Nourished: a quick wrap-up on an amazing day

Nourished Food Blogger Conference

I just got back from an amazing weekend. It was a weekend jam packed with learning, chatting, eating and most importantly getting to meet an amazing group of food bloggers.

Nourished Food Blogger Conference was everything that I hoped for and more. I went into it just hoping to network and meet new people, but I left feeling renewed, invigorated and nourished. I came away wanting to turn the Queen of Quinoa into a smashing success, with tons of readers, amazing photographs, delicious and unique recipes, and inspiring prose.

The entire day was fabulous. Each presentation was full of new information and gave me a ton of ideas for ways to make the Queen of Quinoa even better. I'm going to give you a quick snapshot into what my day entailed!

The sessions were awesome:

• Branding 101 led by Mary Fran Wiley from Frannycakes
• Recipe Development with Karen Morgan from Blackbird Bakery
• Unconventional Food, Mainstream Audience with Ricki Heller from Desserts, Diets & Dogs and Carolyn Ketchum from All Day I Dream About Food
• Food Photography with Cara Lyons from Cara's Cravings
• The Art of Food Writing bed my Dianne Jacob 
• Special presentation by Cybele Pascal about Nourishing Others with Food

As I'm sure you can tell from the list above, our presenters were some pretty big names in the gluten-free world. I felt honored to have the chance to meet them all. I tried to absorbed as much as I could in that short amount of time. They were all incredible.

I left with a new network of amazing gluten-free foodies.

Just as important and beneficial as each of the sessions was, it was the people I met that made this experience so special. If you haven't visited and read about these gluten-free women already, I would love for you to get to know them like I did (including the awesome presenters I mentioned above):

• Sarah from Celiac in the City
• Betsy from Gluten-free Betsy
• Donna, The Culinary Artist
• Amy from Simply Sugar and Gluten-Free
• Cindy from Vegetarian Mamma
• Tess Masters, The Blender Girl
• Cara from Cara's Cravings
• Annelies from Attune Foods
• Carolyn from All Day I Dream About Food
• Andrea from Rockin' Gluten-Free
• Jasmine from Healthy Jasmine

These women have all inspired me and have helped me see that the possibilities for growing and building a successful gluten-free blog are endless. It definitely takes hard work and determination, but more importantly it takes passion and love. If you put your mind to it, you can do anything. 

Overall, the conference was totally amazing. A huge thanks to Amy from Simply Sugar and Gluten-Free and Jen Cafferty from the Gluten & Allergy Free Expo for putting together this incredible event. I can't wait to attend next year's in Dallas (mark your calendars everyone!!).

With that, I'm going to leave with you one little thought. It was the theme of our day and I'll be carrying it with me until next time. 

Stay true to yourself.