My First Paid Event: SLAY Festival 2019

Hey guys, see who attended SLAY Festival 2019? Me, your girlie!!! Lol! I am so proud of myself. First, because this is my first ever paid event, yeah! Surprised? Well, I am one of those who never see the need for paying to attend an event where there are so many free ones.
That is not to say I do not enjoy discovering new places, I do. Such an adventure was my trip to Omu Resort.

me sitting pretty
Also, my previous job took me from one event to the other, that I would rather skip any that wasn’t work-related or maybe I was just too stingy to myself or just lazy or broke, at this point, I really can’t say which it was but I am a changed creature now.
Secondly, I decided sometime this year to invest in myself and this included going to events, building genuine relationships and more.
So, I started with the almighty SLAY Festival. Almighty because almost every millennial in Lagos knew about this event, had probably been there or was a part of the community.
The SHE LEADS AFRICA Community. A community that fosters all-round growth amongst young women in Africa.

SLAY Festival FIeld

Keynote speaker, Mama Burna, and co-founder of She Leads Africa
This year’s SLAY Festival which took place on Saturday 28 of September 2019 at the Lekki Special Events Centre was my first time attending though I had heard so much about the event and was looking forward to it.
Hence, when ticket sales began, I was among the early birds and as such, I paid 1000 naira as an entrance fee.

Guest at SLAY Festival

ME sitting pretty at Molped stand
I went for the event dressed in a white t-shirt, brown pant trousers, and nude heels. I should state that my choice of dressing by fashion police officers wasn’t appropriate because who wears heels to a festival? Especially the type I had on.
A piece of advice, don’t wear heels to SLAY Festival especially if you intend to walk around as I did. At a point, I took off my heels and wore slippers because I can’t come and kill myself.

Guests at the Maggi stand
The event started at 12 pm but I didn’t get there until about 1 pm. By Nigerian time, I was early and though the event had started, I didn’t miss out on much.

Me and Dami with our plate of Maggi Jollof rice
I went alone but met old friends and made new friends. That for me was good news since I rarely get to hang out with friends.

At the Farouz stand
Did I enjoy the event? Yes, I did. It was a colorful and vibrant atmosphere filled with young professionals, fashionistas, bloggers, celebrities, photographers, good music, jollof rice from Maggi, vendors and so much fun.
I got to meet some really cool people I followed on Instagram and it was nice to put a face behind the Instagram accounts.
Lots of freebies from sponsors, I got a pack from LUX, rice from Maggi, won a gift from Molped, I might have missed some other freebies too.
Then. there was the bouncing castle, oh Lord, I can’t remember the last time I jumped on one, felt like a child again.

I and Dami for our masterclasses

Sitting pretty with Dami
As promised by the organizers, there were masterclasses by experts in different fields. This was a bit different from other classes I had attended because we used some fancy headsets I had only seen in pictures.
LOL!! I felt like some really cool kid. I attended the class on Smart Career and Money Moves for your 20’s by JR Kanu.

I did Karaoke too

View from masterclass hall
I don’t know how topics were picked for the classes but this was a very insightful and useful one. So glad I was a part of it. Hold on, just so you don’t go feeling left out, here are some lessons from the class.

Never too old for some bouncing castle
- Have a career goal
- Set a time to start working on it.
- Know yourself and what works for you
- Make a list of your skillset
- Find the gaps in your skillset and fill them up
- Have a plan, a date and tell someone about it
- Visualize your goal
- Get excited about your future, this will keep you moving in hard times.
That was a quick wrap up of my take-home from the class. I intend to work on those and I think you should too.

Spent some time at MAX stand
The keynote speaker for the day was Mama Burna, she was also the last speaker for the day. Her session ran late and I could not stay to the end. One key thing I picked from her was, as a woman, you can have it all.
That includes your career, family, hobbies, in fact, everything. She is a clear example of that and it is evident with the successful career of her son who she managed for years.

Some of your favorite stars from the Men’s Club series
In general, SLAY Festival 2019 was a success, with only a few hiccups. One of such was, the timing, it finished later than 8 pm. And when it was evident that the event would exceed the allocated time frame, the classes where rushed.
At least I felt mine was. Also, a little kinda direction would have helped. It took me a while to figure out where the classes were happening, which class was which and all that.
Aside from these, SLAY Festival was great. Glad I was a part of it. Looking forward to more from the SLAY team. They were amazing, amazing volunteers, everything nice.
Chidinma Ibemere
Thank you JF for sharing..
JessicaFortunes
My pleasure, thank you for reading.
Deborah Okoye
Jessica oh…. I finally get to read your blog. Great job. Plus am glad you had fun
JessicaFortunes
Thank you for stopping by… π
blogit with Jπ§
Thanks for sharing
JessicaFortunes
My pleasure π
Obakam Tom-George
Well put together + I love what you noted about the hiccups. Well done JF.
JessicaFortunes
Thank you very much Obakam π
Adeniyi Helen Omolade
Thank you for sharing ma’am.
Please what are skillsets?
JessicaFortunes
Thanks for reading, your skill sets are things you can do. Your expertises
Adams Dharmy
We came, we saw, we slayed π π₯
JessicaFortunes
Yes we did!!! πππ
Becky J Marsha
Thank you JF for sharing .
JessicaFortunes
Most welcome π
Rosemary
I was actually hearing your voice while reading this π. Thanks for sharing
JessicaFortunes
ππππ… you know me very well oh! Thank you for reading.
Patricia Lakpah
Lovely, thanks for sharing
JessicaFortunes
Thank you for reading π
Lharmi.
This is the first time i’m hearing about this festival, was surprised when you said most milenials (i don’t know if i slept it correctly o!) knew about it.
JessicaFortunes
πππ I guess there is always a first time for everyone. You should check them out though.