Texas Style Council started with a simple idea: women who had built real relationships online deserved a place to gather in real life.

There was no existing event for me to inherit. No established audience, operating playbook or big production budget. I was building the brand and the experience at the same time, figuring out what would make people come the first year and, more importantly, what would make them come back.

The opportunity was to create more than a conference. I wanted to build an annual gathering people would travel for, return to and feel ownership of.

I founded Texas Style Council and led it from concept through execution for five conferences, owning the strategy behind the event as it grew from an intimate gathering into a national live experience.

I developed the programming and attendee experience, curated speakers and panels, secured sponsors, built brand partnerships, oversaw event logistics and created the marketing that brought people through the doors.

As the conference grew, I built the organization around it. I hired, trained and coached sales staff and interns, led volunteer teams of up to 15 people and developed leaders who could take meaningful ownership of the work alongside me.

I also built the business model to support increasingly ambitious events, developing sponsorship packages reaching approximately $10,000 and partnerships with national brands including Squarespace, Macy’s, PayPal, ModCloth and Poshmark.

But the measure I cared about most was whether people wanted to come back.

• Grew Texas Style Council from approximately 100 attendees to 1,100 across five conferences, attracting attendees from around the country.

• Built the event from the ground up, owning strategy across programming, audience experience, marketing, sponsorships, partnerships and execution.

• Secured national brand partners including Squarespace, Macy’s, PayPal, ModCloth and Poshmark, with sponsorship packages reaching approximately $10,000.

• Built and led the team behind the event, including sales staff, interns and volunteer teams of up to 15 people.

• Developed a three-year intern into a key organizational leader, expanding the leadership capacity of the event as it scaled.

• Created a repeat community, with attendees returning year after year and relationships continuing well beyond the conference itself.