Every time I visit LA, the city grows on me even more. It’s definitely a combination of the weather, access to fresh food and laid-back west coast vibe that makes me love it so much. I’ve been to LA half a dozen times for vacation but this time was a little different: there was a whole lot of business mixed with a dash of pleasure.

The Blogcademy #5 was held at McCadden Space Studio in Hollywood and we couldn’t have asked for a more unique space (or a nicer studio manager). The owner, Ron went above and beyond helping us not only set up but filming our event — we were blown away by his generosity.

It was quite a shift from just a month earlier. In early March, I felt like I’d been sucker punched when I received an email that the space we’d secured much, much earlier in the year had been double-booked and we were flat out of luck. Full-on panic ensued over the next day and I had anxiety-filled visions of us hosting our workshop in someone’s garage deep in the valley. Kat and Gala were much more zen about the whole debacle, that’s for sure!

In hindsight, it was the best thing that could have happened to us; McCadden was a MUCH better fit, with its quirky retro-modern decor and a gaggle of vintage neon signs.

Kat felt right at home in the studio and honestly, I don’t think she minded working on her birthday, especially after we surprised her with a cake AND an oversized bottle of gin!

If you couldn’t tell from the photos, the B balloons we have at every event are at least 3 times the size of normal balloons. Gigantor. The morning of the event, we knew there was no way we were squeezing those babies into our cab. Luckily, Joey and Rocky were willing to walk the mile from our loft to the studio, delivering them just in time. Nobody walks in LA so imagine how many honks Joey got, strolling along with three oversized balloons and a little white dog!

The interesting part about The Blogcademy is that each class is so different. Part of that can be attributed to the unique venues and photographers but beyond that, the personalities are different, too. Some classes are spontaneous, others are loud and outspoken, and still others are super laid back.

LA was immediately ready to get down to business. This group wasted no time asking about income, business structure and the best social strategies. These women hailed from not just LA but Mexico City, San Francisco and Minnesota and they shared a collective razor-sharp focus that was so inspiring.

With everyone from a tarot card reader to a doctor to a life coach to a published author in the audience, I knew this was going to be a fascinating class. As I got to know each woman on an individual basis over the next two days, I realized that although we were in different fields and walked varying paths to get to where we were, we all shared a common connection through wanting our blogs and businesses to be the best they could be.

This group gave it all the had and we were so inspired and fed off that energy, wanting to give everything we had in return. This is the first class where I literally could not walk afterwards. When we arrived back at the loft after that second day of class, I sat on the bed, socks still on and couldn’t move after that. We sat there, replaying all the best moments, talking about what we could improve and focusing on what was next.

That’s what I love about The Blogcademy — it inspires our students to take their blogs and businesses to the next level and watching them get inspired in return energizes us to keep improving.

Student Recaps

I adored our LA class so much. Here’s what they had to say about the experience in their own words:

1. Packed with fashion, fun, intelligence, humor, design and honesty…. 2. I am super pumped up and inspired 3. You’re in a garden 4. A blogging conference that blew my mind 5. Learnin’ biz from girl power turquoise sparks! 6. I walked away inspired, completely blown away and so happy to learn from such fabulous women 7. What happens when three very individual, self-actualized women stand in front of the room… 8. I started a list of changes I wanted to make and things I wanted to try…

Class Photo

Big smiles! We’d just eaten cupcakes…

Sponsors

Thanks to the following fantastic companies for making our event possible:

• The LA students scored with a custom crochet Twinkie Chan coffee cozie. Even better, they doubled as armbands in class!

• Our goodie bags are always overflowing with major sparkle! MARGAVINE x Sewmaryann sent these multi-purpose bows for each of our students to enjoy.

• Head Full of Feathers made sure our shoes were decorated with these fancy clips.

• Classic Hardware provided an assortment of super cute prizes. Made in the U.S. by Karyn Cantor, we loved the quirky designs.

• How cute are these custom Saturday Sequins earrings?

• Gotta love Basik 855 pouches — so practical and just the right size for business cards!

• Crown and Glory made sure we were decked out in glittery ears.

• The IF Ladies provided nail wraps, purses and tons of other fun goodies.

• I loved the simplicity of these great LOVE cards by Mr. Yen.

• We went crazy for all the wonderful Moorea Seal goodies. I was especially a fan of these simple gold earrings.

• LA photo booth rental Snapden went above and beyond, with piles of hilarious props (including a Batman mask!) that we used and abused over lunch. Their staff was incredibly gracious as we kept a constant rotation, often changing out props for every. single. frame. Haha!

• Also, special thanks to Zevia for quenching our thirst with their zero calorie soda.

Five workshops in, we’re still flooded with new ideas as each class wraps. It’s true that we’re always cramming late into the night before class, trying to make the curriculum even better. As I say in the branding section of our lecture, “good enough isn’t good enough.” We believe in holding ourselves to those standards and our amazing students inspire us to keep reaching higher. The excited emails I’ve gotten post-workshop have made my day many times over. Thank you.

Upcoming Workshops

This Summer, we’re off to New York and Minneapolis. Limited spaces are available in both classes — we’d love to see you there! And as always, if you have any questions reach us at headmistresses @ theblogcademy.com.

Photographer: Caroline of Milou & Olin
Event Space: McCadden Space Studio
Additional Write-Ups: Spending My Birthday at the Los Angeles Blogcademy

Hello from LA! Since I landed on Wednesday, it’s been nonstop prepping for The Blogcademy which we hosted over the weekend. I left the venue last night feeling completely exhausted in the absolute best way possible — workshops are some of the hardest work I’ve ever done but also the most rewarding.

Tomorrow Kat, Gala, Joey, Rocky and I all head back to our respective homes after two weeks split between two cities with stops at the Ace, Disneyland and Hollywood Blvd.

Hitting the road, exploring new neighborhoods, chatting about branding and blogging and making new friends in the process is incredibly fulfilling and something I never want to take for granted. I hope your week is off to a great start and I have much more to share soon!

If you follow me on Instagram, you’ll know that when I visited Ridge Farm during my last day in the U.K I went a little mad. As our driver pulled into the driveway of the residence, I literally couldn’t believe my eyes. We were in the midst of a farm house that had existed since the 16th century.

This wasn’t just any house, either. It was deep in the countryside of Surrey, about an hour outside of London but this place has some really unexpected history.

See, there’s a recording studio in one of the many cottages that dot the land and the likes of Queen, David Bowie, Little Richard and Black Sabbath have passed through its halls. We heard that it was the place to be in the 70s, 80s and 90s for bands looking to record their albums on state of the art analog equipment.

Upon further research, one of the “farmers” dug up photos of Freddie Mercury strolling across the front lawn in a canary yellow 3 piece suit! Oh, Freddie. I was already dying of excitement just seeing the front of the house (I couldn’t shut up — “We don’t have stuff like this in America! I can’t believe this place!!!”) but then, I had a mini freakout when we were led up the very settled (read: crooked) winding stairs to the top of the house. We’d been promised “Freddie’s Bedroom” for our night’s stay, complete with a four poster bed and peaked ceiling. Legend has it that he wrote Bohemian Rhapsody up there. And that David Bowie had slept in that same room. It was like nowhere I’d ever been — it exuded magic.

I’m getting ahead of myself, though. We had been invited to The Farm by celebrated UK wedding photographer Lisa Devlin for her intensive photography workshop dubbed, quite accurately, the Photography Farm. This time, she’d ambitiously set up a multitude of masterclasses that people had flown in from all around the world for and we’d been invited along to speak at length about our Blogcademy social media segment tailored to photographer’s needs. We met so many fantastic people during our three hour talk and spent the rest of our time exploring the grounds, eating gourmet meals whipped up by the chefs and obsessing over Freddie’s bedroom (wait, that was me).

This little adventure was the perfect way to end our time in the U.K. and unwind after two sold out Blogcademy workshops. Getting out into the world and visiting places like this is a dream come true. Seriously, it was like an idyllic storybook setting (though I can only imagine the hijinks the big name rock legends actually engaged in)!

* If you’d like to attend a future Photography Farm event, you can learn more here.
* If you’d like to book an event at Ridge Farm, you can do so here.