Avon Trip: Back Home From New York

March 10, 2017

Avon Trip: Back Home From New York

Everything has been moving so fast, I didn't even get the chance to say that I was going to New York (again)! Back in January, I was asked to serve on the 2017 Digital and Social Media Advisory Council. First, I've never served in any advisory board so this was just insane to me! I was so excited but then again, I didn't want to jinx myself lol. Other than my one post I made when I first learned of the role, I haven't said too much about it. Now that I'm back home from New York, let me explain a bit.

Avon corporate employees and those that oversee the Digital and Social Media Advisory Council invited us to New York for a meet and greet. Of course, everything discussed is confidential so I can't go into the specifics :( --- but just be prepared to see some great things coming from New Avon, LLC. I don't want to sound cheesy and scripted but it is truly an honor to be able to say that my company values our input and is striving to make our experience better.

What happened in NY:

I left for New York on Wednesday. The company had a black car pick me up from LaGuardia airport. He then took me to the DoubleTree Hotel which is literally, right around the corner from corporate headquarters. On the ride there, I was deep in thought. My husband used to travel frequently due to his job. Of course, I never said anything because I didn't want to discourage him but I always thought to myself: "he must be important", "this company must be really big" and then at one point, I questioned my own job and level of importance and ability to get to that level. I thought travelling would be out of the question and I'd never have a career that would allow me to see the world. As I rode in the car, I hit the moment of realization. I've been on two company-sponsored trips in less than 8 months AND I'm pushing for the trip to the Bahamas. Don't be blinded by this little ol' makeup company is all I can say.

I approached the hotel and a nice gentleman met me at the car to open the door. I felt like royalty. I was one of the first to arrive and my room wasn't ready so I sat at the bar and worked for a little while. This was actually pretty cool. I had four new team members join the team while I was on the plane so this gave me the opportunity to send welcome e-mails.

Once I finished my e-mails, I looked down at my nails and I couldn't believe I let them go that long! Like seriously --- ugh!!! The last time I had my nails done was before Valentine's Day...smh...I'm so embarrassed. Just reading that makes my soul cringe. Then I realized it was the perfect opportunity. The rest of the team hadn't arrived yet. I went to Facebook for nail salon recommendations but everyone suggested a place that wasn't in Uptown. First, I don't even know what Uptown is but I digress. I guess I was dressed normal because I fit right in. Whenever I asked for directions, they all talked to me with precise directions with exact street names and no turning directions. They'd say something like "oh yea, it's over on 8th Avenue" or "go to 15th". I realized I'd never find the nail salon so I opted for a taxi lol

I went to Fresh Nails on 15th but they couldn't do my nails because I have a protective gel coat on top so one of their patrons suggested a salon on 14th. Once again, completely lost but thank goodness for Google Maps. It was a couple of minutes walking distance so I decided to get in the well-needed exercise. I actually walked right by the nail salon. There's a pizzeria on the side of it that smelled like heaven! It made me think of my first and only slice of New York style pizza and I got lost in the aroma BUT I didn't cave in to temptation. Not this time.

I headed upstairs and was greeted by a lady named May. I'm not sure if it was her salon or pure coincidence. She looked at my nails and was surprised to say the least. She was very nice and conversational, explaining that many New York shops do not add anything to the nail because it's too time consuming. She said New Yorkers like to get in and get out, leaving if the wait is longer than 5 minutes. And I thought Chicagoans were impatient lol Of course, she couldn't let this Chicago girl off the leash without saying our nail salons and how they do nails are weird lol

My first experience with a New York salon was pretty good. I headed back down to the street and decided that I'd just walk back to the hotel UNTIL I put in the address to DoubleTree and realized it was 2.5 miles away! I called another taxi lol I would've walked but the team had finally arrived and I didn't want to keep them waiting (or at least that's the story I'll be telling from here on out). I got to meet some of Avon's more seasoned representatives and some that I had met from my last trip to New York.

Once again, I was the baby. Each person had been with Avon for over 6 years! I couldn't believe I got to sit at the table, let alone work with these beautiful, talented women. At 6 o'clock, Avon took us to dinner at the Aperitivo which is right across the street from Avon's headquarters. The food was delicious and the dinner conversations were amazing. We then headed back to our hotel but we couldn't pass up the lighting on the building (pictures below).

It was only about 9 p.m. when we made it back to the hotel so we decided to hang out downstairs and chat. We didn't get to bed until after 1 a.m. and had to be up at 6 a.m. I was so excited that I didn't think about the meeting --- you know, the reason why we were there in the first place lol The meeting ran from about 8:30-3:30, don't worry, they didn't starve us. Unfortunately, the end of the meeting meant we all had to go back home :( Once again, we had cars pick us up to drop us off at the airport.

My flight back to Chicago was delayed by nearly 3 hours *sigh* so I was stuck at the airport. I was finally able to connect to WiFi and realized two more people joined my team! At least this gave me something to do while at the airport :) One of my team members learned of the delay and offered to keep me telephone company :)

Pictures: I didn't really get to take awesome pictures like last time but then again, that's because I was too busy having fun lol. Of course, the others took plenty of pictures but I was just too excited for all of that lol I get better pictures next time *wink*

Here are a few pictures: