. The brands consisted of West Elm, Glamour, Vogue and Etsy to name a few. It was an incredible opportunity to hear from the social media and marketing strategists of such HUGE and influential companies. And what blew me away even more, was that they were all in one room to hear about how twenty people, who were pretty much nobodies a couple years ago, use this platform successfully.

On top of it all, I stayed in the most beautiful hotel in SoHo, The Trump Soho Hotel, ate at amazing restaurants like Mercer Kitchen and got to play dress up with Rent the Runway and Shoptiques.com. I also met men and women from all over the country and world. No one was alike and no one seemed to use Pinterest in the same way. I expected this meet up to feel like blogging conferences I've attended in the past where I felt like I needed to dress super cool, have amazing business cards and know about the latest blogs. Not here. Graphic designers, photographers, moms, interior designers, architects, bloggers, fashion stylists...Everyone was different, but one thing we all had in common was the ability to spot unique things that we think everyone will enjoy.

My life is forever changed by this experience mostly because it was only four years ago that I really considered a career change, and now here I am truly living out my heart's desires in the most unexpected and wonderful way. I'm so thankful to everyone that has supported me so far and to Hello Society for giving me such a memorable experience.

Below, is a little video of me answering some questions about myself that Shoptiques.com put together. I hope you enjoy!

Photos by Erik Melvin.