Women Driving Excellence at the 2013 Chicago Auto Show

I spent a LOT of time at the Chicago Auto Show this year attending events including Women Driving Excellence. Seeing the shiny new cars, hearing from the car manufacturers, and celebrating women. I love learning about the tech, and I love the new car smell. Going on media days is awesome because all of the cars are not covered in people. It is much easier to check them out, take photos, and actually take my time. I have plenty to share about some of my favs spotted at the show.

But, my favorite part of this year’s Chicago Auto Show was not the shiny cars, it was Women’s Day. This year’s Women’s Day events were headed up by two of my favorite people, MJ Tam and Beth Rosen of Chicagonista. The whole day’s events were sponsored by Kia.

We were treated to muffins, coffee, and loads of entertainment. But it was not the entertainment, nor the cars, nor the food that were the stars of the show. The purpose of the event was to showcase women in Chicago who shoot for excellence in what they do while helping others. The day started off with each of them receiving the first-ever Women Driving Excellence award for the work that they do.

Recipients included:

Anupy Singla – celebrity author, awesome chef, entrepreneur and blogger
Corri McFadden – founder of E-DropOff, a store that specializes in resale of high end fashion. Her store was featured on the show House of Consignent on VH1.
Genevieve Thiers founder of Sittercity.com, which I just wrote about a few days ago.
Karen Weigert – City of Chicago Mayor’s Chief Sustainability Officer
Luvvie Ajayi – blogger, and co-founder of The Red Pump Project

There was also Zumba, an I Love Lucy performance, manicures, and singing from my awesome friend, Miss Lori.

: I Love Lucy

: Zumba

: Miss Lori

I also popped over to the Kia booth to check out their awesome cars. Some of my favs from Kia include the Sorento SUV, the smaller Sportage SUV, and the luxurious Optima.