This has been a very busy couple of weeks! I mentioned that I was attending Women's Day at the Chicago Auto Show and taking part in the Women Driving Excellence program hosted my MJ Tam and Beth Rosen of Chicagonista. It was a good time. The day was filled with good conversation, laughs, performances, inspiration, and food. 🙂 The event was attended by all types – bloggers, women, men, and others just wandering by to see what was going on.
The day started with a performance by students of the St Therese Chinese Catholic School to celebrate Chinese New Year.
There was also a visit from US Olympic Speed Skater Nancy Swider-Peltz, Jr. I think it is very cool that she is a junior. She told the story of competing against her own mother in a race. Mom won. 🙂 Her mother is currently in SoChi coaching her son. She updates Nancy, Jr. with a play by play from day to day. Nancy started a blog to chronicle their olympic stories. Check out Team Swider-Peltz for more.
The awards presentation was the most important part of the day. As previously mentioned the Women Driving Excellence awards honor women making a difference in the lives of other women. Anupy Singla, 2013 honoree was the emcee of the event.
2014 Honorees included:
- Karyn Calabrese, Restaurateur and Book Author
- Sherren Leigh, CEO of Today’s Chicago Woman Magazine
- Susanna Jung, President & CEO of the Price Futures Group
- Mary Couzin, CEO & Founder of Chicago Toy & Game
- Natalie Martinez, NBC Chicago Reporter
- Lisa Stone, Jory DesJardins and Elisa Camahort Page, BlogHer Founders
After the awards Andrea Metcalf, fitness guru, and NBC 5 TV personality got us moving and thinking about the importance of networking by Stretching our Reach and meeting our neighbors along the way.
The ladies (and gent) of ChicagonistaLIVE broadcasted live from the show. Chicagonista is MJ Tam, Nancy Loo, Beth Rosen, and Duong Sheahan. And I learned that David Grotta recently joined the team. They call him the ChicaGUYnista. LOL! You may remember David as my competition in the Kenmore Mommy Blogger vs. Foodie Blogger Challenge back in 2010. He beat me. 🙂
There was also a performance from Phantom of the Opera which is now playing at the Cadillac Palace Theatre here in Chicago.
The day was closed out with my friend Miss Lori performing some of her favorite cabaret songs.
I took a few minutes to head over to the Nissan booth and check out the new cars. Here are a couple of my favorites.
The day was sponsored by Nissan, Chicago Tribune, Atrium Wealth Advisors, Red Eye, Cars.com, and the Chicago Auto Show.
Disclosure: This post sponsored by Nissan and Chicagonista. All opinions are my own.
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